2015–16 Football League Championship

Football League Championship 2015-16
Season information
Winners	Burnley (3rd divisional title)
Promoted	Burnley Middlesbrough Hull City
Relegated	Bolton Wanderers Charlton Athletic Milton Keynes Dons
Season statistics
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1337
Average	2.42
Top goalscorer	Andre Gray (25)
Biggest home win	6–0 Hull City vs Charlton (16 January 2016)
Biggest away win	0–5 Rotherham vs MK Dons (8 August 2015)
Highest scoring	2–4 Milton Keynes Dons vs Burnley (12 January 2016)
← 2014-15	2016-17 →

The 2015–16 Football League Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the twelve season of the Football League Championship under its current title and the twenty-third season under its current league division format.

Promotion and relegation

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2014–15 season. Blackpool were relegated on 6 April after Rotherham United won against Brighton & Hove Albion. Bristol City secured promotion to the Championship on 14 April after beating Bradford City 6–0. Watford secured promotion to the Premier League on 25 April. Rotherham United won against Reading on 28 April to also send Millwall and Wigan Athletic to League One. Bournemouth secured promotion to the Premier League on the final day on 2 May against Charlton Athletic and won the 2014–15 Football League Championship after Watford slipped up against Sheffield Wednesday. Milton Keynes Dons secured promotion to the Championship after beating Yeovil Town 5–1 after Preston North End slipped up against Colchester United. On 9 May, Burnley became the first team to be relegated from the Premier League despite winning away 1–0 against Hull City as results on the day went against them. On 10 May, Queens Park Rangers were the second team to be relegated from the Premier League after suffering a 6–0 defeat to Manchester City. On 24 May 2015, Hull City were the 3rd and final team to be relegated from the Premier League, finishing 18th in the Premier League. On the same day Preston North End achieved promotion at Wembley via the Play-Offs. On 25 May 2015, Norwich City won the playoff final, and were promoted to the Premier League.

To Championship Promoted from League One Bristol City Milton Keynes Dons Preston North End Relegated from Premier League Burnley QPR Hull City

From Championship Relegated to League One Blackpool Millwall Wigan Athletic Promoted to Premier League Bournemouth Watford Norwich City

Rule changes

The 2015-16 season is the last season under the initial Financial Fair Play rules before the switch to the new rules. Changes to the Championship's financial fair play system allow clubs:

• Acceptable losses of £2 million during the 2015–16 season (down from £3 million during the 2014–15 season)
• Acceptable shareholder equity investment of £3 million during the 2015–16 season.
• Sanctions for exceeding the allowances take effect from the set of accounts due to be submitted on 1 December 2015 for the 2014–15 season.

Team overview

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	Macron Stadium
Brentford	London (Brentford)	Griffin Park
Brighton & Hove Albion	Brighton	American Express Stadium
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate
Burnley	Burnley	Turf Moor
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Cardiff City Stadium
Charlton Athletic	London (Charlton)	The Valley
Derby County	Derby	iPro Stadium
Fulham	London (Fulham)	Craven Cottage
Huddersfield Town	Huddersfield	John Smith's Stadium
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KC Stadium
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium
Milton Keynes Dons	Milton Keynes	Stadium:mk
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham	City Ground
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale
Queens Park Rangers	London (White City)	Loftus Road
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium
Rotherham United	Rotherham	New York Stadium
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Wolverhampton	Molineux

