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| Football League First Division |
Football League First DivisionFrom the 1992-1993 to the 2003-2004 season, the Football League First Division was the highest division of The Football League and the second-highest division in the overall English football league system. Before that it was the top division overall, but that ended with the creation of the FA Premier League.
The First Division was renamed as the Football League Championship prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.
Teams
There were 24 teams in the First Division. At the end of each season the top two teams, together with the winner of the play-offs between the teams which finished in 3rd-6th position, were promoted to the Premier League and are replaced by the three teams that finished at the bottom of the Premier League. Similarly the three teams that finished at the bottom of the First Division were relegated to the Second Division and replaced by the teams which finished 1st, 2nd, and won the 3rd-6th place play-off winners, in that division.
Previous First Division champions
For quick reference, teams in bold are champions that also owned the league's top-scorer in the season they won the title.
As above, winners who also owned that season's top-scorer are in bold.
Category:English football competitions (defunct)
Division 1
simple:English Division One
1992-93 in English footballThe 1992-1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.
Overview
This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions.
In 1992 all of the First Division Clubs resigned from the football league and on 27th May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company, which worked out of an office at the then Football Association's headquarters, Lancaster Gate.
Events
- 27 May 1992: The FA Premier League is formed.
- 15 August 1992: Sheffield United's Brian Deane scores the first ever Premiership goal against Manchester United after 5 minutes.
Honours
English national team
League tables
FA Premier League
Football League Division One
Football League Division Two
Football League Division Three
Transfer deals
For subsequent transfer deals see 1993-94 in English football.
Deaths
2003-04 in English footballThe 2003-2004 season was the 124th season of competitive football in England, from August 2003 to July 2004:
Events
- 29 February 2004: Middlesbrough win their first ever trophy as a professional club by beating Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup final.
- 5 March 2004: Three Leicester City players, Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair, are charged with sexual assault while on a training camp in La Manga, Spain. All charges are dropped in May.
- 27 May 2004: Telford United are liquidated and removed from the Conference as a result.
- 2 June 2004: José Mourinho takes over as manager of Chelsea, replacing Claudio Ranieri.
- 16 June 2004: Rafael Benitez takes over as manager of Liverpool, replacing Gérard Houllier.
- 21 June 2004: Wimbledon F.C. announces that it will change its name to Milton Keynes Dons F.C., reflecting its highly controversial move from South London to Milton Keynes.
Key
ECQ = Euro 2004 qualifiers
ECF = Euro 2004 finals
F = Friendly; scores are written England first
(FT) = Full time
(aet) = After extra time
(P) = After penalty shoot out
Honours
European qualifiers
Group phase
- Arsenal
- Chelsea
Qualifying round
- Manchester United
- Liverpool
- Millwall (FA Cup finalist; Cup winner Man United qualified for Champions League)
- Middlesbrough (League Cup)
- Newcastle United
League tables
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Arsenal 38 15 4 0 40 14 11 8 0 33 12 47 90 UEFA Champions League
