Championship Grounds - Away Grounds

The Championship is the second-highest division in English football and hosts a vast amount of footballing talent. In the Championship, 3 teams at the top of the table are promoted whilst 3 teams at the are relegated.

By securing promotion from the Championship to the Premier League, teams can secure a huge cash prize and bolster their teams to fight to avoid relegation in the next season. The bonus in broadcasting per match is staggering for the Premier League compared to the Championship.

The Championship is currently the richest second-tier league in the world alongside being the 7th wealthiest league in Europe and is currently sponsored by Sky Bet, the Champions League replaced the old first division in 2004 and ever since then has built its respectful reputation in the football world.
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Contents

1 Ticket Prices
2 Championship Stadiums
3 Stadium Stats
4 About The League
5 Team Stats
6 Championship History

Ticket Prices

Stadium	Season Ticket Price (Adult)	Season Ticket Price (Conc)	Season Ticket Price (Junior)	Match Ticket Price (Adult)	Match Ticket Price (Conc)
AFC Bournemouth	£550 – £950	£340 – £690	£115 – £330	£32 – £55	£19 – £40
Barnsley	£390 – £475	£215 – £270	£35 – £115	£23 – £36	£16 – £28
Birmingham City	£265 – £505	£265 – £280	£50 – £170	£15 – £40	£10 – £30
Blackburn Rovers	£399 – £499	£269 – £349	£60 – £90	£25 – £42	£20 – £35
Blackpool	£339 – £649	£299 – £649	£23 – £649	£16 – £48	£12 – £48
Bristol City	£355 – £636	£294 – £483	£50 – £199	£25 – £43	£22 – £40
Cardiff City	£249 – £479	£149 – £359	£49 – £249	£15 – £34	£10 – £27
Coventry City	£375 – £375	£289 – £289	£90 – £175	£20 – £30	£15 – £25
Derby County	£319.2 – £431.2	£239.4 – £323.4	£79.8 – £215.6	£19.5 – £37	£13.5 – £27
Fulham	£399 – £809	£349 – £709	£59 – £299	£25 – £40	£25 – £35
Huddersfield Town	£329 – £329	£329 – £329	£69 – £159	£25 – £25	£20 – £20
Hull City	£360 – £360	£234 – £334	£36 – £108	£20 – £30	£18 – £23
Luton Town	£350 – £500	£290 – £335	£60 – £145	£20 – £32	£12 – £24
Middlesbrough	£530 – £691	£358 – £491	£184 – £184	£27 – £35	£18 – £27
Millwall	£420 – £560	£260 – £330	£30 – £200	£27 – £36	£18 – £26
Nottingham Forest	£365 – £525	£255 – £370	£35 – £90	£20 – £30	No Info
Peterborough United	£399 – £529	£299 – £409	£119 – £219	£24 – £28	£21 – £25
Preston North End	£400 – £535	£280 – £380	£80 – £125	£24 – £30	£16 – £23
Queens Park Rangers	£248 – £674	£149 – £452	£72 – £220	£19 – £44	£13 – £33
Reading	£319 – £445	£235 – £295	£23 – £120	£23 – £29	£16 – £20
Sheffield United	£387.5 – £543.5	£275 – £361	£71.25 – £75.75	£35 – £40	£13 – £36
Stoke City	£459 – £609	£349 – £465	£269 – £329	£25 – £35	£19 – £27
Swansea	£439 – £489	£299 – £339	£69 – £169	£30 – £30	£17.5 – £17.5
West Bromwich Albion	£359 – £469	£299 – £379	£55 – £149	£23 – £25	£18 – £20

Championship Stadiums

Out of all of the football leagues in the world, the English Championship has the most diverse mix of stadiums many big teams from the Premier League drop into the Championship every year which means the Championship gets to show off some of their huge modern stadiums.

For a second-tier division in Europe, the attendance in the English Championship is very high in absolute terms and overall capacity. An example of this would be in the 2014-15 season the attendance was recorded as 17,857 which was a massive testament to the stadiums and the teams that play in them.

The majority of the famous and traditional English grounds that are used by some of the most famous clubs have been unable to modernise or develop their grounds without the help of the Premier Leagues’ cash. The smaller Championship grounds have started to also host teams that have emerged from lower divisions.

Wembley Stadium is the most famous and the most expensive stadium there is with a net worth of £1 billion, it is England’s home and the site of the EFL Cup and FA Cup finals. It also hosted the 2020 Euros final.

