EFL League One

EFL League One
	File:League one.png
Founded	2004; 20 years ago; 1992–2004 (as Division Two); 1958–1992 (as Division Three); 1921–1958 (as Division Three North/South); 1920–1921 (as Division Three)
Country	England
Number of teams	24;
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Championship
Relegation to	League Two
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup
League cup(s)	EFL Cup; EFL Trophy
International cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via FA Cup); UEFA Europa Conference League (via EFL Cup)
Current champions	Coventry City ; (2019–20)
Most championships	Wigan Athletic; (2 titles), Luton Town; (2 titles)
TV partners	List of broadcasters
Website	efl.com/sky-bet-league-one/
	Current: 2020–21 EFL League One

The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division of the English Football League and the third tier overall in the entire English football league system.

League One was introduced for the 2004–05 season. It was previously known briefly as the Football League Second Division and for much longer, prior to the advent of the Premier League, as the Football League Third Division.

At present, Peterborough and Gillingham hold the longest tenure in League One, both last being out of the division in the 2012–13 season. There are currently eight former Premier League clubs competing in League One, namely Swindon Town (1993–94), Ipswich Town (1992-95 and 2000–02), Charlton Athletic (1998-99 and 2000–07), Portsmouth (2003–10), Blackpool (2010–11), Wigan Athletic (2005–13), Sunderland (1996-97, 1999-2003, 2005-06 and 2007–17), and Hull City (2008-10, 2013-15 and 2016–17).^[1]

Structure

There are 24 clubs in League One. Each club plays every other club twice (once at home and once away). Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. At the end of the season a table of the final League standings is determined, based on the following criteria in this order: points obtained, goal difference, goals scored, an aggregate of the results between two or more clubs (ranked using the previous three criteria) and, finally, a series of one or more play-off matches.

At the end of each season the top two clubs, together with the winner of the play-offs between the clubs which finished in 3rd–6th position, are promoted to EFL Championship and are replaced by the three clubs that finished at the bottom of that division.

Similarly, the four clubs that finished at the bottom of EFL League One are relegated to EFL League Two and are replaced by the top three clubs and the club that won the 4th–7th place play-offs in that division.

Current members

The following 24 clubs will compete in League One during the 2020–21 season.

Club	Finishing position last season	Location	Stadium	Capacity^[2]
Accrington Stanley	17th	Accrington	Crown Ground	5,057 (2,000 seated)
AFC Wimbledon	20th	London (Merton)	Plough Lane	9,300
Blackpool	13th	Blackpool	Bloomfield Road	17,338
Bristol Rovers	14th	Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,300
Burton Albion	12th	Burton upon Trent	Pirelli Stadium	6,912 (2,034 seated)
Charlton Athletic	22nd in Championship (relegated)	London (Charlton)	The Valley	27,111
Crewe Alexandra	2nd in League Two (promoted)	Crewe	Gresty Road	10,180
Doncaster Rovers	9th	Doncaster	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
Fleetwood Town	6th	Fleetwood	Highbury Stadium	5,311 (2,701 seated)
Gillingham	10th	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium	11,582
Hull City	24th in Championship (relegated)	Kingston upon Hull	KCOM Stadium	25,586
Ipswich Town	11th	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Lincoln City	16th	Lincoln	Sincil Bank	10,307
Milton Keynes Dons	19th	Milton Keynes	Stadium MK	30,500
Northampton Town	7th in League Two (promoted via play-offs)	Northampton	PTS Academy Stadium	7,798
Oxford United	4th	Oxford	Kassam Stadium	12,500
Peterborough United	7th	Peterborough	London Road	15,314
Plymouth Argyle	3rd in League Two (promoted)	Plymouth	Home Park	18,600
Portsmouth	5th	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	21,100
Rochdale	18th	Rochdale	Spotland	10,249
Shrewsbury Town	15th	Shrewsbury	New Meadow	9,875
Sunderland	8th	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	48,707
Swindon Town	1st in League Two (promoted)	Swindon	County Ground	15,728
Wigan Athletic	23rd in Championship (relegated)	Wigan	DW Stadium	25,138

Teams promoted from League One

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Promoted Play-off Winner (Position)
2004–05	Luton Town	Hull City	Sheffield Wednesday (5th)
2005–06	Southend United	Colchester United	Barnsley (5th)
2006–07	Scunthorpe United	Bristol City	Blackpool (3rd)
2007–08	Swansea City	Nottingham Forest	Doncaster Rovers (3rd)
2008–09	Leicester City	Peterborough United	Scunthorpe United (6th)
2009–10	Norwich City	Leeds United	Millwall (3rd)
2010–11	Brighton & Hove Albion	Southampton	Peterborough United (4th)
2011–12	Charlton Athletic	Sheffield Wednesday	Huddersfield Town (4th)
2012–13	Doncaster Rovers	Bournemouth	Yeovil Town (4th)
2013–14	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Brentford	Rotherham United (4th)
2014–15	Bristol City	Milton Keynes Dons	Preston North End (3rd)
2015–16	Wigan Athletic	Burton Albion	Barnsley (6th)
2016–17	Sheffield United	Bolton Wanderers	Millwall (6th)
2017–18	Wigan Athletic	Blackburn Rovers	Rotherham United (4th)
2018–19	Luton Town	Barnsley	Charlton Athletic (3rd)
2019–20	Coventry City	Rotherham United	Wycombe Wanderers (3rd)

For past winners at this level before 2004, see List of winners of English Football League One and predecessors.

