Championship Stadiums & Stats

Derby County Second Division Champions 1968-69 - DncnH / Flikr.com

The Football League Championship, sponsored by Sky Bet, is the highest football league division in England and the second highest league overall after the Premier League. The Championship replaced the old first division in 2004 and is the richest second tier league in the world as well as the 7th richest league overall in Europe.

With three teams promoted and three clubs relegated each year, there is a turnover of 6 new teams and stadiums into the league out of 24 total. The league has a fantastic mix of stadia and teams with some very big teams constantly dropping in from the top league while at the same time smaller clubs and grounds come up from lower divisions to create an enthralling competition. With the Premier League and its riches beckoning there is a lot of passion for promotion in this league with great attendances, away days, and a hell of a lot to play for. On this page find you can find guides to all Championship football grounds as well as stats, ticket prices, history and more.

Stadium Stats

Stadium	Year Opened	Capacity	Ave Attendance	Record Attendance	Record Attendance Match
Ashton Gate Bristol City	1887	27,000	20,351	43,335	Bristol City v Preston (1935)
Bet365 Stadium Stoke City FC	1997	30,089	20,525	30,022	Stoke vs Evertom (17/03/2018)
Cardiff City Stadium Cardiff City / Wales	2009	33,280	19,455	33,280	Wales v Belgium (2015)
Carrow Road Norwich City FC	1935	27,359	26,524	43,984	Norwich City v Leicester (1963)
Coventry Building Society Arena Coventry City	2005	32,753	19,950	32,128	England/Italy & Belgium/South Korea (19th Feb 2023)
Deepdale Preston North End	1878	23,408	16,119	42,684	Preston v Arsenal (1938)
Elland Road Leeds United	1897	37,792	36,566	57,892	Leeds v Sunderland (1967)
Ewood Park Blackburn Rovers	1882	31,367	14,772	61,783	Blackburn v Bolton (1929)
Hillsborough Sheffield Wednesday	1899	39,732	25,378	72,841	Sheffield Wed v Man City (1934)
Home Park Plymouth Argyle	1893	16,388	15,580	43,596	Plymouth v Aston Villa (1936)
John Smiths Stadium Huddersfield Town	1994	24,121	18,974	24,169	Huddersfield v West Brom (2017)
King Power Stadium Leicester City FC	2002	32,261	31,887	32,241	Leicester v Sunderland (2015)
Liberty Stadium Swansea AFC	2005	21,088	16,919	20,972	Swansea City v Liverpool (2016)
Loftus Road Queens Park Rangers	1904	18,439	14,973	35,353	QPR v Leeds United (1974)
New York Stadium Rotherham United	2012	12,021	10,522	11,758	Rotherham v Sheffield Utd (2013)
Portman Road Ipswich Town	1884	29,673	26,184	38,010	Ipswich v Leeds (1975)
Riverside Stadium Middlesbrough FC	1995	34,742	26,012	35,000	England v Slovakia (2004)
St Andrew’s Birmingham City	1906	29,409	15,500	67,341	Birmingham v Everton (1939)
St Mary’s Southampton FC	2001	32,384	28,283	32,363	Southampton v Coventry (2012)
The Den Millwall	1993	20,146	14,586	20,093	Millwall v Arsenal (1994)
The Hawthorns West Bromwich Albion FC	1900	26,688	22,929	64,815	West Brom v Arsenal (1937)
The MKM Stadium Hull City AFC	2002	25,586	17,973	25,280	England v Netherlands U21 (2004)
The Stadium Of Light Sunderland AFC	1997	48,707	39,140	48,353	Sunderland v Liverpool (2002)
Vicarage Road Watford FC	1922	21,577	19,172	34,099	Watford v Man United (1969)

Team Stats

Team	Year Founded	Nickname	Team Owner
Birmingham City	1875	The Blues	Birmingham Sports Holdings
Blackburn Rovers	1875	Rovers, The Blue and Whites, The Riversiders	Venky's London Ltd.
Bristol City	1897	The Robins	Stephen Lansdown
Cardiff City	1899	The Bluebirds	Vincent Tan
Coventry City	1883	The Sky Blues	Doug King
Huddersfield Town	1908	The Terriers	Dean Hoyle
Hull City	1904	The Tigers	Acun Medya
Ipswich Town	1878	Blues, Tractor Boys, "Pride of East Anglia"	Gamechanger 20 Ltd
Leeds United	1919	The Whites, United, The Peacocks	Aser Group Holding
Leicester City	1884	The Foxes	King Power International
Middlesbrough	1876	The Boro, Smoggies	Steve Gibson
Millwall	1885	The Lions (Formerly known as The Dockers)	Millwall Holdings plc
Norwich City	1902	The Canaries, Yellows	Delia Smith & Michael Wynn Jones
Plymouth Argyle	1886	The Pilgrims, Argyle, The Green Army	Simon Hallett
Preston North End	1880	The Lilywhites, PNE, The Whites, Preston, The Invincibles	Craig Hemmings
Queens Park Rangers	1886	The Hoops, The Rs, QPR	Tune Group, Total Soccer Growth
Rotherham United	1925	The Millers	Tony Stewart
Sheffield Wednesday	1867	The Owls	Dejphon Chansiri
Southampton	1885	The Saints	Sport Republic
Stoke City	1863	The Potters	Bet365
Sunderland	1879	The Black Cats	Kyril Louis-Dreyfus
Swansea	1912	The Swans	Stephen Kaplan, Jason Levien, Jake Silverstein
Watford	1881	The Hornets, The Golden Boys, Yellow Army, The 'Orns	Gino Pozzo
West Bromwich Albion	1878	The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion	Lai Guochuan