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsor
Birmingham City	Rowett, GaryGary Rowett	Carbrini	EZE Group
Blackburn Rovers	Bowyer, GaryGary Bowyer	Nike	Dafabet
Bolton Wanderers	Lennon, NeilNeil Lennon	Macron	ROK Mobile
Brentford	Dijkhuizen, MarinusMarinus Dijkhuizen	Adidas	Matchbook.com
Brighton & Hove Albion	Hughton, ChrisChris Hughton	Nike	American Express
Bristol City	Cotterill, SteveSteve Cotterill	Bristol Sport	RSG
Burnley	Dyche, SeanSean Dyche	Puma	Oak Furniture Land (home) Sofastore.com (away)
Cardiff City	Slade, RussellRussell Slade	Adidas	Visit Malaysia
Charlton Athletic	Luzon, GuyGuy Luzon	Nike	University of Greenwich (front) Andrews Sykes (back) Mitsubishi Electric (shorts)
Derby County	Paul Clement	Umbro	JUST EAT
Fulham	Symons, KitKit Symons	Adidas	Visit Florida
Huddersfield Town	Powell, ChrisChris Powell	Puma	PURE Legal (home) RadianB (away) Cavonia (third)
Hull City	Bruce, SteveSteve Bruce	Umbro	Flamingo Land
Ipswich Town	McCarthy, MickMick McCarthy	Adidas	Marcus Evans
Leeds United	Rosler, UweUwe Rosler	Kappa	No sponsor
Middlesbrough	Karanka, AitorAitor Karanka	Adidas	Ramsdens
Milton Keynes Dons	Robinson, KarlKarl Robinson	Erreà	Suzuki
Nottingham Forest	Freedman, DougieDougie Freedman	Adidas	Fawaz International Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Company
Preston North End	Grayson, SimonSimon Grayson	Nike	Virgin Trains]
Queens Park Rangers	Chris Ramsey	Nike	AirAsia
Reading	Clarke, SteveSteve Clarke	Puma	Carabao Daeng (home) Thai Airways (away) Waitrose (Home back) Euro Cake (Away back) Legend Alliance (shorts)
Rotherham United	Evans, SteveSteve Evans	Puma	Parkgate Shopping (home) Balreed (away) TGB Sheds (third)
Sheffield Wednesday	Carvalhal, CarlosCarlos Carvalhal	Sondico	Chansiri
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Jackett, KennyKenny Jackett	Puma	Silverbug

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Brentford	Mark Warburton	Contract Expired	15 May 2015	Pre-season	Marinus Dijkhuizen	1 June 2015
Leeds United	Neil Redfearn	Sacked	20 May 2015		Uwe Rosler	20 May 2015
Derby County	Steve McClaren		25 May 2015		Paul Clement	1 June 2015
Sheffield Wednesday	Stuart Gray		12 June 2015		Carlos Carvalhal	30 June 2015

Play-Offs

See also: 2016 Football League play-offs

The Play-offs are played between the teams that finish from third to sixth with the winning team gaining the final promotion spot to the Premier League. The Play-Off Semi-Finals will see the sixth placed team play the third placed team and the fifth placed team play the fourth placed team. The team that finishes in the lower position will play at home in the first leg then play away in the second leg. If the aggregate score is level after both legs, then extra time will be play. If the scores are still level, a penalty shoot-out will decide the winner. Away goals do not count.

The winners from the two semi-finals will play at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2016 in the Play-Off Final. The game is known as the richest game in football as promotion to the Premier League will help financially boost the club that achieve it.

League Table

2015–16 Football League Championship table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Burnley  (C) (P)	46	26	15	5	72	35	+37	93	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Middlesbrough  (P)	46	26	11	9	63	31	+32	89
3	Brighton & Hove Albion  (Q)	46	24	17	5	72	42	+30	89	Qualification to the Championship Play-offs
4	Hull City  (P) (Q)	46	24	11	11	69	35	+34	83
5	Derby County  (Q)	46	21	15	10	66	43	+23	78
6	Sheffield Wednesday  (Q)	46	19	17	10	66	45	+21	74
7	Ipswich Town	46	18	15	13	53	51	+2	69
8	Cardiff City	46	17	17	12	56	51	+5	68
9	Brentford	46	19	8	19	72	67	+5	65
10	Birmingham City	46	16	15	15	53	49	+4	63
11	Preston North End	46	15	17	14	45	45	0	62
12	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	18	14	54	54	0	60
13	Leeds United	46	14	17	15	50	59	−9	59
14	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	14	16	16	53	58	−5	58
15	Blackburn Rovers	46	13	16	17	46	46	0	55
16	Nottingham Forest	46	13	16	17	43	47	−4	55
17	Reading	46	13	13	20	52	59	−7	52
18	Bristol City	46	13	13	20	54	71	−17	52
19	Huddersfield Town	46	13	12	21	59	70	−11	51
20	Fulham	46	12	15	19	66	79	−13	51
21	Rotherham United	46	13	10	23	53	71	−18	49
22	Charlton Athletic  (R)	46	9	13	24	40	80	−40	40	Relegation to the Football League One
23	Milton Keynes Dons  (R)	46	9	12	25	39	69	−30	39
24	Bolton Wanderers  (R)	46	5	15	26	41	81	−40	30

