2020–21 EFL Championship

17th season of the Football League Championship From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2020–21 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 29th season under its current league division format.

Season2020–21
Dates11 September 2020 –
9 May 2021
ChampionsNorwich City
2nd Championship title
5th 2nd tier title
Quick facts Season, Dates ...
EFL Championship
Season2020–21
Dates11 September 2020 –
9 May 2021
ChampionsNorwich City
2nd Championship title
5th 2nd tier title
PromotedNorwich City
Watford
Brentford
RelegatedWycombe Wanderers
Rotherham United
Sheffield Wednesday
Matches552
Goals1,274 (2.31 per match)
Top goalscorerIvan Toney
(Brentford)
(33 goals)[1]
Biggest home winNorwich City 7–0 Huddersfield Town
(6 April 2021)
Biggest away winPreston North End 0–5 Brentford
(10 April 2021)[1]
Highest scoringBrentford 7–2 Wycombe Wanderers
(30 January 2021)
Longest winning runNorwich City
(9 games)[1]
Longest unbeaten runBrentford
(21 games)[1]
Longest winless runDerby County
Wycombe Wanderers
(11 games)[1]
Longest losing runSheffield Wednesday
Wycombe Wanderers
(7 games)[1]
Highest attendance11,689[2]
Lowest attendance1,000[3]
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Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2019–20 season:

  1. Wigan Athletic were deducted 12 points by the EFL for entering administration. The club appealed the decision, but it was confirmed on 4 August 2020 that the appeal was unsuccessful. Therefore Wigan were not reprieved from relegation.[4][5]

Stadiums

Greater London Championship football clubs


Attendances

As with the end to the previous season, the season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in games being played behind closed doors. However, on 19 September 2020, two matches in the division, between Norwich City and Preston North End at Carrow Road, and between Middlesbrough and Bournemouth at The Riverside Stadium, were held in front of 1,000 spectators, as part of EFL pilots.[6]

This was seen as the beginning of fans gradually returning, but a rapid rise of cases from the end of September (eventually resulting in a second nationwide lockdown in November), led to plans being put on hold.[7]

With the second nationwide lockdown ending on 2 December 2020, it was announced England would return to its previous three tier system, with clubs in Tier 2 allowed to host a maximum of 2,000 spectators.[8] The first of these matches took place on 2 December 2020 itself, although the matches of Luton Town and Wycombe Wanderers were capped at 1,000 spectators, as they had not previously held an EFL pilot event.[9]

On Saturday 5 December 2020, Reading, Millwall, Watford, Norwich City and Brentford all hosted matches in front of the maximum allotted 2,000 spectators permitted, with fans in attendance at Brentford Community Stadium for the very first time.[10]

However, it was then announced that from Wednesday 16 December 2020, that London, parts of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire, would move up to Tier 3, the highest tier of restrictions in England, meaning football clubs in these areas, (for The EFL Championship: Brentford, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and Watford), would revert to playing behind closed doors without fans, due to a rise in coronavirus cases, following a tier review.[11]

It was then announced that from Saturday, 19 December 2020 that Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire would also move into Tier 3, meaning for the EFL Championship that Luton Town, Reading & Wycombe Wanderers would also revert to playing behind closed doors without fans again, as of this date. Conversely, Bristol City, who had previously been unable to host fans, would now be able to allow fans back in, with Bristol being downgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2.[12] As of these updated restrictions, it now meant that only Bournemouth, Bristol City and Norwich City's stadiums would be open to host fans in The EFL Championship.[13] This was reversed on Wednesday 23 December 2020, with Bournemouth the sole team in the division eligible to host fans.[14][15] A week later on 30 December 2020, Tier 2 was removed in England, with mainland England in either Tiers 3 or 4, meaning once again, no clubs could host fans for the foreseeable future.[16] A third national lockdown in January 2021 meant that fans ultimately were barred from matches for the rest of the regular season. Following an easing of restrictions in May 2021, the play-offs were able to take place in front of crowds of up to 20% of a stadium's capacity.

