EFL League One

League One
Country	England
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	2004 1992–2004 (as Division Two) 1958–1992 (as Division Three) 1921–1958 (as Division Three North/South) 1920–1921 (as Division Three)
Number of teams	24
Promotion to	Championship
Relegation to	League Two
Levels on pyramid	3
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup EFL Cup EFL Trophy
UEFA cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via FA Cup) UEFA Europa Conference League (via EFL Cup)
Current champions	Wigan Athletic (2021–22)
Most successful club	Wigan Athletic (3 titles)
TV	Sky Sports Quest (highlights only)
Website	Official website
2021–22

The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League 1 for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division of the English Football League and the third tier in the English football league system.

League One was introduced for the 2004–05 season. It was previously known as the Football League Second Division and prior to the advent of the Premier League, the Football League Third Division.

At the 2018–19 season, Walsall hold the longest tenure in League One, last being out of the division in the 2006–07 season when they were promoted from League Two. There are currently seven former Premier League clubs competing in League One, namely Barnsley (1997–98), Blackpool (2010–11), Bradford City (2000–01), Charlton Athletic (2006–07), Coventry City (2000–01), Portsmouth (2009–10) and Sunderland (2016–17).

Structure

There are 24 clubs in League One. Each club plays every other club twice (once at home and once away). Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. At the end of the season a table of the final League standings is determined, based on the following criteria in this order: points obtained, goal difference, goals scored, an aggregate of the results between two or more clubs (ranked using the previous three criteria) and, finally, a series of one or more play-off matches.

At the end of each season the top two clubs, together with the winner of the play-offs between the clubs which finished in 3rd–6th position, are promoted to Football League Championship and are replaced by the three clubs that finished at the bottom of that division.

Similarly, the four clubs that finished at the bottom of Football League One are relegated to Football League Two and are replaced by the top three clubs and the club that won the 4th–7th place play-offs in that division.

Media coverage

Sky Sports currently show live League One matches with highlights shown on Channel 5 on their programme called Football League Tonight, which also broadcasts highlights of Football League Championship and Football League Two matches. The show is available on the red button the following Sunday until midday and is available on iPlayer all the following week. Highlights of all games in the Football League are also available to view separately on the Sky Sports website. In Sweden, TV4 Sport has the rights of broadcasting from the league. A couple of league matches during the season of 09/10 including play-off matches and the play-off final to the Championship were shown. In Australia, Setanta Sports Australia broadcasts live Championship matches. In the USA and surrounding countries including Cuba, some Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two games are shown on beIN Sports.

Current members (2021–22)

The following 24 clubs are competing in League One during the 2021–22 season.

Club	Finishing position last season	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Accrington Stanley	&0000000000000011.00000011th	Accrington	Crown Ground	5,057 (2,000 seated)
AFC Wimbledon	&0000000000000019.00000019th	London (Merton)	Plough Lane	9,215
Bolton Wanderers	&0000000000000027.0000003rd in League Two (promoted)	Horwich	University of Bolton Stadium	28,723
Burton Albion	&0000000000000016.00000016th	Burton upon Trent	Pirelli Stadium	6,912 (2,034 seated)
Cambridge United	&0000000000000026.0000002nd in League Two (promoted)	Cambridge	Abbey Stadium	8,127
Charlton Athletic	&0000000000000007.0000007th	London (Charlton)	The Valley	27,111
Cheltenham Town	&0000000000000025.0000001st in League Two (promoted)	Cheltenham	Whaddon Road	7,066
Crewe Alexandra	&0000000000000012.00000012th	Crewe	Gresty Road	10,180
Doncaster Rovers	&0000000000000014.00000014th	Doncaster	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
Fleetwood Town	&0000000000000015.00000015th	Fleetwood	Highbury Stadium	5,311 (2,701 seated)
Gillingham	&0000000000000010.00000010th	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium	11,582
Ipswich Town	&0000000000000009.000000 9th	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Lincoln City	&0000000000000005.0000005th	Lincoln	Sincil Bank	10,307
Milton Keynes Dons	&0000000000000013.00000013th	Milton Keynes	Stadium MK	30,500
Morecambe	&0000000000000028.0000004th in League Two (promoted via play-offs)	Morecambe	Globe Arena	6,476
Oxford United	&0000000000000006.0000006th	Oxford	Kassam Stadium	12,500
Plymouth Argyle	&0000000000000018.00000018th	Plymouth	Home Park	18,600
Portsmouth	&0000000000000008.0000008th	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	21,100
Rotherham United	&0000000000000002.00000023rd in Championship (relegated)	Rotherham	New York Stadium	12,021
Sheffield Wednesday	&0000000000000002.00000024th in Championship (relegated)	Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,732
Shrewsbury Town	&0000000000000017.00000017th	Shrewsbury	New Meadow	9,875
Sunderland	&0000000000000004.0000004th	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	48,707
Wigan Athletic	&0000000000000020.00000020th	Wigan	DW Stadium	25,138
Wycombe Wanderers	&0000000000000002.00000022nd in Championship (relegated)	High Wycombe	Adams Park	9,448