Updated to games played on 7 May 2016
Source: [ Statto.com]
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Results

Home \ Away

BIR

BLA

BOL

BRE

BHA

BRC

BUR

CDC

CHA

DER

FUL

HUD

HUL

IPS

LEE

MID

MKD

NTF

PNE

QPR

REA

ROT

SHW

WOL

Birmingham City

0–0

1–0

2–1

1–2

4–2

1–2

1–0

0–1

1–1

1–1

0–2

1–0

3–0

1–2

2–2

1–0

0–1

2–2

2–1

2–1

0–2

1–2

0–2

Blackburn Rovers

2–0

0–0

1–1

0–1

2–2

0–1

1–1

3–0

0–0

3–0

0–2

0–2

2–0

1–2

2–1

3–2

0–0

1–2

1–1

3–1

1–0

2–2

1–2

Bolton Wanderers

0–1

1–0

1–1

2–2

0–0

1–2

2–3

0–0

0–0

2–2

0–2

1–0

2–2

1–1

1–2

3–1

1–1

1–2

1–1

0–1

2–1

0–0

2–1

Brentford

0–2

0–1

3–1

0–0

1–1

1–3

2–1

1–2

1–3

3–0

4–2

0–2

2–2

1–1

0–1

2–0

2–1

2–1

1–0

1–3

2–1

1–2

3–0

Brighton & Hove Albion

2–1

1–0

3–2

3–0

2–1

2–2

1–1

3–2

1–1

5–0

2–1

1–0

0–1

4–0

0–3

2–1

1–0

0–0

4–0

1–0

2–1

0–0

0–1

Bristol City

0–0

0–2

6–0

2–4

0–4

1–2

0–2

1–1

2–3

1–4

4–0

1–1

2–1

2–2

1–0

1–1

2–0

1–2

1–1

0–2

1–1

4–1

1–0

Burnley

2–2

1–0

2–0

1–0

1–1

4–0

0–0

4–0

4–1

3–1

2–1

1–0

0–0

1–0

1–1

2–1

1–0

0–2

1–0

1–2

2–0

3–1

1–1

Cardiff City

1–1

1–0

2–1

3–2

4–1

0–0

2–2

2–1

2–1

1–1

2–0

0–2

1–0

0–2

1–0

0–0

1–1

2–1

0–0

2–0

2–2

2–2

2–0

Charlton Athletic

2–1

1–1

2–2

0–3

1–3

0–1

0–3

0–0

0–1

2–2

1–2

2–1

0–3

0–0

2–0

0–0

1–1

0–3

2–0

3–4

1–1

3–1

0–2

Derby County

0–3

1–0

4–1

2–0

2–2

4–0

0–0

2–0

1–1

2–0

2–0

4–0

0–1

1–2

1–1

0–1

1–0

0–0

1–0

1–1

3–0

1–1

4–2

Fulham

2–5

2–1

1–0

2–2

1–2

1–2

2–3

2–1

3–0

1–1

1–1

0–1

1–2

1–1

0–2

2–1

1–3

1–1

4–0

4–2

4–1

0–1

0–3

Huddersfield Town

1–1

1–1

4–1

1–5

1–1

1–2

1–3

2–3

5–0

1–2

1–1

2–2

0–1

0–3

0–2

2–0

1–1

3–1

0–1

3–1

2–0

0–1

1–0

Hull City

2–0

1–1

1–0

2–0

0–0

4–0

3–0

2–0

6–0

0–2

2–1

2–0

3–0

2–2

3–0

1–1

1–1

2–0

1–1

2–1

5–1

0–0

2–1

Ipswich Town

1–1

2–0

2–0

