The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top level football league in England from its foundation in the 19th century until 1992, when the top 20 clubs split away to form the Premier League.
The Football League has been associated with a title sponsor since 1983. As this sponsor has changed over the years the league has been known in turn as the Canon League, the Today League, the Barclays League, the Endsleigh League, the Nationwide Football League and the Coca-Cola Football League, until the present sponsor npower was adopted in 2010, contracted until 2013.
Since 1995 it has had 72 clubs evenly divided into three divisions, which are known as The Championship, League One, and League Two. Promotion and relegation between these divisions is a central feature of the League and is further extended to allow the top Championship clubs to exchange places with the lowest placed clubs in the Premier League, and the bottom clubs of League Two to switch with the top clubs of the Football Conference, thus integrating the League into the English football league system. Although primarily a competition for English clubs, one club from Wales also takes part, while in the past Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Town and Aberdare Athletic have been members.
The Football League is also the name of the governing body of the league competition, and this body also organises two knock-out cup competitions, the Football League Cup and the Football League Trophy.
The operations centre of The Football League is located in Preston, while its commercial office is in London. It was formerly based in Lytham St. Annes, after its original spell in Preston.
The Football League consists of 72 professional
association football clubs in England and Wales. It runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. It also organises two knockout cup competitions. The Football League was founded in 1888 by
Aston Villa director
William McGregor, originally with 12 member clubs. Steady growth and the addition of more divisions meant that by 1950 the League had 92 clubs. Financial considerations led to a major shake-up in 1992 when, in a step to maximise their revenue, the leading members of the Football League broke away to form their own competition, the FA Premier League, which was renamed in 2007 as the
Premier League. The Football League therefore no longer includes the top 20 clubs who belong to this group, although
promotion and relegation between the Football League and the Premier League continues. In total, 130 teams have played in the Football League up to 2007 (including those in the Premier League, since clubs must pass through the Football League before reaching the former).
The Football League's 72 member clubs are grouped into three divisions: the
Football League Championship,
Football League One, and
Football League Two (previously the
Football League First Division,
Football League Second Division and
Football League Third Division respectively; they were renamed for sponsorship reasons). Each division has 24 clubs, and in any given season a club plays each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. This makes for a total of 46 games played each season.
Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of the season, clubs at the top of their division may win promotion to the next higher division, while those at the bottom may be relegated to the next lower one. At the top end of the competition, three Championship clubs win promotion from The Football League to the Premier League, with the bottom three Premier League clubs taking their places. At the lower end, two League Two clubs lose their Football League status with relegation to the National division of the Football Conference, while two teams from Conference National join League Two of The Football League in their stead.
| ! Division
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! Promoted directly
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Play-off (association football)>playoffs
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! Relegated
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| The Championship
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Top 2 clubs
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One from 3rd to 6th place finishers
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Bottom 3 clubs
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| League One
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Top 2 clubs
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One from 3rd to 6th place finishers
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Bottom 4 clubs
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| League Two
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Top 3 clubs
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One from 4th to 7th place finishers
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Bottom 2 clubs
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Promotion and relegation are determined by final league positions, but to sustain interest for more clubs over the length of the season one promotion place from each division is decided according to a playoff between four clubs, which takes place at the end of the season. It is therefore possible for a team finishing sixth in the Championship or League One, or seventh in League Two, to be promoted rather than the clubs finishing immediately above them in the standings.
One professional football club from Wales, Cardiff City, plays in The Football League. This disqualifies them from participation in the Welsh Premier League and the Welsh Cup, and so also deprives them of the chance to qualify for UEFA competitions by this route. One English club, Berwick Rangers, plays in the Scottish football league system.
Reserve teams of Football League clubs usually play in the Central League (for the Midlands and North) or the Football Combination (for the South).
The Football League organises two knock-out cup competitions: the
Football League Cup (currently called the Carling Cup) and the
Football League Trophy (or for sponsorship reasons, the Johnstone's Paint Trophy). The League Cup was established in 1960 and is open to all Football League and Premier League clubs, with the winner eligible to participate in the
UEFA Europa League. The Football League Trophy is for clubs belonging to League One and League Two of the
Football League. The Football League celebrated its 100th birthday in 1988 with a
Centenary Tournament at Wembley between 16 of its member clubs.
