2016–17 English Football League

The Football League 2016–17
Season information
Season statistics
← 2015–16	2017-18 →

The 2016–17 English Football League (known as the Sky Bet Football League for sponsorship reasons) is the 118th season of the English Football League. It will begin on 6 August 2016 and conclude on 6 May 2017, with the promotion play-off finals at Wembley Stadium on dates to be announced later. The EFL is contested through three Divisions. The divisions are the Championship, League One and League Two. The winner and the runner up of the Championship will be automatically promoted to the Premier League and they will be joined by the winner of the Championship playoff. The bottom two teams in League Two will be relegated to the National League.

It is the league's first season after rebranding from the Football League to the English Football League.

Promotion and relegation

From the Premier League

Relegated to the Championship

• Newcastle United
• Norwich City
• Aston Villa

From the Championship

Promoted to the Premier League

• Burnley
• Middlesbrough

Relegated to League One

• Charlton Athletic
• Milton Keynes Dons
• Bolton Wanderers

From League One

Promoted to the Championship

• Wigan Athletic
• Burton Albion

Relegated to League Two

• Doncaster Rovers
• Blackpool
• Colchester United
• Crewe Alexandra

From League Two

Promoted to League One

• Northampton Town
• Oxford United
• Bristol Rovers

Relegated to the National League

• Dagenham & Redbridge
• York City

From the National League

Promoted to League Two

• Cheltenham Town

League tables

Sky Bet Championship

Main article: 2016–17 Football League Championship

Table

2016–17 Football League Championship table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Newcastle Utd  (C) (P)	46	29	7	10	85	40	+45	94	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Brighton  (P)	46	28	9	9	74	40	+34	93
3	Reading	46	26	7	13	68	64	+4	85	Qualification to the Championship Play-offs
4	Reading	46	24	9	13	60	45	+15	81
5	Huddersfield Town  (P)	46	25	6	15	56	58	−2	81
6	Fulham	46	22	14	10	85	57	+28	80
7	Leeds United	46	22	9	15	61	47	+14	75
8	Norwich City	46	20	10	16	85	69	+16	70
9	Derby County	46	18	13	15	54	50	+4	67
10	Brentford	46	18	10	18	75	65	+10	64
11	Preston North End	46	16	14	16	64	63	+1	62
12	Cardiff City	46	17	11	18	60	61	−1	62
13	Aston Villa	46	16	14	16	47	48	−1	62
14	Barnsley	46	15	13	18	64	67	−3	58
15	Wolves	46	16	10	20	54	58	−4	58
16	Ipswich Town	46	13	16	17	48	58	−10	55
17	Bristol City	45	14	9	22	60	66	−6	51
18	Queens Park Rangers	46	15	8	23	52	66	−14	53
19	Birmingham City	46	13	14	19	45	64	−19	53
20	Burton Albion	46	13	13	20	49	63	−14	52
21	Nottm Forest	46	14	9	23	62	72	−10	51
22	Blackburn Rovers  (R)	46	12	15	19	53	65	−12	51	Relegation to the Football League One
23	Wigan Athletic  (R)	46	10	12	24	40	57	−17	42
24	Rotherham United  (R)	46	5	8	33	40	98	−58	23

Updated to games played on 7 May 2017
Source: EFL.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

