The 2020–21 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 29th season under its current league division format.
Team changes The following teams have changed division since the 2019–20 season:
To Championship Promoted from League One Coventry City Rotherham United Wycombe Wanderers
Relegated from the Premier League Bournemouth Watford Norwich City
From Championship Promoted to the Premier League Leeds United West Bromwich Albion Fulham Relegated to League One Charlton Athletic Wigan Athletic Hull City
Stadiums
Team Location Stadium Capacity Barnsley Barnsley Oakwell 23,287 Birmingham City Birmingham St Andrew's 29,409 Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park 31,367 Bournemouth Bournemouth Dean Court 11,364 Brentford London Brentford Community Stadium 17,250 Bristol City Bristol Ashton Gate 27,000Cardiff City CardiffCardiff City Stadium 33,316 Coventry City Birmingham St Andrew's 29,409 Derby County Derby Pride Park Stadium 33,600 Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Kirklees Stadium 24,121 Luton Town Luton Kenilworth Road 10,356 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium 34,742 Millwall London The Den 20,146 Norwich City Norwich Carrow Road 27,244 Nottingham Forest Nottingham City Ground 30,445 Preston North End Preston Deepdale 23,408 Queens Park Rangers London Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium 18,439 Reading Reading Madejski Stadium 24,161 Rotherham United Rotherham New York Stadium 12,021 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Hillsborough Stadium 39,732 Stoke City Stoke-On-Trent Bet365 Stadium 30,089 Swansea City Swansea Liberty Stadium 21,088 Watford Watford Vicarage Road 22,200 Wycombe Wanderers High Wycombe Adams Park 9,448
Attendances As with the end to the previous season, the season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in games being played behind closed doors. However, on 19 September 2020, two matches in the division, between Norwich City and Preston North End at Carrow Road, and between Middlesbrough and Bournemouth at The Riverside Stadium, were held in front of 1,000 spectators, as part of EFL pilots.
This was seen as the beginning of fans gradually returning, but a rapid rise of cases from the end of September (eventually resulting in a second nationwide lockdown in November), led to plans being put on hold.
With the second nationwide lockdown ending on 2 December 2020, it was announced England would return to its previous three tier system, with clubs in Tier 2 allowed to host a maximum of 2,000 spectators. The first of these matches took place on 2 December 2020 itself, although the matches of Luton Town and Wycombe Wanderers were capped at 1,000 spectators, as they had not previously held an EFL pilot event.
On Saturday 5 December 2020, Reading, Millwall, Watford, Norwich City and Brentford all hosted matches in front of the maximum allotted 2,000 spectators permitted, with fans in attendance at Brentford Community Stadium for the very first time.
However, it was then announced that from Wednesday 16 December 2020, that London, parts of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire, would move up to Tier 3, the highest tier of restrictions in England, meaning football clubs in these areas, (for The EFL Championship: Brentford, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and Watford), would revert to playing behind closed doors without fans, due to a rise in coronavirus cases, following a tier review.
It was then announced that from Saturday, 19 December 2020 that Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire would also move into Tier 3, meaning for the EFL Championship that Luton Town, Reading & Wycombe Wanderers would also revert to playing behind closed doors without fans again, as of this date. Conversely, Bristol City, who had previously been unable to host fans, would now be able to allow fans back in, with Bristol being downgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2. As of these updated restrictions, it now meant that only Bournemouth, Bristol City and Norwich City's stadiums would be open to host fans in The EFL Championship. This was reversed on Wednesday 23 December 2020, with Bournemouth the sole team in the division eligible to host fans. A week later on 30 December 2020, Tier 2 was removed in England, with mainland England in either Tiers 3 or 4, meaning once again, no clubs could host fans for the foreseeable future. A third national lockdown in January 2021 meant that fans ultimately were barred from matches for the rest of the regular season. Following an easing of restrictions in May 2021, the play-offs were able to take place in front of crowds of up to 20% of a stadium's capacity.
Personnel and sponsoring