2 Chelsea 38 12 4 3 34 13 12 3 4 33 17 37 79 Champions League
3 Manchester United 38 12 4 3 37 15 11 2 6 27 20 29 75 Champions League Qual. Round
4 Liverpool 38 10 4 5 29 15 6 8 5 26 22 18 60 Champions League Qual. Round
5 Newcastle United 38 11 5 3 33 14 2 12 5 19 26 12 56 UEFA Cup
6 Aston Villa 38 9 6 4 24 19 6 5 8 24 25 4 56
7 Charlton Athletic 38 7 6 6 29 29 7 5 7 22 22 0 53
8 Bolton Wanderers 38 6 8 5 24 21 8 3 8 24 35 -8 53
9 Fulham 38 9 4 6 29 21 5 6 8 23 25 6 52
10 Birmingham City 38 8 5 6 26 24 4 9 6 17 24 -5 50
11 Middlesbrough 38 8 4 7 25 23 5 5 9 19 29 -8 48 UEFA Cup (League Cup winners)
12 Southampton 38 8 6 5 24 17 4 5 10 20 28 -1 47
13 Portsmouth 38 10 4 5 35 19 2 5 12 12 35 -7 45
14 Tottenham Hotspur 38 9 4 6 33 27 4 2 13 14 30 -10 45
15 Blackburn Rovers 38 5 4 10 25 31 7 4 8 26 28 -8 44
16 Manchester City 38 5 9 5 31 24 4 5 10 24 30 1 41
17 Everton 38 8 5 6 27 20 1 7 11 18 37 -12 39
18 Leicester City 38 3 10 6 19 28 3 5 11 29 37 -17 33 Relegated
19 Leeds United 38 5 7 7 25 31 3 2 14 15 48 -39 33 Relegated
20 Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 7 5 7 23 35 0 7 12 15 42 -39 33 Relegated
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Norwich City 46 18 3 2 44 15 10 7 6 35 24 40 94 Promoted
2 West Bromwich Albion 46 14 5 4 34 16 11 6 6 30 26 22 86 Promoted
3 Sunderland 46 13 8 2 33 15 9 5 9 29 30 17 79
4 West Ham United 46 12 7 4 42 20 7 10 6 25 25 22 74
5 Ipswich Town 46 12 3 8 49 36 9 7 7 35 36 12 73
6 Crystal Palace 46 10 8 5 34 25 11 2 10 38 36 11 73 Promoted (playoff winners)
7 Wigan Athletic 46 11 8 4 29 16 7 9 7 31 29 15 71
8 Sheffield United 46 11 6 6 37 25 9 5 9 28 31 9 71
9 Reading 46 11 6 6 29 25 9 4 10 26 32 -2 70
10 Millwall 46 11 8 4 28 15 7 7 9 27 33 7 69 UEFA Cup (FA Cup runners up)
11 Stoke City 46 11 7 5 35 24 7 5 11 23 31 3 66
12 Coventry City 46 9 9 5 34 22 8 5 10 33 32 13 65
13 Cardiff City 46 10 6 7 40 25 7 8 8 28 33 10 65
14 Nottingham Forest 46 8 9 6 33 25 7 6 10 28 33 3 60
15 Preston North End 46 11 7 5 43 29 4 7 12 26 42 -2 59
16 Watford 46 9 8 6 31 28 6 4 13 23 40 -14 57
17 Rotherham United 46 8 8 7 31 27 5 7 11 22 34 -8 54
18 Crewe Alexandra 46 11 3 9 33 26 3 8 12 24 40 -9 53
19 Burnley 46 9 6 8 37 32 4 8 11 23 45 -17 53
20 Derby County 46 11 5 7 39 33 2 8 13 14 34 -14 52
21 Gillingham 46 10 1 12 28 34 4 8 11 20 33 -19 51
22 Walsall 46 8 7 8 29 31 5 5 13 16 34 -20 51 Relegated
23 Bradford City 46 6 3 14 23 35 4 3 16 15 34 -31 36 Relegated
24 Wimbledon 46 3 4 16 21 40 5 1 17 20 49 -48 29 Relegated
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Plymouth Argyle 46 17 5 1 52 13 9 7 7 33 28 +44 90 Promoted
2 Queens Park Rangers 46 16 7 0 47 12 6 10 7 33 33 +35 83 Promoted
3 Bristol City 46 15 6 2 34 12 8 7 8 24 25 +21 82
4 Brighton & Hove Albion 46 17 4 2 39 11 5 7 11 25 32 +21 77 Promoted (playoff winners)
5 Swindon Town 46 12 7 4 41 23 8 6 9 35 35 +18 73
6 Hartlepool United 46 10 8 5 39 24 10 5 8 37 37 +15 73
7 Port Vale 46 15 6 2 45 28 6 4 13 28 35 +10 73
8 Tranmere Rovers 46 13 7 3 36 18 4 9 10 23 38 +3 67
9 A.F.C. Bournemouth 46 11 8 4 35 25 6 7 10 21 26 +5 66
10 Luton Town 46 14 6 3 44 27 3 9 11 25 39 +3 66
11 Colchester United 46 11 8 4 33 23 6 5 12 19 33 -4 64
12 Barnsley 46 7 12 4 25 19 8 5 10 29 39 -4 62
13 Wrexham 46 9 6 8 27 21 8 3 12 23 39 -10 60
14 Blackpool 46 9 5 9 31 28 7 6 10 27 37 -7 59
15 Oldham Athletic 46 9 8 6 37 25 3 13 7 29 35 +6 57
16 Sheffield Wednesday 46 7 9 7 25 26 6 5 12 23 38 -16 53
17 Brentford 46 9 5 9 34 38 5 6 12 18 31 -17 53
18 Peterborough United 46 5 8 10 36 33 7 8 8 22 25 0 52
19 Stockport County 46 6 8 9 31 36 5 11 7 31 34 -8 52
20 Chesterfield 46 9 7 7 34 31 3 8 12 15 40 -22 51
21 Grimsby Town 46 10 5 8 36 26 3 6 14 19 55 -26 50 Relegated
22 Rushden & Diamonds 46 9 5 9 37 34 4 4 15 23 40 -14 48 Relegated