Personnel and sponsoring

More information Team, Manager ...
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Sponsor
Barnsley France Valérien Ismaël England Alex Mowatt[17] Germany Puma The Investment Room[18]
Birmingham City England Lee Bowyer England Harlee Dean[19] United States Nike BoyleSports[20]
Blackburn Rovers England Tony Mowbray England Elliott Bennett England Umbro Recoverite Compression[21]
Bournemouth England Jonathan Woodgate England Steve Cook England Umbro MSP Capital[22]
Brentford Denmark Thomas Frank Sweden Pontus Jansson England Umbro Utilita
Bristol City England Nigel Pearson Czech Republic Tomáš Kalas[23] Denmark Hummel MansionBet[24]
Cardiff City Republic of Ireland Mick McCarthy England Sean Morrison Germany Adidas Tourism Malaysia
Coventry City England Mark Robins Scotland Liam Kelly Denmark Hummel BoyleSports[25]
Derby County England Wayne Rooney Scotland David Marshall[26] England Umbro[27] 32Red
Huddersfield Town Spain Carlos Corberán Germany Christopher Schindler England Umbro Various (home)
Yorkshire Air Ambulance / The Town Foundation / Kirkwood Hospice (away and third)[28]
Luton Town Wales Nathan Jones England Sonny Bradley England Umbro
  • JB Developments (home)
  • Star Platforms (away)
  • Ryebridge (third)
Middlesbrough England Neil Warnock England Jonny Howson Denmark Hummel 32Red
Millwall England Gary Rowett Republic of Ireland Alex Pearce Italy Macron Huski Chocolate[29]
Norwich City Germany Daniel Farke Scotland Grant Hanley Italy Erreà Dafabet[30]
Nottingham Forest Republic of Ireland Chris Hughton England Michael Dawson Italy Macron Boxt 2
Preston North End Scotland Frankie McAvoy Republic of Ireland Alan Browne United States Nike 32Red
Queens Park Rangers England Mark Warburton United States Geoff Cameron Italy Erreà Senate Bespoke 2
Reading Serbia Veljko Paunović Jamaica Liam Moore Italy Macron Casumo[31]
Rotherham United England Paul Warne England Richard Wood Germany Puma
  • Embark Group
Sheffield Wednesday Jamaica Darren Moore Scotland Barry Bannan England Elev8 Chansiri (home)
Elev8 (away and third)
Stoke City Northern Ireland Michael O'Neill Vacant Italy Macron bet365
Swansea City Wales Steve Cooper England Matt Grimes[32] Spain Joma[33] Swansea University[34]
Watford Spain Xisco Muñoz England Troy Deeney Spain Kelme[35] Sportsbet.io
Wycombe Wanderers England Gareth Ainsworth England Matt Bloomfield Republic of Ireland O'Neills
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  1. ^ Club captain Wayne Rooney retired from playing on 15 January 2021 to manage the club on a permanent basis, having served as interim player-manager since the previous November following the dismissal of Phillip Cocu.
  2. ^ Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers' shirt sponsor was Football Index until 12 March 2021 when they entered administration.[38]

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Birmingham City End of caretaker spell 22 July 2020 Pre-season Spain Aitor Karanka[40] 31 July 2020
Huddersfield Town England Danny Schofield[39] Spain Carlos Corberán[41] 23 July 2020
Watford England Hayden Mullins[42][43] 26 July 2020 Serbia Vladimir Ivić[44] 15 August 2020
Bournemouth England Eddie Howe[45] Mutual consent 1 August 2020 England Jason Tindall[46] 8 August 2020
Reading Wales Mark Bowen[47] 29 August 2020 Serbia Veljko Paunović[47] 29 August 2020
Barnsley Austria Gerhard Struber[48] Signed by New York Red Bulls 6 October 2020 21st France Valérien Ismaël[49] 23 October 2020
Nottingham Forest France Sabri Lamouchi[50] Sacked 22nd Republic of Ireland Chris Hughton[50] 6 October 2020
Sheffield Wednesday England Garry Monk[51] 9 November 2020 23rd Wales Tony Pulis[52] 13 November 2020
Derby County Netherlands Phillip Cocu[53] Mutual consent 14 November 2020 24th England Wayne Rooney[a][54][55] 27 November 2020
Watford Serbia Vladimir Ivić[56] Sacked 19 December 2020 5th Spain Xisco Muñoz[57] 20 December 2020
Sheffield Wednesday Wales Tony Pulis[58] 28 December 2020 23rd Jamaica Darren Moore[59] 1 March 2021
Cardiff City England Neil Harris[60] 21 January 2021 15th Republic of Ireland Mick McCarthy[61] 22 January 2021
Bournemouth England Jason Tindall[62] 3 February 2021 6th England Jonathan Woodgate[b][63] 21 February 2021
Bristol City England Dean Holden[64] 16 February 2021 13th England Nigel Pearson[65] 22 February 2021
Birmingham City Spain Aitor Karanka[66] Resigned 16 March 2021 21st England Lee Bowyer[67] 16 March 2021
Preston North End Scotland Alex Neil[68] Sacked 21 March 2021 16th Scotland Frankie McAvoy[69] 10 May 2021
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  1. Rooney was initially appointed as interim manager until the end of the season, but the move was made permanent on 15 January 2021.
  2. Woodgate was initially caretaker manager, but was then appointed as manager until the end of the season on 21 February 2021.

