The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) starting with the 2016–17 season.
The EFL is divided into the Championship, League One and League Two, with 24 clubs in each division, 72 in total, with promotion and relegation between them; the top Championship division clubs change places with the lowest-placed clubs in the Premier League, and the bottom clubs of League Two with the top clubs of the National League. Currently four of the EFL clubs are from Wales – Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham and Newport County – the other 68 are located in England.
The Football League had a sponsor from the 1983–84 season, and thus was known by various names.Canon League, the Today League, the Barclays League, the Endsleigh League, the Nationwide Football League, the Coca-Cola Football League and the npower The Football League, Sky Bet Football League
The English Football also organises two knock-out cup competitions, the EFL Cup and the EFL Trophy. The operations centre of the Football League is in Preston, while its commercial office is in London.
Overview The Football League consists of 68 professional association football clubs in England and four in Wales. It runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. It also organises two knockout cup competitions, the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy. The Football League was founded in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor, originally with twelve 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 the Premier League in 2007. The Football League therefore no longer includes the top twenty clubs who belong to this group, although promotion and relegation between the Football League and the Premier League continues. In total, 145 teams have played in the Football League up to 2024 (including those in the Premier League, since clubs must pass through the Football League before reaching the former).
Competition
Divisions The EFL's 72 member clubs are grouped into three divisions: the EFL Championship, EFL League One, and EFL 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. Every season each club plays the others in its division twice, at home and away, for a total of 46 games.
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 win promotion to the next higher division, while those at the bottom are 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 National League, while two teams from that division join League Two of The Football League in their stead.
Division Promoted directly Promoted via playoffs Relegated EFL Championship Top two clubs One from 3rd to 8th-place finishers Bottom three clubs EFL League One Top two clubs One from 3rd to 6th-place finishers Bottom four clubs EFL League Two Top three clubs One from 4th to 7th-place finishers Bottom two clubs
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 among four clubs, which takes place at the end of the season. It is 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.
Since the 2004–05 season, penalties have existed for clubs entering financial administration during the season. If a club enters administration before 31 March of any given season, they will immediately be deducted twelve points; entering administration from 1 April onwards will see the points deduction either held over until the end of the season (if the club finishes outside the relegation places) or applied the following season (if the club was relegated anyway). Also, it is required that a club exiting administration agrees to a Creditor's Voluntary Agreement and pays in full any other footballing creditors. Failure to do either of these will result in a second, potentially unlimited (though in practice usually between fifteen and twenty) points deduction.
The other main situation in which is a club may lose points is by fielding an improperly registered or otherwise ineligible player. If a club is found to have done this, then any points earned from any match that player participated in will be deducted; the opposing club(s) do not earn any points from this, however.
Cups The EFL organises two knock-out cup competitions: the EFL Cup (officially known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons) and the EFL Trophy (officially known as the Vertu Trophy also for sponsorship reasons). The EFL Cup was established in 1960 and is open to all EFL and Premier League clubs, with the winner eligible to participate in the UEFA Europa Conference League. The EFL Trophy, established in 1983, is for clubs belonging to EFL League One and EFL League Two. The organisation celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1988 with a Centenary Tournament at Wembley between 16 of its member clubs. Cup Clubs EFL Cup 92 (Championship, League One and League Two) EFL Trophy 64 (League One, League Two, Championship U-21, Premier League U-21)
History
After four years of debate, the Football Association finally permitted professionalism on 20 July 1885. Before that date, many clubs made payments to "professional" players to boost the competitiveness of their teams, breaking FA rules and arousing the contempt of those clubs abiding by the laws of the amateur Football Association code. As 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 Scottish director of Birmingham-based Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures, along with various cup competitions. On 22 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, Stoke and West Bromwich Albion; suggesting the creation of a league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season. His idea might have been based on 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 Anderton'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. The name "Association Football Union" was proposed by McGregor but this was felt too close to "Rugby Football Union". Instead, "The Football League" was proposed by Major William Sudell, representing Preston, and quickly agreed upon. Although the Royal 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 twelve 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 (renamed Stoke City in 1926), West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Each club played the others 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 winning the FA Cup. Teams finishing at the bottom of the table were required to reapply for their position in the league for the following year in a process called "re-election".
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 fourteen clubs.
Preston North End, Aston Villa and Sunderland dominated the early years of the game. In the first ten seasons, the only other clubs to win a league title were Everton and Sheffield United.
Addition of the Second Division
A new Second Division was formed in 1892 with the absorption of the rival 12-club Football Alliance. Alliance clubs Nottingham Forest, The Wednesday (later renamed Sheffield Wednesday) and Newton Heath (later renamed Manchester United) joined thirteen League clubs in the new First Division, giving it sixteen members. Darwen from the League was allocated to the new Second, and Alliance club Birmingham St George's disbanded at that point. The Second Division started with twelve clubs, eight remaining Alliance clubs with the addition of Northwich Victoria (from The Combination), Burslem Port Vale (later renamed Port Vale, from the Midland League), and Sheffield United (from the Northern League), plus Darwen. The bottom clubs of the lower division were subsequently required to apply for re-election to the League at the end of each season.
In 1893, two clubs were relegated from the First Division and two promoted from the Second, but one of those relegated, Accrington, chose to resign from the Football League rather than play in the Second Division. Meanwhile Bootle was dissolved because of financial problems. Yet the Second Division expanded to fifteen clubs for season 1893–94 (net increase three) by adding five new clubs: 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.
For its third season 1894–95, the Second Division expanded to sixteen (net increase one) 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.