23 Notts County 46 6 9 8 32 27 4 3 16 18 51 -28 42 Relegated
24 Wycombe Wanderers 46 5 7 11 31 39 1 12 10 19 36 -25 37 Relegated
P W D L F A W D L F A GD Pts
1 Doncaster Rovers 46 17 4 2 47 13 10 7 6 32 24 +42 92 Promoted
2 Hull City 46 16 4 3 50 21 9 9 5 32 23 +38 88 Promoted
3 Torquay United 46 15 6 2 44 18 8 6 9 24 26 +24 81 Promoted
4 Huddersfield Town 46 16 4 3 42 18 7 8 8 26 34 +16 81 Promoted (playoff winners)
5 Mansfield Town 46 13 5 5 44 25 9 4 10 32 37 +14 75
6 Northampton Town 46 13 4 6 30 23 9 5 9 28 28 +7 75
7 Lincoln City 46 9 11 3 36 23 10 6 7 32 24 +21 74
8 Yeovil Town 46 14 3 6 40 19 9 2 12 30 38 +13 74
9 Oxford United 46 14 8 1 34 13 4 9 10 21 31 +11 71
10 Swansea City 46 9 8 6 36 26 6 6 11 22 35 -3 59
11 Boston United 46 11 7 5 35 21 5 4 14 15 33 -4 59
12 Bury 46 10 7 6 29 26 5 4 14 25 38 -10 56
13 Cambridge United 46 6 7 10 26 32 8 7 8 29 35 -12 56
14 Cheltenham Town 46 11 4 8 37 38 3 10 10 20 33 -14 56
15 Bristol Rovers 46 9 7 7 29 26 5 6 12 21 35 -11 55
16 Kidderminster Harriers 46 9 5 9 28 29 5 8 10 17 30 -14 55
17 Southend United 46 8 4 11 27 29 6 8 9 24 34 -12 54
18 Darlington 46 10 4 9 30 28 4 7 12 23 33 -8 53
19 Leyton Orient 46 8 9 6 28 27 5 5 13 20 38 -17 53
20 Macclesfield Town 46 8 9 6 28 25 5 4 14 26 44 -15 52
21 Rochdale 46 7 8 8 28 26 5 6 12 21 32 -9 50
22 Scunthorpe United 46 7 10 6 36 27 4 6 13 33 45 -3 49
23 Carlisle United 46 8 5 10 23 27 4 4 15 23 42 -23 45 Relegated
24 York City 46 7 6 10 22 29 3 8 12 13 37 -31 44 Relegated
Cup competitions
- Champions:
- Chester City
- Playoff winners:
- Shrewsbury Town
- Relegated:
- Margate (forced relegation to Conference South due to failing ground requirements)
- Champions:
- Hucknall Town (to Conference North)
- Also promoted (to Conference North):
- Droylsden, Barrow, Alfreton Town, Harrogate Town, Southport, Worksop Town, Lancaster City, Vauxhall Motors, Gainsborough Trinity, Stalybridge Celtic, Altrincham, Runcorn FC Halton, Bradford Park Avenue (playoff winners)
- Champions:
- Crawley Town (to Conference National)
- Also promoted (to Conference North):
- Stafford Rangers, Nuneaton Borough, Worcester City, Hinckley United, Moor Green
- Also promoted (to Conference South):
- Weymouth, Newport County, Cambridge City, Welling United, Weston-super-Mare, Eastbourne Borough, Havant & Waterlooville, Dorchester Town (playoff winners)
- Champions:
- Canvey Island (to Conference National)
- Also promoted (to Conference South):
- Sutton United, Thurrock, Hornchurch, Grays Athletic, Carshalton Athletic, Hayes, Bognor Regis Town, Bishop's Stortford, Maidenhead United, Ford United, Basingstoke Town, St Albans City (playoff winners)
- Also promoted (to Conference North):
- Kettering Town
Other leagues
Transfer deals
- 17 June 2003 - David Beckham from Manchester United to Real Madrid, £25m
- 15 July 2003 - Tim Howard from Major League Soccer to Manchester United, £2.2m
- 16 July 2003 - Geremi from Real Madrid to Chelsea, undisclosed
- 21 July 2003 - Wayne Bridge from Southampton to Chelsea, £7m
- 21 July 2003 - Damien Duff from Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £17m
- 6 August 2003 - Joe Cole from West Ham United to Chelsea, £6.6m
- 6 August 2003 - Juan Sebastian Veron from Manchester United to Chelsea, £15m
- 12 August 2003 - Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United, £12m
- 12 August 2003 - Kleberson from Atletico Paranaense to Manchester United, £5.9m
- 14 August 2003 - Adrian Mutu from Parma to Chelsea, £15m
- 26 August 2003 - Hernán Crespo from Internazionale to Chelsea, £17m
- 29 August 2003 - Claudio Reyna from Sunderland to Manchester City, £2.5m
- 31 August 2003 - Claude Makelele from Real Madrid to Chelsea, £16m
- 2 January 2004 - Fabien Barthez from Manchester United to Olympique de Marseille, season-long loan
