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2015–16 Football League Championship

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The 2015–16 Football League Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the twelfth season of the Football League Championship under its current title and it was the twenty-fourth season under its current league structure. The season started on 7 August 2015, and concluded on 7 May 2016.[5] The fixtures were announced on 17 June 2015.

Season2015–16
ChampionsBurnley
1st Championship title
3rd 2nd tier title
Quick facts Season, Champions ...
Football League Championship
Season2015–16
ChampionsBurnley
1st Championship title
3rd 2nd tier title
PromotedBurnley
Middlesbrough
Hull City
RelegatedBolton Wanderers
Milton Keynes Dons
Charlton Athletic
Matches552
Goals1,337 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorerAndre Gray
(Brentford)/(Burnley)
(25 goals)[1]
Biggest home winHull City 6–0 Charlton Athletic
(16 January 2016)
Bristol City 6–0 Bolton Wanderers
(19 March 2016)
Biggest away winMilton Keynes Dons 0–5 Burnley
(12 January 2016)
Highest scoringQueens Park Rangers 4–3 Bolton Wanderers
(3 October 2015)
Fulham 2–5 Birmingham City
(7 November 2015)
Rotherham United 2–5 Ipswich Town
(7 November 2015)
Longest winning run6 matches[2]
Burnley
Middlesbrough
Longest unbeaten run23 matches[2]
Burnley
Longest winless run17 matches[2]
Bolton Wanderers
Longest losing run6 matches[2]
Bolton Wanderers
Highest attendance33,806[3]
Middlesbrough 1–1 Brighton & Hove Albion
(7 May 2016)
Lowest attendance8,363[4]
Brentford 2–1 Cardiff City
(19 April 2016)
Total attendance9,703,004[3]
Average attendance17,578[3]
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Teams

A total of 24 teams contested the league, including 18 sides from the 2014–15 season, three relegated from the 2014–15 Premier League and three promoted from the 2014–15 Football League One.

Team changes

The following teams changed division after 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.[6] Watford secured promotion to the Premier League on 25 April.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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

Relegated from Premier League

From Championship

Relegated to League One

Promoted to Premier League

Map

Stadia and locations

Greater London Championship football clubs

Personnel and sponsoring

More information Team, Manager ...
Team Manager[α] Captain Kit manufacturer Sponsor
Birmingham City England Gary Rowett England Paul Robinson Carbrini[10] EZE Group[11]
Blackburn Rovers Republic of Ireland Owen Coyle Scotland Grant Hanley Nike[12] Dafabet[13]
Bolton Wanderers England Phil Parkinson England Darren Pratley Macron[14] ROK Mobile[15]
Brentford England Dean Smith England Jake Bidwell Adidas Matchbook.com[16]
Brighton & Hove Albion Republic of Ireland Chris Hughton Scotland Gordon Greer Nike[17] American Express[17]
Bristol City England Lee Johnson England Aaron Wilbraham Bristol Sport RSG
Burnley England Sean Dyche England Tom Heaton Puma[18] Oak Furniture Land (home), Sofastore.com (away)
Cardiff City Wales Paul Trollope Scotland David Marshall Adidas[19] Visit Malaysia
Charlton Athletic England Russell Slade England Johnnie Jackson Nike[20] University of Greenwich (front)
Andrews Sykes (back), Mitsubishi Electric (shorts)
Derby County England Nigel Pearson Republic of Ireland Richard Keogh Umbro[21] JUST EAT[22]
Fulham Serbia Slaviša Jokanović England Scott Parker Adidas[23] Visit Florida[24][25]
Huddersfield Town United States David Wagner England Mark Hudson Puma PURE Legal (home),[26] RadianB (away), Cavonia (third)
Hull City England Steve Bruce England Michael Dawson Umbro[27] Flamingo Land
Ipswich Town Republic of Ireland Mick McCarthy England Luke Chambers Adidas Marcus Evans [citation needed]
Leeds United Scotland Steve Evans Ivory Coast Sol Bamba Kappa No sponsor
Middlesbrough Spain Aitor Karanka England Grant Leadbitter Adidas[28] Ramsdens[29]
Milton Keynes Dons England Karl Robinson England Dean Lewington Erreà Suzuki
Nottingham Forest France Philippe Montanier England Chris Cohen Adidas[30] Fawaz International Refrigeration
& Air Conditioning Company[31]
Preston North End England Simon Grayson England Tom Clarke Nike[32] Virgin Trains[33]
Queens Park Rangers Netherlands Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink England Nedum Onuoha Nike[34] AirAsia (front),[35] Smarkets (back)[36]
Reading Netherlands Jaap Stam Republic of Ireland Paul McShane Puma[37] Carabao Daeng (home), Thai Airways (away)
Waitrose (Home back), Euro Cake (Away back)
Legend Alliance (shorts)
Rotherham United England Alan Stubbs Republic of Ireland Lee Frecklington Puma Parkgate Shopping (home)
Balreed (away), TGB Sheds (third)
Sheffield Wednesday Portugal Carlos Carvalhal Netherlands Glenn Loovens Sondico Chansiri[38]
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wales Kenny Jackett England Danny Batth Puma Silverbug[39]
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  1. According to current revision of List of English Football League managers

