The 2021–22 season was the 142nd competitive association football season in England.
National teams England men's national football team
Results and fixtures Friendlies
FIFA World Cup qualification
UEFA Group I
UEFA Euro 2020
Knockout phase
Final
UEFA Nations League
Group 3
England women's national football team
Results and fixtures Friendlies
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
Group D
2022 Arnold Clark Cup
UEFA competitions UEFA Super Cup
UEFA Champions League
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group F
Group H
Knockout phase
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
UEFA Europa League
Group stage
Group C
Group H
Knockout stage
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
UEFA Europa Conference League
Qualifying phase and play-off round
Play-off round
Group stage
Group G
Knockout stage
Knockout round play-offs
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
UEFA Youth League
UEFA Champions League Path
Group stage
Group A
Group B
Group F
Group H
Play-offs
Knockout round play-offs
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
UEFA Women's Champions League
Qualifying rounds
Round 1
Semi-finals
Final
Round 2
Group stage
Group A
Group C
Knockout phase
Quarter-finals
Men's football League DivisionPromoted to league Relegated from league Expelled or DissolvedRe-electedPremier LeagueNorwich City Watford Brentford Fulham West Bromwich Albion Sheffield United NoneNoneChampionshipHull City Peterborough United Blackpool Wycombe Wanderers Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday NoneNoneLeague OneCheltenham Town Cambridge United Bolton Wanderers Morecambe Rochdale Northampton Town Swindon Town Bristol Rovers NoneNoneLeague TwoSutton United Hartlepool United Southend United Grimsby Town NoneNoneNational LeagueNoneNoneMacclesfield TownBarnet King's Lynn Town
Premier League
Having looked all but sewn up at the start of 2022, the title race ended up going to the final day of the season, with Liverpool and Manchester City once again battling it out – a battle that City once again came out on top of in thanks in part to a superb run of form in the closing weeks and despite a very late scare on the final day, securing manager Pep Guardiola his fourth Premier League title in six seasons. Despite falling short in their hunt for a second top-flight title since 1990, ending hopes of an unprecedented quadruple, Liverpool nevertheless managed to end the season with trophy success, winning both the League Cup and the FA Cup on penalties, whilst going unbeaten in the league at Anfield for the fourth time in five seasons, reaching their third Champions League final in five seasons (narrowly losing to Real Madrid) becoming the first English team to reach the final of the Champions League and the domestic cup competitions in the same season.
Having also been in the title race at Christmas, Chelsea only secured a top-four spot in the closing week of the campaign, whilst also finishing the season empty-handed, including a third FA Cup final loss in three years (also losing the League Cup final to Liverpool), as their season quickly unravelled amid off-field troubles caused by sanctions being placed against owner Roman Abramovich in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, forcing Abramovich to put the club up for sale. North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur ended up battling it out to secure fourth place; in the end, Tottenham emerged victorious in spite of a dreadful start to the season under former Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo, with the appointment of former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte ultimately proving to be an inspired choice – as a result, despite recovering from their worst ever start to a Premier League season to achieve a return to European football, Arsenal could only manage fifth place as a result of several big losses in the spring.
Manchester United endured one of their worst season at the time since the retirement of Alex Ferguson, they has early exits in both domestic cups and several losses in the league, including losing 5–0 at home to Liverpool (and then 4–0 at Anfield in the return game) and 4–1 to promoted Watford, the later game ultimately resulting in the sacking of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær – and despite the appointment of Ralf Rangnick on an interim basis and the goals of returning striker Cristiano Ronaldo keeping them in the Champions League race, an equally poor end to the season saw the Red Devils finish sixth and with their lowest Premier League points total, only ensuring a Europa League spot and finished closer to Crystal Palace in 12th than Arsenal in 5th. Newcastle United had what proved to be an eventful season both on and off the pitch, at the start to the season, they were takeover by the Public Investment Fund after years of protest against owner Mike Ashley – and whilst the threat of relegation still lingered over the Magpies in the New Year, the appointment of new head coach Eddie Howe and a number of shrewd January signings helped the club rise up the table and into mid-table.
Despite picking up fewer wins than the previous year and seeing a number of first-team players depart in the summer, Crystal Palace had an impressive first season under the management of Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira, with Palace playing with a more attacking style of football and with the end results being quite successful, the club never got close to the relegation zone on top of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, finishing with a positive goal difference and taking four points off Manchester City in the league. Brentford enjoyed what proved to be a rollercoaster campaign in their first top flight season in 74 years, making a superb start before slowing down, but the January signing of midfielder Christian Eriksen proved to be a big turning point for their season, with Brentford picking up a number of wins (including their first away win against Chelsea in 83 years) in the closing months to ensure a second successive season in the Premier League.