Ticket Prices

Stadium	Season Ticket Price (Adult)	Season Ticket Price (Conc)	Season Ticket Price (Junior)	Match Ticket Price (Adult)	Match Ticket Price (Conc)
Birmingham City	£315 - £590	£285 - £365	£115 - £260	£15 - £40	£10 - £30
Blackburn Rovers	£429 - £529	£299 - £379	£60 - £120	£20 - £35	£16 - £29
Bristol City	£375 - £675	£310 - £525	£55 - £199	£25 - £45	£22 - £40
Cardiff City	£299 - £529	£199 - £409	£79 - £279	£16 - £36	£12 - £31
Coventry City	£400 - £500	£360 - £500	£125 - £500	£20 - £33	£15 - £28
Huddersfield Town	£249 - £249	£249 - £249	£49 - £129	£25 - £25	£20 - £20
Hull City	£300 - £420	£198 - £270	£0 - £138	£20 - £28	£13.5 - £18
Ipswich Town	£543 - £733	£384 - £500	£158 - £162	£20 - £30	£16 - £22
Leeds United	£508 - £710	£400 - £540	£72 - £194	£32 - £47	£25 - £32
Leicester City	£435 - £935	£345 - £770	£45 - £467	£27 - £53	£25 - £46
Middlesbrough	£590 - £751	£428 - £561	£234 - £234	£26 - £37	£17 - £29
Millwall	£441 - £588	£231 - £347	£32 - £210	£24 - £36	£18 - £26
Norwich City	£612 - £686.5	£374 - £422	£85.5 - £238.5	£26 - £40	£16 - £30
Plymouth Argyle	£370 - £475	£290 - £365	£10 - £96	£23 - £28	£19 - £23
Preston North End	£400 - £535	£310 - £420	£0 - £140	£28 - £34	£20 - £26
Queens Park Rangers	£278 - £749	£168 - £507	£84 - £266	£25 - £40	£18 - £31
Rotherham United	£396 - £485	£261 - £315	£40 - £165	£25 - £29	£18 - £22
Sheffield Wednesday	£595 - £825	£330 - £455	£23 - £150	£27 - £59	£17 - £49
Southampton	£379 - £599	£339 - £549	£60 - £419	£15 - £50	£15 - £50
Stoke City	£359 - £519	£269 - £399	£23 - £179	£20 - £40	£15 - £32
Sunderland	£420 - £525	£290 - £345	£48 - £190	£25 - £40	£18 - £18
Swansea	£345 - £399	£265 - £265	£79 - £139	£32.5 - £32.5	£20 - £20
Watford	£438 - £567	£260 - £418	£76 - £156	£20 - £35	£18 - £28
West Bromwich Albion	£349 - £469	£289 - £379	£23 - £99	£28 - £28	£23 - £23

Championship Stadiums

The English Championship possibly has the most diverse mix of football stadiums in the world. Many big teams from the richest league in the world, the Premier League, drop into the Championship each year and this means that even England's second tier can show off some huge modern super stadia.

Alongside these there are great traditional British grounds from famous clubs that have been unable to develop their grounds without Premier League cash, and finally there are some fantastic small stadiums hosting teams that have emerged from lower divisions. Take a look at some of the stats tables on this page and you will immediately see the diversity in capacities, attendances and ages the Stadiums range from.

Birmingham City St Andrews Park Tilton Road End

Bruker:TuborgLight [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Attendances in the English Championship both in absolute terms and as a proportion of overall capacity are incredibly high compared to many second tier divisions in Europe; in 2014-15, for example, this was 17,857. This is testament to the stadiums, the teams that play in them, and the quality of football on offer in this division. With teams like Sunderland (49,000) and Newcastle (52,405) having spent time in the division of late alongside the likes of Brentford (12,763) and Rotherham (12,021) you can see why two away days in this division are never the same.