League table

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Norwich City (C, P) 46 29 10 7 75 36 +39 97 Promotion to the Premier League
2 Watford (P) 46 27 10 9 63 30 +33 91
3 Brentford (O, P) 46 24 15 7 79 42 +37 87 Qualification for Championship play-offs
4 Swansea City 46 23 11 12 56 39 +17 80
5 Barnsley 46 23 9 14 58 50 +8 78
6 Bournemouth 46 22 11 13 73 46 +27 77
7 Reading 46 19 13 14 62 54 +8 70
8 Cardiff City 46 18 14 14 66 49 +17 68
9 Queens Park Rangers 46 19 11 16 57 55 +2 68
10 Middlesbrough 46 18 10 18 55 53 +2 64
11 Millwall 46 15 17 14 47 52 5 62
12 Luton Town 46 17 11 18 41 52 11 62
13 Preston North End 46 18 7 21 49 56 7 61
14 Stoke City 46 15 15 16 50 52 2 60
15 Blackburn Rovers 46 15 12 19 65 54 +11 57
16 Coventry City 46 14 13 19 49 61 12 55
17 Nottingham Forest 46 12 16 18 37 45 8 52
18 Birmingham City 46 13 13 20 37 61 24 52
19 Bristol City 46 15 6 25 46 68 22 51
20 Huddersfield Town 46 12 13 21 50 71 21 49
21 Derby County 46 11 11 24 36 58 22 44
22 Wycombe Wanderers (R) 46 11 10 25 39 69 30 43 Relegation to EFL League One
23 Rotherham United (R) 46 11 9 26 44 60 16 42
24 Sheffield Wednesday (R) 46 12 11 23 40 61 21 41[a]
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Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending off offences[72]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Sheffield Wednesday received a 12 point deduction for breaching the League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules. This was later reduced to 6 points by an Independent League Arbitration panel.[70][71]

Play-offs

Semi-finals Final
        
3 Brentford 0 3 3
6 Bournemouth 1 1 2
3 Brentford 2
4 Swansea City 0
4 Swansea City 1 1 2
5 Barnsley 0 1 1

First leg

More information Bournemouth, 1–0 ...
Bournemouth1–0Brentford
Danjuma 55' Report
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Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Tim Robinson
More information Barnsley, 0–1 ...
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Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Geoff Eltringham

Second leg

More information Brentford, 3–1 ...
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More information Swansea City, 1–1 ...
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Final

More information Brentford, 2–0 ...
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Attendance: 11,689