After four years of debate,
The Football Association finally legalised professionalism on 20 July 1885. Before that date many clubs made illegal payments to "professional" players to boost the competitiveness of their teams, arousing the contempt of those clubs abiding by the laws of the amateur Football Association code. As more and more clubs became professional the ad-hoc fixture list of FA Cup, inter-county, and
ordinary matches was seen by many as an unreliable stream of revenue, and ways were considered of ensuring a consistent income.
A director of Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures. On 2 March 1888, he wrote to the committee of his own club, Aston Villa, as well as to those of Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, Stoke F.C. suggesting the creation of a league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season. His idea may have been based upon a description of a proposal for an early American college football league, publicised in the English media in 1887 which stated: "measures would be taken to form a new football league...[consisting of] a schedule containing two championship games between every two colleges composing the league".
The first meeting was held at Anderson's Hotel in London on 23 March 1888 on the eve of the FA Cup Final. The Football League was formally created and named in Manchester at a further meeting on 17 April at the Royal Hotel. Although the hotel is long gone, the site is marked with a commemorative red plaque on The Royal Buildings in Market Street. The first season of the Football League began a few months later on 8 September with 12 member clubs from the Midlands and North of England: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke F.C. (renamed Stoke City in 1928), West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Each club played the other twice, once at home and once away, and two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. This points system was not agreed upon until after the season had started; the alternative proposal was one point for a win only. Preston won the first league title without losing a game, and completed the first league–cup double by also taking the FA Cup.
In 1890 Stoke were not re-elected to the league, and were replaced for the 1890–91 season by Sunderland, who won it in their second, third and fifth year. Stoke were (re-)elected for the 1891–92 season, along with Darwen, to take the league to 14 clubs.
Preston North End, Aston Villa and Sunderland dominated the early years of the game; in the first fourteen seasons the only other clubs to win (single) league titles were Everton, Sheffield United and Liverpool.
A new Second Division was formed in 1892 with the absorption of the rival
Football Alliance. Alliance clubs
Nottingham Forest,
The Wednesday (later Sheffield Wednesday) and
Newton Heath (later Manchester United) were added to the new First Division, and Darwen were reallocated to the new Second, bringing the First Division total to 16 clubs. With the addition of
Northwich Victoria (from
The Combination),
Burslem Port Vale (later Port Vale, from the
Midland League) and
Sheffield United (from the
Northern League), the Second Division started with 12 clubs, as Alliance club
Birmingham St George's disbanded at that point. The bottom clubs of the lower division were subsequently required to apply for re-election to the League at the end of each season.
The Second Division increased to 15 clubs for season 1893–94 with the addition of Liverpool from the Lancashire League, Middlesbrough Ironopolis and Newcastle United from the Northern League, Rotherham Town from the Midland League, and Woolwich Arsenal (later Arsenal), who became the first team from the South of England to compete. Accrington, relegated from Division 1, and Bootle resigned from the League. For the following season 1894–95 there was a net increase to 16 with the addition of Bury from the Lancashire League, Leicester Fosse (later Leicester City) and Burton Wanderers (who later joined with existing Second Division club Burton Swifts to form Burton United) from the Midland League, while Northwich resigned and Middlesbrough Ironopolis disbanded.
Both Liverpool and Bury won the division at the first attempt.
In 1895 Loughborough replaced Walsall Town Swifts. In 1896 Blackpool from the Lancashire League and Gainsborough Trinity from the Midland League replaced Burslem Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra. In 1897 Luton Town from the United League replaced Burton Wanderers.
Automatic promotion and relegation for two clubs was introduced in 1898 when the previous system of test matches between the bottom two clubs of the First Division and the top two clubs of the Second Division was brought into disrepute when Stoke and Burnley colluded in the final match to ensure they were both in the First Division the next season. At this point both Divisions of the League expanded to eighteen, with the addition of Barnsley from the Midland and Yorkshire Leagues, Burslem Port Vale, Glossop from the Midland League, and New Brighton Tower from the Lancashire League to the Second Division.
After a few years other northern clubs began to catch up, with the likes of
Newcastle United and
Manchester United joining the League and having success. From 1900, Aston Villa (1899–1900, 1909–10), Liverpool (1900–01, 1905–06), Sunderland (1901–02, 1912–13), The Wednesday (1902–03, 1903–04), Newcastle United (1904–05, 1908–09), Manchester United (1907–08, 1910–11) and Blackburn Rovers (1911–12, 1913–14) all won two titles prior to the outbreak of World War I, while Everton added a second title to their much earlier success in the last season, 1914–15.