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer SponsorBarnsley Valérien Ismaël Alex MowattAlex Mowatt on Barnsley FC Barnsley Football Club. Retrieved 6 August 2020. Puma The Investment RoomBirmingham City Lee Bowyer Harlee Dean NikeBoyleSportsBlackburn Rovers Tony Mowbray Elliott Bennett UmbroRecoverite CompressionBournemouth Jonathan Woodgate Steve Cook UmbroMSP CapitalBrentford Thomas Frank Pontus Jansson UmbroUtilitaBristol City Nigel Pearson Tomáš Kalas HummelMansionBetCardiff City Mick McCarthy AdidasTourism MalaysiaCoventry City Mark Robins Liam Kelly HummelBoyleSportsDerby County Wayne Rooney David Marshall Umbro32RedHuddersfield Town Carlos Corberán Christopher Schindler UmbroVarious (home) Yorkshire Air Ambulance / The Town Foundation / Kirkwood Hospice (away and third)Luton Town Nathan Jones Sonny Bradley Umbro Middlesbrough Neil Warnock Jonny Howson Hummel32RedMillwall Gary Rowett Alex Pearce MacronHuski ChocolateNorwich City Daniel Farke Grant Hanley ErreàDafabetNottingham Forest Chris Hughton Michael Dawson MacronBoxt Preston North End Frankie McAvoy Alan Browne Nike32RedQueens Park Rangers Mark Warburton Geoff Cameron ErreàSenate Bespoke Reading Veljko Paunović Liam Moore MacronCasumo Rotherham United Paul Warne Richard Wood PumaSheffield Wednesday Darren Moore Barry Bannan Elev8Chansiri (home) Elev8 (away and third)Stoke City Michael O'NeillVacant Macronbet365Swansea City Steve Cooper Matt Grimes JomaSwansea University Watford Xisco Muñoz KelmeSportsbet.ioWycombe Wanderers Gareth Ainsworth Matt Bloomfield O'Neills Club captain Wayne Rooney retired from playing on 15 January 2021 to manage the club on a permanent basis, having served as interim player-manager since the previous November following the dismissal of Phillip Cocu. Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers' shirt sponsor was Football Index until 12 March 2021 when they entered administration.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Birmingham City End of caretaker spell22 July 2020Pre-season Aitor Karanka31 July 2020 Huddersfield Town Danny Schofield Carlos Corberán 23 July 2020Watford 26 July 2020 Vladimir Ivić15 August 2020Bournemouth Mutual consent1 August 2020 Jason Tindall8 August 2020Reading Mark Bowen29 August 2020 Veljko Paunović29 August 2020Barnsley Gerhard StruberSigned by New York Red Bulls6 October 2020 21st Valérien Ismaël23 October 2020Nottingham Forest Sabri LamouchiSacked22nd Chris Hughton6 October 2020Sheffield Wednesday Garry Monk9 November 202023rd Tony Pulis13 November 2020Derby County Phillip CocuMutual consent14 November 202024th Wayne Rooney27 November 2020Watford Vladimir IvićSacked19 December 20205th Xisco Muñoz20 December 2020 Sheffield Wednesday Tony Pulis28 December 202023rd Darren Moore1 March 2021Cardiff City Neil Harris21 January 202115th Mick McCarthy22 January 2021Bournemouth Jason Tindall3 February 20216th Jonathan Woodgate21 February 2021Bristol City Dean Holden16 February 202113th Nigel Pearson22 February 2021Birmingham City Aitor KarankaResigned16 March 202121st Lee Bowyer16 March 2021Preston North End Alex NeilSacked21 March 202116th Frankie McAvoy10 May 2021
League table
Play-offs
First leg
Second leg
Final
Results
Season statistics
Scoring
Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Ivan Toney1 Brentford 33 2 Adam Armstrong Blackburn Rovers 28 3 Teemu Pukki Norwich City 26 4 Kieffer Moore Cardiff City 20 5 Lucas João Reading 19 6 André Ayew2 Swansea City 17 Arnaut Danjuma1 Bournemouth 8 Emiliano Buendía Norwich City 15 Dominic Solanke Bournemouth 10 Jamal Lowe Swansea City 14
1 Includes 2 goals in The Championship play-offs. 2 Includes 1 goal in The Championship play-offs.
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Blackburn Rovers Wycombe Wanderers 5–0 (H) Luton Town Preston North End 3–0 (H) Brentford Cardiff City 3–2 (A) Wycombe Wanderers 7–2 (H) Norwich City Huddersfield Town 7–0 (H) Blackburn Rovers 5–2 (H) Cardiff City Birmingham City 4–0 (A) Blackburn Rovers 5–2 (H)
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets 1 Freddie Woodman1 Swansea City 21 2 Bartosz Białkowski Millwall 17 Tim Krul Norwich City Rafael Reading 5 Asmir Begović1 Bournemouth 16 David Raya Brentford 7 Brice Samba Nottingham Forest 14 8 Daniel Bachmann Watford 13 Marcus Bettinelli Middlesbrough Neil Etheridge Birmingham City 1 Includes 1 clean sheet in The Championship play-offs.
Discipline Players Most yellow cards: 12 Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford) Michael Ihiekwe (Rotherham United) Jefferson Lerma1 (Bournemouth) Most red cards: 2 Emiliano Buendía (Norwich City) Kyle McFadzean (Coventry City) 1 Includes 1 yellow card in The Championship play-offs.
Club Most yellow cards: 80 Rotherham United Watford Most red cards: 7 Sheffield Wednesday
Awards
Monthly MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthReferenceSeptember Veljko PaunovićReading Bradley JohnsonBlackburn RoversOctober Neil WarnockMiddlesbrough Ivan ToneyBrentfordNovember Vladimir IvićWatford David BrooksBournemouthDecember Thomas Frank Brentford Duncan Watmore MiddlesbroughJanuary Steve Cooper Swansea City Matt Crooks Rotherham UnitedFebruary Mick McCarthyCardiff City Teemu PukkiNorwich CityMarch Xisco MuñozWatford Alex MowattBarnsleyApril Jonathan WoodgateBournemouth Arnaut DanjumaBournemouth
Annual AwardWinnerClubPlayer of the Season Emiliano BuendíaNorwich CityYoung Player of the Season Michael OliseReading
Championship Team of the season Pos.PlayerClubRef.GK Asmir Begović BournemouthDF Max AaronsNorwich CityDF Grant Hanley Norwich CityDF Sean MorrisonCardiff CityDF Adam Masina Watford MF Emiliano BuendíaNorwich CityMF Michael OliseReadingMF Alex MowattBarnsleyFW Arnaut DanjumaBournemouthFW Ivan ToneyBrentfordFW Teemu PukkiNorwich CityManager Daniel FarkeNorwich City
PFA Championship Team of the Year
Pos.PlayerClubGK Tim KrulNorwich CityDF Max AaronsNorwich CityDF Ethan PinnockBrentfordDF Grant HanleyNorwich CityDF Rico HenryBrentfordMF Emiliano BuendíaNorwich CityMF Michael OliseReadingMF Oliver SkippNorwich CityFW Adam ArmstrongBlackburn RoversFW Ivan ToneyBrentfordFW Teemu PukkiNorwich City
Notes and references