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Brentford England Mark Warburton End of contract 15 May 2015[40] Pre-season Netherlands Marinus Dijkhuizen 1 June 2015[41]
Leeds United England Neil Redfearn Sacked 20 May 2015[42] Germany Uwe Rösler 20 May 2015 [43]
Derby County England Steve McClaren 25 May 2015 [44] England Paul Clement 1 June 2015 [45]
Sheffield Wednesday England Stuart Gray 12 June 2015 [46] Portugal Carlos Carvalhal 30 June 2015[47]
Brentford Netherlands Marinus Dijkhuizen 28 September 2015[48] 19th Republic of Ireland Lee Carsley 28 September 2015[49]
Rotherham United Scotland Steve Evans Mutual consent 28 September 2015[50] 20th England Neil Redfearn 9 October 2015[51]
Leeds United Germany Uwe Rösler Sacked 19 October 2015 [52] 18th Scotland Steve Evans 19 October 2015 [52]
Charlton Athletic Israel Guy Luzon 24 October 2015 [53] 22nd Belgium Jose Riga 14 January 2016
Huddersfield Town England Chris Powell 4 November 2015 18th United States David Wagner 5 November 2015
Queens Park Rangers England Chris Ramsey 4 November 2015 13th Netherlands Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 4 December 2015
Fulham Wales Kit Symons 8 November 2015 12th Serbia Slaviša Jokanović 27 December 2015
Blackburn Rovers England Gary Bowyer 10 November 2015 16th Scotland Paul Lambert 15 November 2015
Brentford Republic of Ireland Lee Carsley End of caretaker spell 30 November 2015 11th England Dean Smith 30 November 2015
Reading Scotland Steve Clarke Sacked 4 December 2015[54] 7th England Brian McDermott 17 December 2015[55]
Bristol City England Steve Cotterill 14 January 2016 22nd England Lee Johnson 6 February 2016
Rotherham United England Neil Redfearn 8 February 2016 England Neil Warnock 11 February 2016
Derby County England Paul Clement 8 February 2016 5th England Nigel Pearson 27 May 2016[56]
Nottingham Forest Scotland Dougie Freedman 13 March 2016 [57] 14th France Philippe Montanier 27 June 2016[58]
Bolton Wanderers Northern Ireland Neil Lennon 15 March 2016[59] 24th England Phil Parkinson 10 June 2016[60]
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Rule changes

The 2015–16 season was the last season under the initial Financial Fair Play rules before the switch to the new rules.[61] Changes to the Championship's financial fair play system allow clubs:[62]

  • 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.

League table

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, 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 46 24 17 5 72 42 +30 89 Qualification for the Championship play-offs[a]
4 Hull City (O, P) 46 24 11 11 69 35 +34 83
5 Derby County 46 21 15 10 66 43 +23 78
6 Sheffield Wednesday 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 58 −8 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 EFL 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
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Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Four teams play for one spot and promotion to the Premier League.

Play-offs

Semi-finals Final
        
3 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 1 1
6 Sheffield Wednesday 2 1 3
6 Sheffield Wednesday 0
4 Hull City 1
4 Hull City 3 0 3
5 Derby County 0 2 2

The four teams that finished from third to sixth played off, with the winning team, Hull City, gaining the final promotion spot to the Premier League.