It was not until the early years of the 20th century, and the expansion of both Leagues to 20 clubs (in 1905), that further southern clubs such as Chelsea and Clapton Orient (1905), Fulham (1907), and Tottenham Hotspur (1908) established themselves in the League. There would be a further wait until 1931 before a southern club, Arsenal, would win the League for the first time.
Unlike in most other Leagues in Europe, no single English club managed to remain an ever present in the division during the one hundred and four years of its existence as the top division in the country. Everton come closest, missing just four seasons through relegation, and remain the only club in England to have played over 100 top-flight seasons. Everton and their city rivals Liverpool also share the record of being the only two clubs in England never to have gone more than a quarter of a century without being crowned champions.
The League was suspended for four seasons during
World War I and resumed in 1919 with the First and Second Divisions expanded to 22 clubs. On resumption West Bromwich Albion (1919–20) and Burnley (1920–21), both original 12 clubs, won their first-ever titles (in Albion's case their only title to date).
In 1920, leading clubs from the Southern League joined the League to form a new Third Division, which in 1921 was renamed the Third Division South upon the further addition of more clubs in a new Third Division North. One club from each of these divisions would gain promotion to the Second Division, with the two relegated clubs being assigned to the more appropriate Third Division. To accommodate potential difficulties in this arrangement, clubs in the Midlands such as Mansfield Town or Walsall would sometimes be moved from one Third Division to the other.
Following this burst of post-war growth, the League entered a prolonged period of relative stability with few changes in the membership, although there were changes on the pitch. In 1925, a new offside law reduced the number of opponents between the player and the goal from three to two, leading to a large increase in goals, and numbers on shirts were introduced in 1939.
Between 1923 and 1926, Huddersfield Town were the first team to win three consecutive league titles (and never won another one, though they finished as runners-up for the following two years). This was equalled by Arsenal between 1932 and 1935, during a period from 1930 to 1938 in which they won five titles out of eight.
Manchester City (1936–37) became the only other club to be added to the list of Football League winners prior to the outbreak of World War II, the fourteenth club to achieve the feat since 1888–89.
The League was suspended once more in 1939 with the outbreak of
World War II, this time for seven seasons. The Third Divisions were expanded to 24 clubs each in 1950, bringing the total number of League clubs to 92, and in 1958 the decision was made to end the regionalisation of the Third Divisions and reorganise the clubs into a new nationwide
Third Division and
Fourth Division. To accomplish this, the clubs in the top half of both the Third Division North and South joined together to form the new Third Division, and those in the bottom half made up the Fourth Division. Four clubs were promoted and relegated between these two lower divisions, while two clubs exchanged places in the upper divisions until 1974, when the number increased to three.
Clubs to win their first League titles in the quarter-century following World War II were Portsmouth (1948–49 and 1949–50), Tottenham Hotspur (1950–51 and 1960–61), founder members of the League Wolverhampton Wanderers (1953–54, 1957–58 and 1958–59), Chelsea (1954–55), Ipswich Town (1961–62) and Leeds United (1968–69).
Tottenham Hotspur became the first club in the 20th century to win the League and F.A. Cup 'Double' in 1960–61, a season after Wolverhampton Wanderers had come within a whisker of achieving the feat themselves (Wolves won the 1959–60 F.A. Cup and were runners-up to Burnley in the League by a single point).
Post-World War II changes in league football included the use of white balls in 1951 and the first floodlit game (played between Portsmouth and Newcastle United) in 1956, opening up the possibility of midweek evening matches.
By far the biggest change for league clubs during this era was a new cup competition open to all the members of the League, the Football League Cup, which was held for the first time in 1960–61 to provide clubs with a new source of income. Aston Villa won the inaugural League Cup and, despite an initial lack of enthusiasm on the part of some other big clubs, the competition became firmly established in the footballing calendar, although it was not until the dawn of the 1970s that all 92 Football League clubs regularly participated in the competition season after season.
Substitutes (1 per team per match) were first allowed for injured players in 1965, and for any reason the next year.