Play-off results

Season	Semi-final (1st Leg)	Semi-final (2nd Leg)	Final
2004–05	Sheffield Wednesday 1–0 Brentford Hartlepool United 2–0 Tranmere Rovers	Brentford 1–2 Sheffield Wednesday Tranmere Rovers 2–0 Hartlepool United (Hartlepool won 6–5 on penalties, a.e.t.)	Sheffield Wednesday 4–2 Hartlepool United (a.e.t.)
2005–06	Barnsley 0–1 Huddersfield Town Swansea City 1–1 Brentford	Huddersfield Town 1–3 Barnsley Brentford 0–2 Swansea City	Barnsley 2–2 Swansea City (Barnsley won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2006–07	Yeovil Town 0–2 Nottingham Forest Oldham Athletic 1–2 Blackpool	Nottingham Forest 2–5 Yeovil Town (a.e.t.) Blackpool 3–1 Oldham Athletic	Blackpool 2–0 Yeovil Town
2007–08	Southend United 0–0 Doncaster Rovers Leeds United 1–2 Carlisle United	Doncaster Rovers 5–1 Southend United Carlisle United 0–2 Leeds United	Leeds United 0–1 Doncaster Rovers
2008–09	Scunthorpe United 1–1 Milton Keynes Dons Millwall 1–0 Leeds United	Milton Keynes Dons 0–0 Scunthorpe United (Scunthorpe won 7–6 on penalties, a.e.t.) Leeds United 1–1 Millwall	Scunthorpe United 3–2 Millwall
2009–10	Swindon Town 2–1 Charlton Athletic Huddersfield Town 0–0 Millwall	Charlton Athletic 2–1 Swindon Town (Swindon won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.) Millwall 2–0 Huddersfield Town	Millwall 1–0 Swindon Town
2010–11	Bournemouth 1–1 Huddersfield Town Milton Keynes Dons 3–2 Peterborough United	Huddersfield Town 3–3 Bournemouth (Huddersfield won 4–2 on penalties, a.e.t.) Peterborough United 2–0 Milton Keynes Dons	Huddersfield Town 0–3 Peterborough United
2011–12	Stevenage 0–0 Sheffield United Milton Keynes Dons 0–2 Huddersfield Town	Sheffield United 1–0 Stevenage Huddersfield Town 1–2 Milton Keynes Dons	Huddersfield Town 0–0 Sheffield United (Huddersfield won 8–7 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2012–13	Sheffield United 1–0 Yeovil Town Swindon Town 1–1 Brentford	Yeovil Town 2–0 Sheffield United Brentford 3–3 Swindon Town (Brentford won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.)	Brentford 1–2 Yeovil Town
2013–14	Peterborough United 1–1 Leyton Orient Preston North End 1–1 Rotherham United	Leyton Orient 2–1 Peterborough United Rotherham United 3–1 Preston North End	Leyton Orient 2–2 Rotherham United (Rotherham won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2014–15	Chesterfield 0–1 Preston North End Sheffield United 1–2 Swindon Town	Preston North End 3–0 Chesterfield Swindon Town 5–5 Sheffield United	Preston North End 4–0 Swindon Town
2015–16	Barnsley 3–0 Walsall Bradford City 1–3 Millwall	Walsall 1–3 Barnsley Millwall 1–1 Bradford City	Barnsley 3–1 Millwall
2016–17	Millwall 0–0 Scunthorpe United Bradford City 1–0 Fleetwood Town	Scunthorpe United 2–3 Millwall Fleetwood Town 0–0 Bradford City	Bradford City 0–1 Millwall
2017–18	Charlton Athletic 0–1 Shrewsbury Town Scunthorpe United 2–2 Rotherham United	Shrewsbury Town 1–0 Charlton Athletic Rotherham United 2–0 Scunthorpe United	Rotherham United 2–1 Shrewsbury Town (a.e.t.)
2018–19	Doncaster Rovers 1–2 Charlton Athletic Sunderland 1–0 Portsmouth	Charlton Athletic 2–3 Doncaster Rovers (Charlton Athletic won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.) Portsmouth 0–0 Sunderland	Charlton Athletic 2–1 Sunderland
2019–20	Portsmouth 1–1 Oxford United Fleetwood Town 1–4 Wycombe Wanderers	Oxford United 1–1 Portsmouth (Oxford United won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.) Wycombe Wanderers 2–2 Fleetwood Town	Oxford United 1–2 Wycombe Wanderers