Having won automatic promotion the previous season, both Norwich City and Watford endured an immediate return to the Championship – the tone for the Canaries' season being set by an opening run of six straight losses, with even the surprise decision to replace promotion-winning manager Daniel Farke with Dean Smith after eleven games failing to give the Norfolk club much in terms of inspiration; likewise for Watford, despite a reasonable start that included a 4–1 home victory over Manchester United in November, the Hornets simply never got to grips with the fast pace of the top-flight, making it through three different managers across the season and breaking a number of unwanted records for their form at Vicarage Road, including consecutive home losses and number of home losses as well as failing to keep a clean sheet until May. Taking the final relegation place, after weeks of twists and turns, were Burnley, the Clarets falling into the relegation zone in the closing minutes of the season; despite a late upturn in form following the controversial sacking of long-serving manager Sean Dyche, a late collapse that saw them gain just one point from their last four games proved fatal. Leeds United finished just above them, the equally controversial decision to sack promotion-winning manager Marcelo Bielsa in favour of Jesse Marsch proving to give the Yorkshire club just enough to avoid the drop, in spite of an atrocious defensive record - whilst Everton overcame one of their worst league seasons, including securing their joint-worst points tally for a league campaign in their history and recording just three wins in 23 between the start of October and early April, to finish in 16th.
Championship
Despite a few shaky spells of form across the season, Fulham secured promotion back to the Premier League as champions – their third in five years and their second consecutive immediate return – the London club never looking like falling out of the top six all season, becoming the first second-tier team in twenty years to score over 100 goals in a season and with star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring an unprecedented 43 of those, a new record for the second tier. Taking the second automatic promotion spot were Bournemouth, who put both their play-off disappointment the previous year and an inconsistent run of form over the winter months behind them to return to the top-flight after two years and earning manager Scott Parker his second promotion in three seasons (having ironically moved to the club from Fulham). In one of the biggest turnarounds of the season, Nottingham Forest took the final spot through the play-offs – having looked like facing relegation early in the season with one point from their first seven games, the appointment of former Swansea and England youth manager Steve Cooper saw the East Midlands club rocket up the table and solidify themselves in the top six after the March international break, before squeezing through the play-offs and ending a 23-year exile from the top-flight with victory over Huddersfield Town.
At the bottom of the table, owing to a points deduction being imposed on Reading for breaching financial rules, the Royals ended up enduring yet another relegation battle, albeit one that they managed to win at the expense of Barnsley, Derby County and Peterborough United – Barnsley enduring a horrendous opening half of the season and falling back into League One after three years, with even their usual late rally proving to be not enough to stave off the drop as the Tykes never quite recovered from the loss of manager Valérien Ismaël to West Bromwich Albion before the season started. Just one year after pulling off a narrow escape from relegation and in spite of some big results across the campaign, the points deductions imposed on Derby early in the season (12 for entering administration and 9 for financial irregularities) proved to be too much for the Rams to overcome, consigning the club to the third tier for the first time since 1986 – with even attempts to find new owners during the season almost ending in disaster, with a planned takeover falling through in June, before an ultimately successful takeover on the eve of the following season. Despite a late rally, Peterborough United endured immediate relegation back to League One, never really looking like escaping the drop in spite of both a decent run of wins in the early months of the season as well as the late return of former manager Grant McCann. Ultimately, Derby suffering the two points deductions spared the Royals from the drop, though in the event of neither side receiving any points deductions, they would still have been relegated due to their inferior goal difference compared to Birmingham City.
League One
The battle to finish in the top six ended up going to the last day of the season, owing to a big drop in form for frontrunners Rotherham United and the teams in and around the play-off places picking up points – but Wigan Athletic ultimately emerged as champions, putting the uncertainties of the previous year behind them and securing their third promotion to the Championship since 2016. Rotherham ultimately finished in second, a late good run of form propelling the Millers back into the second tier and ensuring their third immediate promotion from League One in five years, as well as the sixth consecutive season in which they moved between the Championship and League One. Taking the final promotion spot with a convincing play-off final win against Wycombe Wanderers were Sunderland, the Black Cats overcoming the surprise sacking of manager Lee Johnson at the end of January and some poor away form in the campaign to secure their first promotion in 15 years - with the equally surprising decision to appoint former Norwich City manager Alex Neil as head coach proving to be a successful one.