Beginning with the 1976–77 season, the clubs finishing level on points began to be separated according to goal difference (the difference between goals scored and goals conceded) rather than goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded). This was an effort to prevent overly defensive play encouraged by the greater advantage in limiting goals allowed. In the event that clubs had equal points and equal goal differences, priority was given to the club that had scored the most goals. There has been only one season, 1988–89, when this level of differentiation was necessary to determine the League champion, and this was the occasion of one of the most dramatic nights in League history, when
Arsenal beat
Liverpool 2–0 at
Anfield in the last game of the season to win the League on this tiebreaker – by a single
Michael Thomas goal in the final minute of the final game of the season.
Two clubs won their first League titles during the 1970s: founder members of the League Derby County (1971–72 and 1974–75) and Nottingham Forest (1977–78), both clubs managed by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. Since then no clubs have won their first Football League (Premier League since 1992) title, so Nottingham Forest are the 22nd and last club to acquire the title for the first time in its history in 1977–78.
Another important change was made in 1981, when it was decided to award three points for a win instead of two, a further effort to increase attacking football. (This scoring rule was not added by
FIFA to the
World Cups until the
1994 cup after the perceived dominance of defensive play at Italia 90.) In a similar vein, playoffs to determine promotion places were introduced in 1987 so that more clubs remained eligible for promotion closer to the end of the season, and at the same time to aid in the reduction over two years of the number of clubs in the First Division from 22 to 20. At the same time, automatic promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the
Football Conference was introduced for one club, replacing the annual application for re-election to the League of the bottom four clubs and linking the League to the developing
National League System pyramid. Emblematic of the confusion that was beginning to envelop the game, the number of clubs at the top of the league would return to 22 for the 1991–92 season, before once more dropping to 20 for 1995–96. The League also expanded to 93 clubs for the 1991–92 season and planned to raise the number again to 94 clubs for 1992–93, but after
Aldershot and
Maidstone United both went out of business within a few months of each other in mid-1992, this plan was abandoned and the League reverted to a 92-club membership. The issues creating the uncertainty in the game all centred on money.
The increasing influence of money in English football was evident with such events as the first £1m transfer in the game, that of Trevor Francis from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in February 1979. The first £2million player was Tony Cottee (West Ham United to Everton, July 1988). Before the formation of the FA Premier League, the highest transfer fee paid was £2.9million for the transfer of Dean Saunders from Derby County to Liverpool during the 1991 close season. The first £3million player was Alan Shearer, who moved from Southampton to Blackburn Rovers in July 1992, the summer before the first Premier League season. At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League. The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from the Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.
In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League ''
en masse'' and on 27 May 1992 the
Premier League was formed as a
limited company working out of an office at the Football Association's then headquarters in
Lancaster Gate. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three. There was no change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained on the same terms as between the old First and Second Divisions.
2004–05 was the first season to feature the rebranded Football League. The
First Division,
Second Division and
Third Division were renamed the
Football League Championship,
Football League One and
Football League Two respectively.
Coca-Cola replaced the
Nationwide Building Society as title
sponsor.
The Football League's collection is held by the National Football Museum.
Since 1983 the League has accepted lucrative sponsorships for its main competition. Below is a list of sponsors and the League's name under their sponsorship:
1983–1986: Canon (Canon League)
1986–1987: Today newspaper (Today League)
1987–1993: Barclays Bank (Barclays League)
1993–1996: Endsleigh Insurance (Endsleigh League)
1996–2004: Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide Football League)
2004–2010:
Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Football League)
2010–2013:
npower (npower Football League)
After the formation of the Premier League the newly slimmed-down football League (70 clubs until 1995 and 72 clubs since) renamed its divisions to reflect the changes. The old Second Division became the new First Division, the Third Division became the Second Division, and the Fourth Division became the Third Division. The financial health of its clubs has become perhaps the highest League priority due to the limited resources available. However there are some promising signs for the future, as the League planned to announce new initiatives beginning with the 2004–05 season, coinciding with the start of a new sponsorship agreement with Coca-Cola. The first of these changes was a rebranding of the League with the renaming of the First Division to The Championship, the Second Division to League One and the Third Division to League Two.The League's cup competitions have different sponsors (see English football sponsorship for more information).