Relegated teams

Season	Clubs
2004–05	Torquay United, Wrexham, Peterborough United, Stockport County
2005–06	Hartlepool United, Milton Keynes Dons, Swindon Town, Walsall
2006–07	Chesterfield, Bradford City, Rotherham United, Brentford
2007–08	Bournemouth, Gillingham, Port Vale, Luton Town
2008–09	Northampton Town, Crewe Alexandra, Cheltenham Town, Hereford United
2009–10	Gillingham, Wycombe Wanderers, Southend United, Stockport County
2010–11	Dagenham & Redbridge, Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Swindon Town
2011–12	Wycombe Wanderers, Chesterfield, Exeter City, Rochdale
2012–13	Scunthorpe United, Bury, Hartlepool United, Portsmouth
2013–14	Stevenage, Shrewsbury Town, Carlisle United, Tranmere Rovers
2014–15	Crawley Town, Leyton Orient, Yeovil Town, Notts County
2015–16	Crewe Alexandra, Blackpool, Colchester United, Doncaster Rovers
2016–17	Port Vale, Coventry City, Swindon Town, Chesterfield
2017–18	Oldham Athletic, Northampton Town, Milton Keynes Dons, Bury
2018–19	Plymouth Argyle, Walsall, Scunthorpe United, Bradford City
2019–20	Tranmere Rovers, Southend United, Bolton Wanderers, Bury^[a]

^a Expelled in August 2019 after financial breaches.

Top scorers

Season	Top scorer(s)	Club(s)	Goals
2004–05	Stuart Elliott	Hull City	27
2004–05	Dean Windass	Bradford City	27
2005–06	Freddy Eastwood	Southend United	23
2005–06	Billy Sharp	Scunthorpe United	23
2006–07	Billy Sharp	Scunthorpe United	30
2007–08	Jason Scotland	Swansea City	24
2008–09	Simon Cox	Swindon Town	29
2008–09	Rickie Lambert	Bristol Rovers	29
2009–10	Rickie Lambert	Southampton	30
2010–11	Craig Mackail-Smith	Peterborough United	27
2011–12	Jordan Rhodes	Huddersfield Town	36
2012–13	Paddy Madden	Yeovil Town	24
2013–14	Sam Baldock	Bristol City	24
2014–15	Joe Garner	Preston North End	26
2015–16	Will Grigg	Wigan Athletic	25
2016–17	Billy Sharp	Sheffield United	30
2017–18	Jack Marriott	Peterborough United	27
2018–19	James Collins	Luton Town	25
2019–20	Ivan Toney	Peterborough United	24^[b]

^b In 35 games. Season truncated due to coronavirus

Financial Fair Play

Starting from the 2012–13 season, a Financial Fair Play arrangement has been in place in all three divisions of the Football League, the intention being eventually to produce a league of financially self-sustaining clubs. In League One, this takes the form of a Salary Cost Management Protocol in which a maximum of 60% of a club's turnover may be spent on players' wages, with sanctions being applied in the form of transfer embargoes.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

References

^ "What year did the Premier League start & which teams have played in it over the years?". Sam France. Goal. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
^ "Football Ground Guide". Football Ground Guide. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
^ "The Football League – About Us – FAQs – FL Explained – FL Explained – Financial Fair Play in The Football League". Archived from the original on 10 May 2012.
^ Vittles, by Jack; 18:32, 6 Dec 2017 (6 December 2017). "Financial Fair play: Does it apply in League One and League Two?". bristolpost. Retrieved 28 May 2020. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ McCartney, by Aidan; 12:02, 2 Feb 2015Updated14:43 (2 February 2015). "Financial Fair Play in League One: Separating fact from fiction". coventrytelegraph. Retrieved 28 May 2020. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ "Review into Bury's demise offers painful reminder of the need for FFP | Financial fair play | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

External links

[1] "What year did the Premier League start & which teams have played in it over the years?". Sam France. Goal. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.

[2] "Football Ground Guide". Football Ground Guide. Retrieved 30 November 2016.

[3] "The Football League – About Us – FAQs – FL Explained – FL Explained – Financial Fair Play in The Football League". Archived from the original on 10 May 2012.

[4] Vittles, by Jack; 18:32, 6 Dec 2017 (6 December 2017). "Financial Fair play: Does it apply in League One and League Two?". bristolpost. Retrieved 28 May 2020. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[5] McCartney, by Aidan; 12:02, 2 Feb 2015Updated14:43 (2 February 2015). "Financial Fair Play in League One: Separating fact from fiction". coventrytelegraph. Retrieved 28 May 2020. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[6] "Review into Bury's demise offers painful reminder of the need for FFP | Financial fair play | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

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v t e Third level English football league seasons
Football League Third Division	1920–21
Football League Third Division North	1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58
Football League Third Division South	1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58
Football League Third Division	1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92
Football League Second Division	1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04
Football League One	2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
See also	Southern Football League