- 27 January 2004 - Jose Antonio Reyes from Sevilla to Arsenal, £16.5m
- 30 January 2004 - Scott Parker from Charlton Athletic to Chelsea, £10m
For subsequent transfer deals see 2004-05 in English football.
Deaths
- August 9 2003 - Ray Harford (58), former Blackburn Rovers manager
- August 9 2003 - Jimmy Davis (21), Manchester United and Watford striker
- February 1 2004 - Bob Stokoe, Sunderland 1973 FA Cup winning manager
- February 21 2004 - John Charles, former Leeds United player
Category:2004 in football (soccer)
Category:Seasons in English football
The Football League
The Football League (often referred to as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) is a league competition for English football (soccer) clubs (though a few Welsh clubs also take part) containing three divisions (the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two) that occupy the second, third and fourth levels of the English football league system (below the FA Premier League, but above the Football Conference). In addition to the main competition, the League also organises two knockout cup competitions, the Football League Cup and the Football League Trophy.
Overview
The Football League represents 72 professional football clubs in England and Wales, and runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. It also organises two knockout cup competitions. The Football League was founded in 1888 with 12 member clubs, but steady growth and the addition of more divisions meant that by 1959 the League had 92 clubs. Financial considerations led to a major shake-up in 1992 when, in a step to maximise their revenue, the leading members of The Football League broke away to form their own competition, the FA Premier League. The Football League therefore no longer represents the top 20 clubs who belong to this group, although promotion and relegation between The Football League and the FA Premier League continues.
League competition
The Football League's 72 member clubs are grouped into three divisions: the Football League Championship, Football League One, and Football League Two. Each division has 24 clubs, and in any given season a club plays each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. This makes for a total of 46 games played each season.
Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. At the end of the season, clubs at the top of their division may win promotion to the next higher division, while those at the bottom may be relegated to the next lower one. At the top end of the competition, three Championship clubs win promotion from The Football League to the FA Premier League, with the bottom three Premier League clubs taking their places. At the lower end, two League Two clubs lose their Football League status with relegation to the Conference National division of the Football Conference, while two teams from Conference National join League Two of The Football League in their stead.
| Division |
Promoted |
Relegated |
| Directly Up |
Via Playoff |
| The Championship |
Top 2 clubs |
One from 3rd-6th
place finishers |
Bottom 3 clubs |
| League One |
Top 2 clubs |
One from 3rd-6th
place finishers |
Bottom 4 clubs |
| League Two |
Top 3 clubs |
One from 4th-7th
place finishers |
Bottom 2 clubs |
Promotion and relegation are determined by final league position, but to sustain interest for more clubs over the length of the season one promotion place from each division is decided according to a playoff between four clubs, which takes place at the end of the season. It is therefore possible for a team finishing sixth in the Championship or League One, or seventh in League Two, to be promoted rather than the clubs finishing immediately above them in the standings.