The other major source of revenue is television. The 1980s saw competition between terrestrial broadcasters for the rights to show League matches, but the arrival on the scene of satellite broadcaster
British Sky Broadcasting (Sky TV), eagerly searching for attractive programming to build its customer base and willing to pay huge sums, changed the picture entirely. The League's top tier clubs had been agitating for several years to be able to keep more of the League's revenue for themselves, threatening to break away and form their own league if necessary. In 1992 the threat was realised as the First Division clubs left to establish the
FA Premier League and signed a contract for exclusive live coverage of their games with Sky TV. The FA Premier League agreed to maintain the promotion and relegation of three clubs with The Football League, but The League was now in a far weaker position — without its best clubs and without the clout to negotiate high-revenue TV deals. This problem was exacerbated with the collapse in 2002 of
ITV Digital, holder of TV rights for The Football League, which cost League clubs millions of pounds in revenue.
In 2001 the league signed a £315 million deal with ITV Digital, but in March 2002 the channel was put into administration by its parent companies when the league refused to accept a £130 million reduction in the deal. In November 2007 the league announced a new domestic rights deal worth £264 million with Sky and the BBC for the three seasons from 2009–2012. It covers Football League, Carling Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy matches and the full range of media: terrestrial and pay television, broadband internet, video-on-demand and mobile services. The deal represents a 135% increase on the previous deal and works out at an average of over £1.2 million per club per season, though some clubs will receive more than others. Sky will provide the majority of the coverage, but the BBC will have some of the higher-profile matches, namely 10 exclusively live matches from the Coca-Cola Championship per season and the semi-finals and finals of the Carling Cup.
Radio coverage in the United Kingdom is also a major source of live football and is a major output source for the Football League, with every major game broadcast nationally on BBC Radio Five Live, TalkSPORT and digitally on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra which is available digitally online or via DAB Radio. Globally, matches are sometimes broadcast on BBC World Service. Many Football League matches are broadcast to local audiences via BBC Local Radio stations or by commercial stations, and there is no limit to the number of stations who may broadcast each game. For example, in Swansea, Wales, each match is broadcast online, digitally and on analogue radio by BBC Radio Wales, in Welsh on BBC Radio Cymru and locally with Swansea Sound Radio and Radio City: Hospital Radio.
On 18 September 2008, the Football League unveiled a new ''Coca-Cola Football League podcast'', hosted by BBC Radio Five Live's Mark Clemmit to be released every Thursday.
The Football League Board meets monthly and consists of two independent directors, three directors representing the Championship, two representing League One, and one representing League Two. Current (April 2010) members are:
Independent
* Greg Clarke – Chairman
*Ian Ritchie
Championship
*Keith Lamb – Middlesbrough FC
*Shaun Harvey – Leeds United FC
*Tom Glick – Derby County FC
League One
*John Nixon – Carlisle United FC
*Lorraine Rogers – Tranmere Rovers FC
League Two
*Anthony Kleanthous – Barnet FC
Andy Williamson OBE – Chief Operating Officer
Richard Heaselgrave – Chief Commercial Officer
William McGregor 1892–94
John Bentley 1894–1910
John McKenna 1910–36
Charles Sutcliffe 1936–39
Will Cuff 1939–49
Arthur Oakley 1955–57
Joseph Richards 1957–66
Terry Shipman 1966–74
William Westwood 1974–81
Jack Dunnett 1981–86
Philip Carter 1986–88
Below are listed the member clubs of The Football League for the
2010–11 season. In total there have been 141 Football League members. Originally the bottom club(s) of the bottom division(s) had to seek reapplication each year, which was voted by all the other members. Clubs occasionally exploited this by banding together to vote a weaker team in.
Walsall holds the record for the most reapplications for the Football League.
Former Football League clubs include all 20 of the current members of the
Premier League along with various relegated, removed or defunct clubs. Although the competition is primarily for English clubs, two of the sides competing in 2009–10 are from Wales—
Cardiff City and
Swansea City.
| ! Premier League
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! Championship
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! League One
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! League Two
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Note: Bold teams were promoted at end of season. Italic teams were relegated at end of season.
NB: League and
FA Cup Double winners are
highlighted in bold.
When the Football League was first established, all 12 clubs played in just one division.