Results

More information Home \ Away, BAR ...
Home \ Away BAR BIR BLA BOU BRE BRI CAR COV DER HUD LUT MID MIL NOR NOT PNE QPR REA ROT SHW STO SWA WAT WYC
Barnsley 1–0 2–1 0–4 0–1 2–2 2–2 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 2–1 2–2 2–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 0–2 1–0 2–1
Birmingham City 1–2 0–2 1–3 1–0 0–3 0–4 1–1 0–4 2–1 0–1 1–4 0–0 1–3 1–1 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–2
Blackburn Rovers 2–1 5–2 0–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 5–2 1–0 0–0 2–1 1–2 0–1 1–2 3–1 2–4 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 2–3 5–0
Bournemouth 2–3 3–2 3–2 0–1 1–0 1–2 4–1 1–1 5–0 0–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 2–3 0–0 4–2 1–0 1–2 0–2 3–0 1–0 1–0
Brentford 0–2 0–0 2–2 2–1 3–2 1–1 2–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 2–4 2–1 3–1 1–0 3–0 2–1 1–1 2–0 7–2
Bristol City 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–2 1–3 0–2 2–1 1–0 2–1 2–3 0–1 0–2 1–3 0–0 2–0 0–2 0–2 0–2 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–0 2–1
Cardiff City 3–0 3–2 2–2 1–1 2–3 0–1 3–1 4–0 3–0 4–0 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 4–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–2 1–2 2–1
Coventry City 2–0 0–0 0–4 1–3 2–0 3–1 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 6–1 0–2 1–2 0–1 3–2 3–2 3–1 2–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0
Derby County 0–2 1–2 0–4 1–0 2–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 3–3 0–0 2–0 0–1 1–1
Huddersfield Town 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–2 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 3–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 1–2 0–0 2–0 1–1 4–1 2–0 2–3
Luton Town 1–2 1–1 1–1 0–0 0–3 2–1 0–2 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–1 3–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 3–2 0–2 0–1 1–0 2–0
Middlesbrough 2–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–4 1–3 1–1 2–0 3–0 2–1 1–0 3–0 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–2 0–0 0–3 3–1 3–0 2–1 1–1 0–3
Millwall 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–4 1–1 4–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 0–3 2–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 4–1 0–0 0–3 0–0 0–0
Norwich City 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–3 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 0–1 7–0 3–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–2 1–1 4–1 1–0 2–1 4–1 1–0 0–1 2–1
Nottingham Forest 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–3 1–2 0–2 2–1 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–2 3–1 0–2 1–2 3–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 2–0
Preston North End 2–0 1–2 0–3 1–1 0–5 1–0 0–1 2–0 3–0 3–0 0–1 3–0 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–1 2–2
Queens Park Rangers 1–3 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 1–2 3–2 3–0 0–1 0–1 3–1 1–1 3–2 1–3 2–0 0–2 0–1 3–2 4–1 0–0 0–2 1–1 1–0
Reading 2–0 1–2 1–0 3–1 1–3 3–1 1–1 3–0 3–1 2–2 2–1 0–2 1–2 1–2 2–0 0–3 1–1 3–0 3–0 0–3 2–2 1–0 1–0
Rotherham United 1–2 0–1 1–1 2–2 0–2 2–0 1–2 0–1 3–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–2 0–1 2–1 3–1 0–1 3–0 3–3 1–3 1–4 0–3
Sheffield Wednesday 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–1 5–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–0 0–2 0–0 2–0
Stoke City 2–2 1–1 1–0 0–1 3–2 0–2 1–2 2–3 1–0 4–3 3–0 1–0 1–2 2–3 1–1 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–2 2–0
Swansea City 2–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 1–1 1–3 0–1 1–0 2–1 1–2 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 2–1 2–2
Watford 1–0 3–0 3–1 1–1 1–1 6–0 0–1 3–2 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 4–1 1–2 2–0 2–0 1–0 3–2 2–0 2–0
Wycombe Wanderers 1–3 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 2–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 1–3 1–3 1–2 0–2 0–3 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 0–2 1–1
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Updated to match(es) played on 8 May 2021. Source: "Championship Results". Sky Sports. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Ivan Toney won The Golden Boot for Brentford in his debut season at the club, scoring 33 goals for The Bees, as they won the play–offs to seal promotion to The Premier League, ending a seventy-four year absence from the top flight.

Top scorers

  • 1 Includes 2 goals in The Championship play-offs.
  • 2 Includes 1 goal in The Championship play-offs.

Hat-tricks

More information Player, For ...
PlayerForAgainstResultDate
England Adam ArmstrongBlackburn RoversWycombe Wanderers5–0 (H)[73]19 September 2020
Republic of Ireland James CollinsLuton TownPreston North End3–0 (H)[74]12 December 2020
Spain Sergi CanósBrentfordCardiff City3–2 (A)[75]26 December 2020
England Ivan ToneyWycombe Wanderers7–2 (H)[76]30 January 2021
Finland Teemu PukkiNorwich CityHuddersfield Town7–0 (H)[77]6 April 2021
England Adam ArmstrongBlackburn Rovers5–2 (H)[78]24 April 2021
Wales Harry WilsonCardiff CityBirmingham City4–0 (A)[79]1 May 2021
England Adam ArmstrongBlackburn Rovers5–2 (H)[80]8 May 2021
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Clean sheets

Freddie Woodman won The Golden Glove this season with 21 clean sheets, as he helped Swansea City reach the play-off final, whilst on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United.
  • 1 Includes 1 clean sheet in The Championship play-offs.

Discipline

Players

Club

Awards

Monthly

Annual

More information Award, Winner ...
Award Winner Club
Player of the Season Argentina Emiliano Buendía[91] Norwich City
Young Player of the Season France Michael Olise[91] Reading
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Championship Team of the season

PFA Championship Team of the Year

Notes and references

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