Three professional football clubs from Wales, Cardiff City, Wrexham, and Swansea City, play in The Football League. This disqualifies them from participation in the League of Wales and the Welsh Cup, and so also deprives them of the chance to qualify for UEFA competitions by this route. One English club, Berwick Rangers, plays in the Scottish football league system.
Reserve teams of Football League clubs usually play in the Pontin's Holidays League (for the Midlands and North) or the Pontin's Holidays Combination (for the South), though some play in the national FA Premier Reserve League.
Cup competitions
The Football League organises two knockout cup competitions, the Football League Cup, currently called the Carling Cup, and the Football League Trophy, currently the LDV Vans Trophy. The League Cup was established in 1960 and is open to all Football League and FA Premier League clubs, with the winner eligible to participate in the UEFA Cup. The Trophy is for clubs belonging to League One and League Two and certain Football Conference clubs.
History
After four years of debate, The Football Association finally legalised professionalism on 20 July 1885. Before that date many clubs made illegal payments to "professional" players to boost the competitiveness of their teams, arousing the contempt of those clubs abiding by the laws of the amateur Football Association code. As more and more clubs became professional the ad-hoc fixture list of FA Cup, inter-county, and 'friendly' matches was seen by many as an unreliable stream of revenue, and ways were considered of ensuring a consistent income.
1885
A Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures. He wrote to the leading clubs and organised the founding meeting of The Football League on 22 March 1888. The first season of The Football League began a few months later on 8 September with 12 member clubs: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Each club played the other twice, once at home and once away, and two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. This points system was not agreed upon until after the season had started; the alternative proposal was one point for a win only. Preston won the first league title without losing a game, and completed the first league-cup double by also taking the FA Cup.
The early years of the League saw the addition of more clubs, and a new Second Division was formed in 1892 with the absorption of the rival Football Alliance. The bottom clubs of the lower division were required to apply for re-election to the League at the end of each season. Automatic promotion and relegation for two clubs was introduced after the League expanded to two divisions of eighteen in 1898; this came into effect when the previous system of test matches between the bottom two clubs of the First Division and the top two clubs of the Second Division was brought in to disrepute when Stoke and Burnley colluded in the final match to ensure they were both in the First Division the next season. During this period the League was dominated by northern clubs, with the likes of Sunderland, Newcastle United, and Manchester United joining the League and having success. Liverpool won the first of their record 18 League titles in 1901. It was not until the early years of the new century that southern clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur established themselves in the League, and there would be a further wait until 1931 before a southern club, Arsenal, would win the League for the first time.
The League was suspended for four seasons during World War I and resumed in 1919 with the First and Second Divisions expanded to 22 clubs. The following year, 1920, leading clubs from the Southern League joined the League to form a new Third Division, which in 1921 was renamed the Third Division South upon the further addition of more clubs in a new Third Division North. One club from each of these divisions would gain promotion to the Second Division, with the two relegated clubs being assigned to the most appropriate Third Division. To accommodate potential difficulties in this arrangement, clubs in the Midlands such as Mansfield Town or Walsall would sometimes be moved from one Third Division to the other.
Following this burst of postwar growth, the League entered into a prolonged period of relative stability with few changes in the membership, although there were changes on the pitch. A new offside law in 1925 reducing the number of opponents between the player and the goal from three to two led to a large increase in goals. Numbers on shirts were introduced in 1939 and white balls in 1951. The first floodlit game was played between Portsmouth and Newcastle United in 1956, opening up the possibility of midweek evening matches.
The League was suspended once more in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II, this time for seven seasons. The Third Divisions were expanded to 24 clubs each in 1950, bringing the total number of League clubs to 92, and in 1958 the decision was made to end the regionalisation of the Third Divisions and reorganise the clubs into a new nationwide Third Division and Fourth Division. To accomplish this the clubs in the top half of both the Third Division North and South joined together to form the new Third Division, and those in the bottom half made up the Fourth Division. Four clubs were promoted and relegated between these two lower divisions, while two clubs exchanged places in the upper divisions until 1974, when the number increased to three.