In 1892 the Football League absorbed 11 of the 12 clubs in the rival
Football Alliance after it folded, meaning the League now had enough clubs to form another division. The existing division was renamed the First Division and the new division was called the Second Division.
| ! Season
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! First Division Champions
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! Second Division Champions
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In 1920 the Football League admitted the clubs from the first division of the
Southern League (the Southern League continued with its remaining clubs) and
Grimsby Town, who had failed to be re-elected to the Second Division the season before and been replaced by
Cardiff City (of the Southern League). The clubs were placed in the new Third Division:
| ! Season
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! First Division Champions
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! Second Division Champions
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! Third Division Champions
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After just one season under the old format, the League expanded again. This time it admitted a number of clubs from the north of England to balance things out, as the last expansion brought mainly clubs from the south. The existing Third Division was renamed the Third Division South, and the new division was named the Third Division North. Grimsby Town transferred to the new northern division. Both divisions ran in parallel, with clubs from both Third Divisions being promoted to the national Second Division at the end of each season:
| ! Season
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! First Division Champions
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! Second Division Champions
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! Third Division (North) Champions
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! Third Division (South) Champions
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colspan=4 |
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For the beginning of the 1958–59 season, national Third and Fourth Divisions were introduced to replace the regional Third Division North and Third Division South:
| ! Season
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! First Division Champions
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! Second Division Champions
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! Third Division Champions
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! Fourth Division Champions
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Following the breakaway of the clubs in the First Division to form the
FA Premier League, the Football League no longer included the top clubs in England, and the Football League champions were no longer the national champions of England. Therefore, the Second Division became the First Division, the Third Division became the Second Division and the Fourth Division became the Third Division.
| ! Season
|
! First Division Champions
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! Second Division Champions
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! Third Division Champions
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In 2004, the Football League renamed its divisions: the First Division became the Football League Championship, the Second Division became Football League One and the Third Division became Football League Two.
| ! Season
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! Championship Champions
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! League One Champions
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! League Two Champions
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At the end of the 2005–06 season, Reading finished with a record 106 points, beating the previous record of 105 held by Sunderland.
Due to the breakaway of the Premier League in 1992, winning the Football League title no longer makes a team the top tier champions of English football.
Includes
Premier League titles.
| ! Team
|
! First tier
|
! Second tier
|
! Third tier
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! Fourth tier
|
! Total Titles
|
|
19
|
2
|
|
|
21
|
|
18
|
4
|
|
|
22
|
|
13
|
|
|
|
13
|
|
9
|
1
|
|
|
10
|
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
|
10
|
|
6
|
5
|
1
|
|
12
|
|
4
|
5
|
|
|
9
|
|
4
|
3
|
|
|
7
|
|
4
|
4
|
1
|
|
9
|
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
9
|
|
3
|
3
|
|
|
6
|
|
3
|
1
|
|
1
|
5
|
|
2
|
7
|
|
|
9
|
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
|
7
|
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
8
|
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
6
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
|
4
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
6
|
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
|
4
|
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
|
6
|
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
|
5
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
6
|
1
|
|
7
|
|
|
5
|
1
|
|
6
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
8
|
|
|
3
|
2
|
|
5
|
|
|
3
|
1
|
|
4
|
|
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
|
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
4
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
4
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
|
3
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
5
|
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
4
|
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
4
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
4
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
|
|
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
|
|
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
|
|
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
The Football League Play-Offs are used as a means of determining the final promotion place from each of the league's three divisions. This is a way of keeping the possibility of promotion open for more clubs towards the end of the season.
This format was also changed in 1999 and was changed from a promotion competetion to also a cup game as both sides receive a cup and match medals for taking part as both sides can progress to the next level like such cups as The FA Cup and league cup.
The format was first introduced in 1987, after the decision was made to reduce the top flight from 22 to 20 clubs over the next two seasons; initially, the play-offs involved the team finishing immediately above the relegation places in a given division and the three teams who finished immediately below the promotion places in the division below – essentially one team was fighting to keep their place in the higher division while the other three teams were attempting to take it from them. In 1989, this was changed—instead of teams from different divisions playing each other, the four teams below the automatic promotion places contested the play-offs. The first season of this arrangement saw the final being contested in home and away legs. The four teams play off in two semi-finals and a final, with the team winning the final being promoted. Originally the semi-finals and the final were all two-legged home-and-away affairs, but from 1990 onwards the final was a one-off match (usually at Wembley or, during its rebuilding, the Millennium Stadium). It is in this format that the play-offs continue today. A proposal to have six teams rather than four competing for the final place was defeated at the league's AGM in 2003.
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Season
!