Teams promoted from League One

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Promoted Play-off Winner (Position)
2004–05	Luton Town	Hull City	Sheffield Wednesday (5th)
2005–06	Southend United	Colchester United	Barnsley (5th)
2006–07	Scunthorpe United	Bristol City	Blackpool (3rd)
2007–08	Swansea City	Nottingham Forest	Doncaster Rovers (3rd)
2008–09	Leicester City	Peterborough United	Scunthorpe United (6th)
2009–10	Norwich City	Leeds United	Millwall (3rd)
2010–11	Brighton & Hove Albion	Southampton	Peterborough United (4th)
2011–12	Charlton Athletic	Sheffield Wednesday	Huddersfield Town (4th)
2012–13	Doncaster Rovers	AFC Bournemouth	Yeovil Town (4th)
2013–14	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Brentford	Rotherham United (4th)
2014–15	Bristol City	Milton Keynes Dons	Preston North End (3rd)
2015–16	Wigan Athletic	Burton Albion	Barnsley (6th)
2016–17	Sheffield United	Bolton Wanderers	Millwall (6th)
2017–18	Wigan Athletic	Blackburn Rovers	Rotherham United (4th)
2018–19	Luton Town	Barnsley	Charlton Athletic (3rd)
2019–20	Coventry City	Rotherham United	Wycombe Wanderers (3rd)
2020–21	Hull City	Peterborough United	Blackpool (3rd)
2021–22	Wigan Athletic	Rotherham United	TBD (TBD)

Play-off results

Main article: Football League One play-offs

Season	Semi-final (1st Leg)	Semi-final (2nd Leg)	Final
2004–05	Sheffield Wednesday 1–0 Brentford Hartlepool United 2–0 Tranmere Rovers	Brentford 1–2 Sheffield Wednesday Tranmere Rovers 2–0 Hartlepool United (Hartlepool won 6–5 on penalties, a.e.t.)	Sheffield Wednesday 4–2 Hartlepool United (a.e.t.)
2005–06	Barnsley 0–1 Huddersfield Town Swansea City 1–1 Brentford	Huddersfield Town 1–3 Barnsley Brentford 0–2 Swansea City	Barnsley 2–2 Swansea City (Barnsley won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.]])
2006–07	Yeovil Town 0–2 Nottingham Forest Oldham Athletic 1–2 Blackpool	Nottingham Forest 2–5 Yeovil Town (a.e.t.) Blackpool 3–1 Oldham Athletic	Blackpool 2–0 Yeovil Town
2007–08	Southend United 0–0 Doncaster Rovers Leeds United 1–2 Carlisle United	Doncaster Rovers 5–1 Southend United Carlisle United 0–2 Leeds United	Leeds United 0–1 Doncaster Rovers
2008–09	Scunthorpe United 1–1 Milton Keynes Dons Millwall 1–0 Leeds United	Milton Keynes Dons 0–0 Scunthorpe United (Scunthorpe won 7–6 on penalties, a.e.t.) Leeds United 1–1 Millwall	Scunthorpe United 3–2 Millwall
2009–10	Swindon Town 2–1 Charlton Athletic Huddersfield Town 0–0 Millwall	Charlton Athletic 2–1 Swindon Town (Swindon won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.) Millwall 2–0 Huddersfield Town	Millwall 1–0 Swindon Town
2010–11	AFC Bournemouth 1–1 Huddersfield Town Milton Keynes Dons 3–2 Peterborough United	Huddersfield Town 3–3 AFC Bournemouth (Huddersfield won 4–2 on penalties, a.e.t.) Peterborough United 2–0 Milton Keynes Dons	Huddersfield Town 0–3 Peterborough United
2011–12	Stevenage 0–0 Sheffield United Milton Keynes Dons 0–2 Huddersfield Town	Sheffield United 1–0 Stevenage Huddersfield Town 1–2 Milton Keynes Dons	Huddersfield Town 0–0 Sheffield United (Huddersfield won 8–7 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2012–13	Sheffield United 1–0 Yeovil Town Swindon Town 1–1 Brentford	Yeovil Town 2–0 Sheffield United Brentford 3–3 Swindon Town (Brentford won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.)	Brentford 1–2 Yeovil Town
2013–14	Peterborough United 1–1 Leyton Orient Preston North End 1–1 Rotherham United	Leyton Orient 2–1 Peterborough United Rotherham United 3–1 Preston North End	Leyton Orient 2–2 Rotherham United (Rotherham won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2014–15	Chesterfield 0–1 Preston North End Sheffield United 1–2 Swindon Town	Preston North End 3–0 Chesterfield Swindon Town 5–5 Sheffield United	Preston North End 4–0 Swindon Town
2015–16	Barnsley 3–0 Walsall Bradford City 1–3 Millwall	Walsall 1–3 Barnsley Millwall 1–1 Bradford City	Barnsley 3–1 Millwall
2016–17	Millwall 0–0 Scunthorpe United Bradford City 1–0 Fleetwood Town	Scunthorpe United 2–3 Millwall Fleetwood Town 0–0 Bradford City	Bradford City 0–1 Millwall
2017–18	Charlton Athletic 0–1 Shrewsbury Town Scunthorpe United 2–2 Rotherham United	Shrewsbury Town 1–0 Charlton Athletic Rotherham United 2–0 Scunthorpe United	Rotherham United 2–1 Shrewsbury Town (a.e.t.)
2018–19	Doncaster Rovers 1–2 Charlton Athletic Sunderland 1–0 Portsmouth	Charlton Athletic 2–3 Doncaster Rovers (Charlton Athletic won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.]]) Portsmouth 0–0 Sunderland A.F.C 25 - ] } - ] 31 - A.F.C.|Sunderland]]	Charlton Athletic 2–1 Sunderland
2019–20	Portsmouth 1–1 Oxford United Fleetwood Town 1–4 Wycombe Wanderers	Oxford United 1–1 Portsmouth (Oxford United won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.) Wycombe Wanderers 2–2 Fleetwood Town	Oxford United 1–2 Wycombe Wanderers
2020–21	Oxford United 0–3 Blackpool Lincoln City 2–0 Sunderland	Blackpool 3-3 Oxford United Sunderland 2–1 Lincoln City	Blackpool 2-1 Lincoln City

