Championship Transfer Rumours

Ever wanted to catch up on breaking EFL Championship news all in one place? We have made it quick and simple for you to access your desired content. From the latest transfer rumours to exclusive articles, you can find all of the latest Sky Bet Championship content right here to keep yourself in the loop with daily news!

EFL Championship History

The EFL Championship was formerly known as the Football League First Division, which was the top tier division in the English Football League pyramid from 1888 to 1992. However, following the formation of the Premier League in 1992, the division was rebranded as the second tier of English football and given the name of Football League Championship in 2004. In 2016, it adopted its current name of the EFL Championship. Find out more about the EFL Championship here!

In its inaugural season of 2004-05, the Championship announced a post-season total attendance of 9.8 million, which was the fourth-highest total attendance for a European football division at the time. The English second tier was not far behind the German Bundesliga who attracted an attendance of 10.92 million, though recorded higher than Italy’s Serie A, and France’s Ligue 1.

The league comprises 24 teams, which means every team plays a total of 46 games (one home and one away against each other). At the end of the season, the champions are promoted up to the Premier League along with the runners-up, and the bottom three teams are automatically relegated down to Football League One. As three teams are promoted to the top flight, the Championship has a play-off knock-out competition at the end of the season for teams who finish in third to sixth place.

The team who finished third plays the team who finished sixth, and the fourth and fifth-placed teams play against each other in a two-legged semi-final. Each team gets to play at their home stadium, whilst also travelling to their opponents in the reverse fixture. The winners of each semi-final then progress to a final at Wembley Stadium with the prize being promotion up to the Premier League; in addition, the team also wins the Championship play-off trophy.

On 18th July 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet, announced their new deal with the Championship to sponsor the league. Ahead of the 2016-17 season, the Football League was rebranded as the English Football League, hence the rebrand ‘EFL Championship’.

Sunderland won the first-ever Championship title since its rebranding, and Wigan Athletic finished runners-up to win them promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history. Sunderland claimed their second Championship title in just three seasons in 2006-07, and at the end of the season Leeds United became the first side in the new division to enter administration. Moving on to one of the most memorable moments in the league’s history, the 2014 play-off final between Derby County and Queens Park Rangers saw the highest crowd for any Championship fixture – 87,348 were there to witness Bobby Zamora’s stoppage-time winner for QPR as they won promotion up to the Premier League for the first time since its reformation. Get more of the latest EFL Championship news here!