Sky Bet League One

Main article: 2016–17 Football League One

Table

2016–17 Football League One table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sheffield Utd  (C) (P)	46	30	10	6	92	47	+45	100	Promotion to the Championship
2	Bolton Wanderers  (P)	46	25	11	10	68	36	+32	86
3	Scunthorpe United	46	24	10	12	80	54	+26	82	Qualification to the League One play-offs
4	Fleetwood Town	46	23	13	10	64	43	+21	82
5	Bradford City	46	20	19	7	62	43	+19	79
6	Millwall  (P) (O)	46	20	13	13	66	57	+9	73
7	Southend United	46	20	12	14	70	53	+17	72
8	Oxford United	46	20	9	17	65	52	+13	69
9	Rochdale	46	19	12	15	71	62	+9	69
10	Bristol Rovers	46	18	12	16	68	70	−2	66
11	Peterborough United	46	17	11	18	62	62	0	62
12	Milton Keynes Dons	46	16	13	17	60	58	+2	61
13	Charlton Athletic	46	14	18	14	60	53	+7	60
14	Walsall	46	14	16	16	51	58	−7	58
15	AFC Wimbledon	46	13	18	15	52	55	−3	57
16	Northampton Town	46	14	11	21	60	73	−13	53
17	Oldham Athletic	46	12	17	17	31	44	−13	53
18	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	12	21	46	63	−17	51
19	Bury	46	13	11	22	61	73	−12	50
20	Gillingham	46	12	14	20	59	79	−20	50
21	Port Vale  (R)	46	12	13	21	45	70	−25	49	Relegation to the League Two
22	Swindon Town  (R)	46	11	11	24	44	66	−22	44
23	Coventry City  (R)	46	9	12	25	37	68	−31	39
24	Chesterfield  (R)	46	9	10	27	43	78	−35	37

Updated to games played on 30 April 2017
Source: BBC Sport
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

Sky Bet League Two

Main article: 2016–17 Football League Two

Table

2016–17 Football League Two table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Portsmouth  (C) (P)	46	26	9	11	79	40	+39	87	Promotion to Football League One
2	Plymouth Argyle  (P)	46	26	9	11	71	46	+25	87
3	Doncaster Rovers  (P)	46	25	10	11	85	55	+30	85
4	Luton Town	46	20	17	9	70	43	+27	77	Qualification to the League Two play-offs
5	Exeter City	46	21	8	17	75	56	+19	71
6	Carlisle United	46	18	17	11	69	68	+1	71
7	Blackpool  (P)	46	18	16	12	69	46	+23	70
8	Colchester United	46	19	12	15	67	57	+10	69
9	Wycombe Wanderers	46	19	12	15	58	53	+5	69
10	Stevenage	46	20	7	19	67	33	+34	67
11	Cambridge United	46	19	9	18	58	50	+8	66
12	Mansfield Town	46	17	15	14	54	50	+4	66
13	Accrington Stanley	46	17	14	15	59	56	+3	65
14	Grimsby Town	46	17	11	18	59	63	−4	62
15	Barnet	46	14	15	17	57	64	−7	57
16	Notts County	46	16	8	22	54	76	−22	56
17	Crewe Alexandra	46	14	13	19	58	67	−9	55
18	Morecambe	46	14	10	22	53	73	−20	52
19	Crawley Town	46	13	12	21	53	71	−18	51
20	Yeovil Town	46	11	17	18	49	64	−15	50
21	Cheltenham Town	46	12	14	20	49	69	−20	50
22	Newport County	46	12	12	22	51	73	−22	48
23	Hartlepool United  (R)	46	11	13	22	54	75	−21	46	Relegation to the National League
24	Leyton Orient  (R)	46	10	6	30	47	87	−40	36

Source: BBC Sport
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

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table at time of departure	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Position in table at time of appointment
Stevenage	Teddy Sheringham	Sacked	2015–16 season	Pre-season	Darren Sarll	8 May 2016	Pre-season
Aston Villa	Garde, RémiRémi Garde	Mutual consent	2015–16 Premier League season
Blackburn Rovers	Lambert, PaulPaul Lambert		7 May 2016
Cardiff City	Slade, RussellRussell Slade	Promoted to head of football	7 May 2016
Charlton Athletic	Riga, JoséJosé Riga	Resigned	7 May 2016
Sheffield United	Adkins, NigelNigel Adkins	Sacked	12 May 2016		Wilder, ChrisChris Wilder	12 May 2016
Northampton Town	Wilder, ChrisChris Wilder	Signed by Sheffield United	12 May 2016

External links

• Football League website
• BBC Sport