Relegated teams

Season	Clubs
2004–05	Torquay United (51), Wrexham (43), Peterborough United (39), Stockport County (26)
2005–06	Hartlepool United (50), Milton Keynes Dons (50), Swindon Town (48), Walsall (47)
2006–07	Chesterfield (47), Bradford City (47), Rotherham United (38), Brentford (37)
2007–08	AFC Bournemouth (48), Gillingham (46), Port Vale (38), Luton Town (33)
2008–09	Northampton Town (49), Crewe Alexandra (46), Cheltenham Town (39), Hereford United (34)
2009–10	Gillingham (50), Wycombe Wanderers (45), Southend United (43), Stockport County (25)
2010–11	Dagenham & Redbridge (47), Bristol Rovers (45), Plymouth Argyle (42), Swindon Town (41)
2011–12	Wycombe Wanderers (43), Chesterfield (42), Exeter City (42), Rochdale (38)
2012–13	Scunthorpe United (48), Bury (41), Hartlepool United (41), Portsmouth (32)
2013–14	Stevenage (47), Shrewsbury Town (45), Carlisle United (42), Tranmere Rovers (42)
2014–15	Notts County (50), Crawley Town (50), Leyton Orient (49), Yeovil Town (40)
2015–16	Doncaster Rovers (46), Blackpool (46), Colchester United (40), Crewe Alexandra (34)
2016–17	Port Vale (49), Swindon Town (44), Coventry City (39), Chesterfield (37)
2017–18	Oldham Athletic (50), Northampton Town (47), Milton Keynes Dons (45), Bury (36)
2018–19	Plymouth Argyle (50), Walsall (47), Scunthorpe United (46), Bradford City (41)
2019–20	Tranmere Rovers (0.94), Southend United (0.54), Bolton Wanderers (0.41), Bury
2020–21	Rochdale (47), Northampton Town (45), Swindon Town (43), Bristol Rovers (38)
2021–22	Gillingham (40), Doncaster Rovers (38), AFC Wimbledon (37), Crewe Alexandra (29)

Top scorers

Season	Top scorer(s)	Club(s)	Goals
2004–05	Stuart Elliott	Hull City	27
	Dean Windass	Bradford City
2005–06	Freddy Eastwood	Southend United	23
	Billy Sharp	Scunthorpe United
2006–07	Billy Sharp	Scunthorpe United	30
2007–08	Jason Scotland	Swansea City	24
2008–09	Simon Cox	Swindon Town	29
	Rickie Lambert	Bristol Rovers
2009–10	Rickie Lambert	Southampton	30
2010–11	Craig Mackail-Smith	Peterborough United	27
2011–12	Jordan Rhodes	Huddersfield Town	36
2012–13	Paddy Madden	Yeovil Town	24
2013–14	Sam Baldock	Bristol City	24
2014–15	Joe Garner	Preston North End	26
2015–16	Will Grigg	Wigan Athletic	25
2016–17	Billy Sharp	Sheffield United	30
2017–18	Jack Marriott	Peterborough United	27
2018–19	James Collins	Luton Town	25
2019–20	Ivan Toney	Peterborough United	24
2020–21	Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United	31
2021–22	Will Keane	Wigan Athletic	26

Financial Fair Play

Starting from the 2012–13 season, a Financial Fair Play arrangement has been in place in all 3 divisions of the Football League, the intention being eventually to produce a league of financially self-sustaining clubs. In League One, this takes the form of a Salary Cost Management Protocol in which a maximum of 60% of a club's turnover may be spent on players' wages, with sanctions being applied in the form of transfer embargoes.

See also

• 1920–21 (as Football League Division Three)
• 1921–22 & 1957–58 (as Football League Division Three North/South)
• 1958–59 & 1992–93 (as Football League Division Three)
• 1992–93 & 2003–04 (as Football League Division Two)

External links

Football League One Portal

• Football League One official site
• Football League One clubs' locations