A new cup competition open to all the members of the League, the Football League Cup, was held for the first time in 1960-61 to provide clubs a new source of income. Aston Villa won the inaugural League Cup and, despite an initial lack of enthusiasm on the part of some of the bigger clubs, the competition became firmly established in the footballing calendar.
Substitutes were first allowed for injured players in 1965, and for any reason the next year.
Beginning with the 1976-77 season, clubs finishing level on points began to be separated according to goal difference (the difference between goals scored and goals allowed) rather than goal average (goals scored divided by goals allowed). This was an effort to prevent overly defensive play encouraged by the greater advantage in limiting goals allowed. In the event that clubs had equal points and equal goal differences, priority was given to the club that had scored the most goals. There has been only one season, 1988-89, when this level of differentiation was necessary to determine the League champion and this was the occasion of one of the most dramatic nights in League history, when Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in the last game of the season to win the League on this tiebreaker.
Another important change was made in 1981 when it was decided to award three points for a win instead of two, a further effort to increase attacking football. In a similar vein, playoffs to determine promotion places were introduced in 1987 to prolong hope for more clubs to the end of the season, and at the same time to aid in the reduction over two years of the number of clubs in the First Division from 22 to 20. At the same time, automatic promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the Football Conference was introduced for one club, replacing the annual application for re-election to the League of the bottom four clubs and linking the League to the developing National League System pyramid. Emblematic of the confusion that was beginning to envelop the game, the number of clubs at the top of the league would return to 22 for the 1991-92 season, before once more dropping to 20 for 1995-96. The issues creating the uncertainty in the game all centered on money.
The increasing influence of money in English football was evident with such events as the first £1m transfer in the game, that of Trevor Francis from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in February 1979.
The first £2million player was Tony Cottee (West Ham United to Everton, July 1988). The first £3million player was Alan Shearer (Southampton to Blackburn Rovers, July 1992).
Since the creation of the Premier League, the record fee paid by English clubs has been broken almost every season. It rose to £3.75million in June 1993 (Roy Keane, Nottingham Forest to Manchester United), £5million in July 1994 (Chris Sutton, Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers), £7million in January 1995 (Andy Cole, Newcastle United to Manchester United), £7.5million in June 1995 (Dennis Bergkamp, Inter Milan to Arsenal), £8.5million in July 1995 (Stan Collymore, Nottingham Forest to Liverpool), £15million - world record - in July 1996 (Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United), £19million in May 2001 (Ruud van Nistelrooy, PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United), £28.1million in July 2001 (Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United) and the record since July 2002 has been the £29million which Manchester United paid Leeds United for Rio Ferdinand. So the creation of the Premier League has seen the record fee paid by English clubs broken 10 times in the first 10 seasons. Alan Shearer's £15million record lasted nearly five years in England, although his worldwide record was broken within a year. Rio Ferdinand's record has so far lasted nearly three years.
Beginning in 1983 the League has accepted lucrative sponsorships for its main competition. Below is a list of who the sponsors have been and what the League was called under their sponsorship:
- 1983-1986: Canon (Canon League)
- 1986-1987: Today newspaper (Today League)
- 1987-1993: Barclays Bank (Barclays League)
- 1993-1996: Endsleigh Insurance (Endsleigh League)
- 1996-2004: Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide Football League)
- 2004-2007: Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Football League)
The League's cup competitions have different sponsors (see English football sponsorship for more information).
The other major source of money, and by far the most important one, is television. The 1980s saw competition between terrestrial broadcasters for the rights to show League matches, but the arrival on the scene of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (Sky TV), eagerly searching for attractive programming to build its customer base and willing to pay huge sums, changed the picture entirely. The League's top tier clubs had been agitating for several years to be able to keep more of the League's revenue for themselves, threatening to break away and form their own league if necessary. In 1992 the threat was realised as the First Division clubs left to establish the FA Premier League and signed a contract for exclusive live coverage of their games with Sky TV. The FA Premier League agreed to maintain the promotion and relegation of three clubs with The Football League, but The Football League was now in a far weaker position - without its best clubs and without the clout to negotiate high revenue TV deals. This problem was exacerbated with the collapse in 2002 of ITV Digital, holder of TV rights for The Football League, which cost League clubs millions of pounds in revenue.