1–3

2–3

2–2

2–0

0–0

0–0

0–1

1–1

0–0

0–1

2–1

0–2

3–2

1–0

1–1

2–1

2–1

0–1

2–1

2–2

Leeds United

0–2

0–2

2–1

1–1

1–2

1–0

1–1

1–0

1–2

2–2

1–1

1–4

2–1

0–1

0–0

1–1

0–1

1–0

1–1

3–2

0–1

1–1

2–1

Middlesbrough

0–0

1–1

3–0

3–1

1–1

0–1

1–0

3–1

3–0

2–0

0–0

3–0

1–0

0–0

3–0

2–0

0–1

1–0

1–0

2–1

1–0

1–0

2–1

Milton Keynes Dons

0–2

3–0

1–0

1–4

1–2

0–2

0–5

2–1

1–0

1–3

1–1

1–1

0–2

0–1

1–2

1–1

1–2

0–1

2–0

1–0

0–4

2–1

1–2

Nottingham Forest

1–1

1–1

3–0

0–3

1–2

1–2

1–1

1–2

0–0

1–0

3–0

0–2

0–1

1–1

1–1

1–2

2–1

1–0

0–0

3–1

2–1

0–3

1–1

Preston North End

1–1

1–2

0–0

1–3

0–0

1–1

0–1

0–0

2–1

1–2

1–2

2–1

1–0

1–2

1–1

0–0

1–1

1–0

1–1

1–0

2–1

1–0

1–1

Queens Park Rangers

2–0

2–2

4–3

3–0

2–2

1–0

0–0

2–2

2–1

2–0

1–3

1–1

1–2

1–0

1–0

2–3

3–0

1–2

0–0

1–1

4–2

0–0

1–1

Reading

0–2

1–0

2–1

1–2

1–1

1–0

0–0

1–1

1–0

0–1

2–2

2–2

1–2

5–1

0–0

2–0

0–0

2–1

1–2

0–1

1–0

1–1

0–0

Rotherham United

0–0

0–1

4–0

2–1

2–0

3–0

1–2

2–1

1–4

3–3

1–3

1–1

2–0

2–5

2–1

1–0

1–4

0–0

0–0

0–3

1–1

1–2

1–2

Sheffield Wednesday

3–0

2–1

3–2

4–0

0–0

2–0

1–1

3–0

3–0

0–0

3–2

3–1

1–1

1–1

2–0

1–3

0–0

1–0

3–1

1–1

1–1

0–1

4–1

Wolverhampton Wanderers

0–0

0–0

2–2

0–2

0–0

2–1

0–0

1–3

2–1

2–1

3–2

3–0

1–1

0–0

2–3

1–3

0–0

1–1

1–2

2–3

1–0

0–0

2–1

Updated to games played on 7 May 2016
Source: BBC Sport
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Top scorers

As of matches played 7 May 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Andre Gray	Burnley	25
2	Ross McCormack	Fulham	21
3	Abel Hernández	Hull City	20
4	Jonathan Kodjia	Bristol City	18
5	Nahki Wells	Huddersfield Town	17
	Tomer Hemed	Brighton & Hove Albion
7	Jordan Rhodes	Blackburn Rovers/Middlesbrough	16
8	Moussa Dembélé	Fulham	15
	Chris Martin	Derby County
	Fernando Forestieri	Sheffield Wednesday

External links