In our stadium guides you can read about the history of these stadiums and the teams that play in them, see all of the key stats and trivia, find out all of the information you need on how to get there, how to get tickets, tours, seating plans, future developments, hospitality and more. Take a look at our photo galleries too that will give you a great feel for what it is like to visit these English Championship grounds.

About The League

The football league was unified until 1992 when the 22 teams from the old Division One resigned on mass to set up a new league known as the Premier League. The old Division Two that had existed as such for 100 years (1892-1992) immediately became the highest football league division and was renamed the Football League First Division. Teams were still able to move between the first division and the Premier League as before but the two leagues became separate from a financial and administrative perspective. The first division was again re-branded in 2004 becoming the Football League Championship. The league is often termed the English Championship but can also include Welsh teams; both Cardiff and Swansea play or have played in this division previously.

As the seventh richest league in the world and the highest attended second division in Europe, the Championship and its teams command a lot of global respect. More games are televised from the Championship compared to major European counterparts such as the Spanish Segunda or Italian Serie B. In 2009 Sky signed a £195m three-year deal to broadcast 75 league matches and all play-off games. The league also commands a global audience since broadcast rights for the Championship are also held by at least 24 other nations around the world.

With 24 teams and 46 matches to be played the Championship usually begins in the first week of August, one week before the start of the Premier League, and runs to mid-May. The winner of the Championship earn automatic promotion to the Premier League each year along with the Football League Championship Trophy. The runner-up is promoted directly too, with 3rd through to 6th place competing in a playoff for the third promotion place. Conversely, the three lowest Premier League teams each year are relegated to the Championship and the three lowest Championship teams relegated to League One, with three League One teams promoted to take their place.

The play-off involves a two legged semi-final that takes place home and away. The 3rd placed team plays 6th place and 4th and 5th are drawn together. The remaining two teams then compete for the final play off place at Wembley Stadium. This is serious business too with Fulham, the winners of the 2020 play-off final, earning around £125m in prize money, enough to make or break a clubs ambitions. In fact, the Championship play off final is worth more in prize money than winning the Champions League. Even teams that are relegated from the Premier League now receive parachute payments of around £25m in year one, £20m in year two and £10m in year three following the drop. You can easily see now why the Championship is the seventh richest league in the world. All this money means there are some fantastic grounds too as well as top players, managers and facilities on offer.

Leicester City and Manchester City have won the English second tier league on the most occasions both with 7 each.

Championship History

MacMoreno [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The history of the Old First Division (1892-1992) before it changed is covered on our Premier League page. The English Championship, despite taking on the name of the first division between 1993 and 2004, actually derives from the old English Second Division. The 2nd division was established in 1892, four years after the old First Division, when a rival division called the Football Alliance was merged with the existing football league to create a new football league second division. The three top Alliance clubs entered into the 1st division with the 2nd tier mainly made up of Alliance teams. The old football alliance was contested between 1889 and 1892 and hosted 12 teams, many of which have since gone out of existence or have been renamed. The Alliance was won by The Wednesday (now Sheffield Wednesday) in 1889, Stoke (now Stoke City) in 1890, and Nottingham Forest in 1892.

The original 12 members of the second division were Ardwick (now Manchester City), Bootle, Burton Swifts, Crewe Alexandra, Darwen, the valiant Grimsby Town, Lincoln City, Northwich Victoria, Port Vale, Sheffield United, Small Heath (now Birmingham City), and Walsall. In 1893 three more teams were added expanding the league to 15 teams, this increased again to 16 in 1894, 18 in 1898, 20 in 1905, 22 in 1919, 23 in 1987 and finally 24 teams in 1988.

Initially, automatic promotion did not happen, instead, the top teams from the second division and the bottom teams from division one played a series of matches. Sheffield United became the first team to be promoted from division two in 1894 because Small Heath, the champions in 1893, were denied promotion after losing their test match to Newton Heath. This system was abolished in 1898 due to match fixing between Stoke and Burnley and automatic promotion and relegation was introduced. The clubs deliberately drew the test match play-off 0-0 ensuring Burnley were promoted but Stoke could not be relegated.

The league ran this way for 100 years, with breaks for the two world wars, before taking the name of the First Division in 1993 as the old first division became defunct with the creation of the Premier League. In 2004 the league was re-branded the Coca-Cola Championship in a new sponsorship deal, the second division (the old third division) becoming League One and the third division (the old fourth division) becoming League Two. Confusing much?

Coca-Cola ended their sponsorship in 2009 and was replaced by Npower until 2013 when current sponsors Sky Bet took on a five-year deal. The latest re-branding in 2004 also came with a new trophy for winning the league, the Football League Championship Trophy.

Fulhams's Aleksandar Mitrović is the top goalscorer netting 43 goals in the 2021-22 season.