The new, slimmed down League, 70 clubs until 1995 and 72 clubs since, renamed its divisions to reflect the changes. The old Second Division became the new First Division, the Third Division became the Second Division, and the Fourth Division became the Third Division. The financial health of its clubs has become perhaps the highest League priority due to the limited resources available. However there are some promising signs for the future, as the League plans to announce new initiatives beginning with the 2004-05 season, coinciding with the start of a new sponsorship agreement with Coca-Cola. The first of these changes was a rebranding of the League with the renaming of the First Division to The Championship, the Second Division to League One and the Third Division to League Two.
Football League clubs
Below are listed the member clubs of The Football League for the 2005-2006 season. There are 24 clubs in each division.
Note: The 20 Premier League clubs are not included as they are no longer part of the league; however it is still common practice to refer to them along with the 72 Football League clubs as the 92 league clubs.
Former Football League clubs
This list does not include clubs currently playing in the FA Premier League, all of which were formerly members of The Football League.
Note: R indicates that the club was relegated from The Football League.
Past League winners
NB: League and FA Cup Double winners are highlighted in bold.
1888-1892
When The Football League was first established, all clubs played in just one division:
1892-1920
In 1892 The Football League absorbed the rival Football Alliance, meaning it now had enough clubs to form another division. The existing division was renamed the First Division and the new division was called the Second Division.
1920-1921
In 1920 the Football League admitted the clubs from the first division of the Southern League (the Southern League continued with its remaining clubs) and Grimsby Town, who had failed to be re-elected to the Second Division the season before and been replaced by Cardiff City (of the Southern League). The clubs were placed in the new Third Division:
1921-1958
After just one season under the old format, the League expanded again. This time it admitted a number of clubs from the north of England (to balance things out as the last expansion brought mainly clubs from the south). The existing Third Division was renamed the Third Division South and the new division was named the Third Division North. Grimsby Town transfered to the new northern division. Both divisions ran in parallel, with clubs from both Third Divisions being promoted to the national Second Division at the end of each season:
1958-1992
For the beginning of the 1958-59 season, national Third and Fourth Divisions were introduced to replace the regional Third Division North and Third Division South:
| Season | First Division | Second Division | Third Division | Fourth Division |
| 1958-59 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Sheffield Wednesday | Plymouth Argyle | Port Vale |
| 1959-60 | Burnley | Aston Villa | Southampton | Walsall |
| 1960-61 | Tottenham Hotspur | Ipswich Town | Bury | Peterborough United |
| 1961-62 | Ipswich Town | Liverpool | Portsmouth | Millwall |
| 1962-63 | Everton | Stoke City | Northampton Town | Brentford |
| 1963-64 | Liverpool | Leeds United | Coventry City | Gillingham |
| 1964-65 | Manchester United | Newcastle United | Carlisle United | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| 1965-66 | Liverpool | Manchester City | Hull City | Doncaster Rovers |
| 1966-67 | Manchester United | Coventry City | Queens Park Rangers | Stockport County |
| 1967-68 | Manchester City | Ipswich Town | Oxford United | Luton Town |
| 1968-69 | Leeds United | Derby County | Watford | Doncaster Rovers |
| 1969-70 | Everton | Huddersfield Town | Leyton Orient | Chesterfield |
| 1970-71 | Arsenal | Leicester City | Preston North End | Notts County |
| 1971-72 | Derby County | Norwich City | Aston Villa | Grimsby Town |
| 1972-73 | Liverpool | Burnley | Bolton Wanderers | Southport |
| 1973-74 | Leeds United | Middlesbrough | Oldham Athletic | Peterborough United |
| 1974-75 | Derby County | Manchester United | Blackburn Rovers | Mansfield Town |
| 1975-76 | Liverpool | Sunderland | Hereford United | Lincoln City |
| 1976-77 | Liverpool | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Mansfield Town | Cambridge United |
| 1977-78 | Nottingham Forest | Bolton Wanderers | Wrexham | Watford |
| 1978-79 | Liverpool | Crystal Palace | Shrewsbury Town | Reading |
| 1979-80 | Liverpool | Leicester City | Grimsby Town | Huddersfield Town |
| 1980-81 | Aston Villa | West Ham United | Rotherham United | Southend United |
| 1981-82 | Liverpool | Luton Town |
English football league systemThe English football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (though for historical reasons — namely that the league system was originally intended to be United Kingdom-wide — a small number of Welsh clubs also compete).