Division Two
!
Division Three
!
Division Four
|-
|1986–87||
Charlton Athletic||
Swindon Town||
Aldershot
|-
|1987–88||
Middlesbrough||
Walsall||
Swansea City
|-
|1988–89||
Crystal Palace||
Port Vale||
Leyton Orient
|-
|1989–90||
Swindon Town1||
Notts County||
Cambridge United
|-
|1990–91||
Notts County||
Tranmere Rovers||
Torquay United
|-
|1991–92||
Blackburn Rovers||
Peterborough United||
Blackpool
|-
! Season
!
Division One
!
Division Two
!
Division Three
|-
|1992–93||
Swindon Town||
West Bromwich Albion||
York City
|-
|1993–94||
Leicester City||
Burnley||
Wycombe Wanderers
|-
|1994–95||
Bolton Wanderers||
Huddersfield Town||
Chesterfield
|-
|1995–96||
Leicester City||
Bradford City||
Plymouth Argyle
|-
|1996–97||
Crystal Palace||
Crewe Alexandra||
Northampton Town
|-
|1997–98||
Charlton Athletic||
Grimsby Town||
Colchester United
|-
|1998–99||
Watford||
Manchester City||
Scunthorpe United
|-
|1999-00||
Ipswich Town||
Gillingham||
Peterborough United
|-
|2000–01||
Bolton Wanderers||
Walsall||
Blackpool
|-
|2001–02||
Birmingham City||
Stoke City||
Cheltenham Town
|-
|2002–03||
Wolverhampton Wanderers||
Cardiff City||
Bournemouth
|-
|2003–04||
Crystal Palace||
Brighton & Hove Albion|||
Huddersfield Town
|-
! Season
!
Championship
!
League One
!
League Two
|-
|2004–05||
West Ham United||
Sheffield Wednesday||
Southend United
|-
|2005–06||
Watford||
Barnsley||
Cheltenham Town
|-
|2006–07||
Derby County||
Blackpool||
Bristol Rovers
|-
|2007–08||
Hull City||
Doncaster Rovers||
Stockport County
|-
|2008–09||
Burnley||
Scunthorpe United ||
Gillingham
|-
|2009–10||
Blackpool||
Millwall ||
Dagenham & Redbridge
|-
|2010–11||
Swansea City||
Peterborough United||
Stevenage
|}
1: Due to financial irregularities, Swindon were prevented from taking their place in the top division, which was awarded to the losing finalists, Sunderland.
The
Mitre Pro 100T is the official match football of the Football League and is used by all 72 teams from the Championship and Leagues One and Two. Mitre's current deal started in the
2007–08 season and runs until the end of the 2010–11 season. , every Football League Championship team has their own
Mitre football for home matches. The balls sport the home team's crest and colours.
Huddersfield Town played the 2008–09 season with a customised Mitre ball to celebrate their centenary. The Football League rules have not allowed this before, but they were relaxed as Mitre were formerly based in Huddersfield.
English football league system
Football DataCo
Football League 100 Legends
Football League Awards
List of English Football League managers by date of appointment
National Football Museum – holder of the Football League Collection
Premiership-Football League gulf
Sports league attendances
St. Mary's Church, Handsworth – burial place of the League's founder
The Football League official website
The Football League on Twitter
RSSSF Football League archive, 1888–
Category:Sports leagues established in 1888
Category:1888 establishments in England
ar:دوري كرة القدم
bn:দ্য ফুটবল লীগ
be-x-old:Футбольная ліга Ангельшчыны
bs:The Football League
ca:Lliga anglesa de futbol
cy:Cynghrair Lloegr
da:The Football League
de:The Football League
el:Αγγλικό πρωτάθλημα ποδοσφαίρου
es:Football League
fr:Football League
ko:풋볼 리그
it:Football League
he:הפוטבול ליג
lt:The Football League
hu:The Football League
ml:ദ ഫുട്ബോൾ ലീഗ്
mt:Football League
ms:Liga Bola Sepak
nl:Football League
ja:フットボールリーグ
no:The Football League
pl:The Football League
pt:Football League
ro:Football League
ru:Футбольная лига Англии
simple:The Football League
fi:The Football League
sv:The Football League
th:ฟุตบอลลีก
tr:The Football League
uk:Футбольна ліга Англії
zh:英格兰足球联赛