In the play-off semi-finals the third placed team played the sixth placed team and the fourth placed team played the fifth placed team. The team that finished in the higher league position played away in the first leg and played at home in the second leg. If the aggregate score was level after both legs, then extra time would be played. If the scores were still level, a penalty shoot-out decided the winner. The away goals rule did apply in the semi-finals. The semi-finals were held on 13–14 and 16–17 May.[63]

The winners from the two semi-finals, Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday, played at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2016 in the play-off final, where Hull City won 1–0.[63] The game is known as the richest game in football as the winning club is guaranteed significantly increased payments e.g. in the 2016-17 season the minimum payment for participating in the Premier League was £95 million. Due to a new TV rights deal, the average payment for a newly promoted club stood at around £100 million.

Results

More information Home \ Away, BIR ...
Home \ Away BIR BLB BOL BRE B&HA BRI BUR CAR CHA DER FUL HUD HUL IPS LEE MID MKD NOT 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
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Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Clean sheets

More information Rank, Player ...
Rank Player Club Clean sheets[65]
1 Greece Dimitrios Konstantopoulos Middlesbrough 22
2 England Tom Heaton Burnley 20
3 Scotland Allan McGregor Hull City 19
4 Poland Tomasz Kuszczak Birmingham City 15
England David Stockdale Brighton & Hove Albion
5 England Scott Carson Derby County 14
Republic of Ireland Keiren Westwood Sheffield Wednesday
6 Northern Ireland Lee Camp Rotherham United 13
7 England Jordan Pickford Preston North End 12
Scotland David Marshall Cardiff City
England Jason Steele Blackburn Rovers
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Hat-tricks

More information Player, For ...
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Discipline

Player

Club

  • Most yellow cards 93[76]
    • Leeds United
  • Most red cards 4 [76]
    • Milton Keynes Dons
    • Bolton Wanderers
    • Nottingham Forest

Monthly awards

Attendances

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Derby County 682,249 33,010 26,834 29,663 +1.5%†
2 Brighton & Hove Albion 588,415 30,292 21,397 25,583 −0.2%†
3 Middlesbrough 566,419 33,806 19,966 24,627 +25.9%†
4 Sheffield Wednesday 520,738 31,843 18,706 22,641 +2.9%†
5 Leeds United 516,261 29,311 17,103 22,446 −7.5%†
6 Wolverhampton Wanderers 463,609 24,238 17,387 20,157 −10.1%†
7 Nottingham Forest 452,543 27,551 16,449 19,676 −16.2%†
8 Ipswich Town 436,756 23,615 16,488 18,989 −5.1%†
9 Birmingham City 404,867 20,302 14,366 17,603 +9.3%†
10 Fulham 404,023 20,316 14,283 17,566 −3.9%†
11 Reading 397,556 21,581 12,949 17,285 +1.5%†
12 Hull City 395,568 21,842 15,139 17,199 −27.0%1
13 Burnley 384,305 20,478 12,430 16,709 −12.7%1
14 Cardiff City 378,653 28,680 12,729 16,463 −22.1%†
15 Queens Park Rangers 367,857 18,031 14,007 15,994 −10.2%1
16 Charlton Athletic 359,541 21,506 12,294 15,632 −6.4%†
17 Bristol City 351,705 15,854 14,291 15,292 +26.8%2
18 Bolton Wanderers 346,299 18,423 12,257 15,056 −2.3%†
19 Blackburn Rovers 325,003 21,029 12,002 14,131 −5.2%†
20 MK Dons 302,633 21,345 9,402 13,158 +39.2%2
21 Preston North End 299,801 19,852 9,963 13,035 +20.1%2
22 Huddersfield Town 290,505 17,118 9,736 12,631 −7.2%†
23 Brentford 237,120 12,202 8,363 10,310 −4.7%†
24 Rotherham United 230,578 11,658 8,534 10,025 −2.1%†
League total 9,703,004 33,806 8,363 17,578 +2.9%†
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Source: "Sky Bet Championship 15/16 Home attendance". statbunker.com. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
Notes:
1: Team played in Premier League last season.
2: Team played in League One last season.

References

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