Structure
At the top is the FA Premier League (which may be referred to as level 1 of the league "pyramid"), a single-division league of 20 clubs. Below is The Football League, which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs each (levels 2 to 4). These 92 clubs are all full-time professional. Confusingly all 92 are often referred to as "league" clubs because there was a single 4-division, 92-team league before the Premier League was established in 1992. Clubs outside this group are referred to as "non-league" clubs, although they all play most of their football in league competitions.
The top tier of "non-league" football is the Football Conference, which contains a national division of 22 clubs (level 5) followed by divisions covering the north and south of England (and parts of Wales), again with 22 clubs each (level 6). Some of these clubs are full-time professional and the others are semi-professional. Below the Conference some of the stronger clubs are semi-professional, but continuing down the tiers, soon all the clubs are amateur.
Next down from the Football Conference are three regional leagues, each associated different geographical areas (though they often overlap): the Northern Premier League covers the north of England; the Southern League covers the south of England (except the South East), the Midlands and parts of Wales and the Isthmian League covers the South East. Each of these leagues has a Premier Division (level 7), with a First Division (level 8) below that (except the Southern League, which has two parallel divisions, East and West, below the Premier Division).
Only the Isthmian league has a Second Division, which is on the same level (level 9) as the top divisions of a large group of local leagues: the North West Counties Football League, the Northern Counties East Football League, the Northern League, the Western Football League, the Wessex League, the Sussex County Football League, the Hellenic Football League, the Midland Football Alliance, the United Counties Football League, the Eastern Counties Football League, the Kent League, the Spartan South Midlands Football League, the Combined Counties Football League and the Essex Senior Football League.
Each of these leagues has a different divisional set up, but they all have one thing in common: there are yet more leagues below them, each covering smaller and smaller geographical levels. In some areas, there are more than twenty levels to the league system. The leagues from the fifth to eleventh levels inclusive are collectively known as the National League System and are tightly controlled by the FA.
Each league sets its own rules, but all follow the general standard of each club playing everyone else twice with three points being awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The league table is always ordered with whoever has the most points at the top and the least at the bottom (ways of distinguishing between clubs level on points differ from league to league). Various degrees of promotion and relegation exist between all the leagues and divisions, meaning that any team can theoretically climb (or fall) to any level. However, minimum standards for grounds (floodlighting, seating capacity, etc) sometimes lead to clubs being denied promotion even though their league position would allow it.
The system
Below shows how the current system works. For each division, its official name, sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) and number of clubs is given. Each division promotes to the division(s) that lie directly above it and relegates to the division(s) that lie directly below it:
The system from 2006-2007
From the 2006-07 season, there will be a number of changes to the lower levels of the system. Firstly, Conference National (Level 5) will increase to twenty-four clubs. Levels 6 and 7 will remain unchanged, but the Northern Premier League and Isthmian League will each gain a new division at Level 8 to run in parallel with their existing First Divisions (and bring them into line with the Southern League, which already has two First Divisions). Each Level 8 division will now have twenty clubs. At Level 9, the number of divisions operating will be reduced from fifteen to twelve, with the Isthmian League Second Division and two as-yet-undecided divisions being discontinued. Each Level 9 division will have between eighteen and twenty clubs.
It is hoped that the restructuring will improve the lower levels of the system in a number of ways. There will be less travelling for the Level 8 clubs as there will be six divisions, not four. This will be of particular benefit to Midlands-based clubs who will now compete in either the Northern Premier League First Division (Midlands) or Southern League Division One South-West, rather than the geographically larger older divisions. There should also be less overlapping at Level 9. Furthermore (with the exception of between Levels 6 and 7), the promotion and relegation between divisions will become fixed again with no need for a committee to place clubs in different divisions.
For each division, its official name, sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) and number of clubs is given. The names of each league and division have not yet been confirmed and may change before the 2006-2007 season begins. Each division promotes to the division(s) that lie directly above it and relegates to the division(s) that lie directly below it:
See also
- British Football | | | |