Stadium Stats

Stadium	Year Opened	Capacity	Ave Attendance	Record Attendance	Record Attendance Match
Ashton Gate Bristol City	1887	27,000	21,080	43,335	Bristol City v Preston (1935)
Bet365 Stadium Stoke City FC	1997	30,089	25,200	30,022	Stoke vs Everton (17/03/2018)
Bloomfield Road Blackpool	1899	16,616	5,517	38,098	Blackpool v Wolves (1955)
Bramall Lane Sheffield United	1855	32,050	26,177	68,287	Sheffield United v Leeds (1936)
Cardiff City Stadium Cardiff City / Wales	2009	33,280	21,614	33,280	Wales v Belgium (2015)
Coventry Building Society Arena Coventry City	2005	32,609	9,118	31,407	Coventry v Chelsea (2009)
Craven Cottage Fulham	1896	25,700	24,371	49,335	Fulham v Milwall Dockers (1938)
Deepdale Preston North End	1878	23,404	14,789	42,684	Preston v Arsenal (1938)
Ewood Park Blackburn Rovers	1882	31,367	14,552	61,783	Blackburn v Bolton (1929)
John Smiths Stadium Huddersfield Town	1994	24,500	23,340	24,169	Huddersfield v West Brom (2017)
Kenilworth Road Luton Town	1905	10,356	9,516	30,069	Luton Town v Blackpool (1959)
Liberty Stadium Swansea AFC	2005	21,088	18,737	20,972	Swansea City v Liverpool (2016)
Loftus Road Queens Park Rangers	1904	18,439	13,866	35,353	QPR v Leeds United (1974)
Madjeski Stadium Reading	1998	24,161	14,991	24,184	Reading v Everton (2012)
Oakwell Stadium Barnsley	1888	23,287	12,527	40,255	Barnsley v Stoke City (1936)
Pride Park Derby County	1997	33,597	26,626	33,598	England v Mexico (2001)
Riverside Stadium Middlesbrough FC	1995	34,742	23,217	35,000	England v Slovakia (2004)
St Andrew’s Birmingham City	1906	29,409	22,483	67,341	Birmingham v Everton (1939)
The City Ground Nottingham Forest	1898	30,445	27,724	49,946	Notts Forest v Man United (1967)
The Den Millwall	1993	20,146	13,981	20,093	Millwall v Arsenal (1994)
The Hawthorns West Bromwich Albion FC	1900	26,688	24,053	64,815	West Brom v Arsenal (1937)
The MKM Stadium Hull City AFC	2002	25,400	11,553	25,280	England v Netherlands U21 (2004)
Vitality Stadium AFC Bournemouth	1910	11,364	11,096	28,799	Man U v Bournemouth (1957)
Weston Homes London Road Peterborough United	1913	15,314	7,365	30,096	Peterborough v Swansea (1965)

About The League

The Championship League is made up of 24 teams that play a total of 46 matches throughout the duration of the season which is usually the first week in August right the way through to mid-May time. The Championship starts just a week before the Premier League and the winner of the Championship automatically qualifies for the Premier League and so does the runner-up.

As it is the 7th richest league in the world and is the richest second-tier division in Europe the Championship league and its teams are highly respected around the world, It is televised in major European counterparts such as the Spanish Segunda. Sky signed a three-year deal to broadcast all of the 75 league matches for £195m.

Manchester City and Leicester City are the two teams that have won the English second-tier league the most amount of times both winning 7 times each, the Championship playoff final has a larger prize than winning the Champions League with £125m payouts to the winning club.

It is not hard to notice how and why they are the 7th richest league in the world, all of the money is put back into the players, the stadiums, the managers, and the facilities they have on offer.

Team Stats

Team	Year Founded	Nickname	Team Owner
AFC Bournemouth	1890	The Cherries	Maxim Demin
Barnsley	1887	The Tykes, The Reds	Chien Lee, Pacific Media Group, James Cryne, Neerav Parekh
Birmingham City	1875	The Blues	Birmingham Sports Holdings
Blackburn Rovers	1875	Rovers, The Blue, and Whites, The Riversiders	Venky’s London Ltd.
Blackpool	1887	The Seasiders, The ‘Pool, The Tangerines	Simon Sadler
Bristol City	1897	The Robins	Stephen Lansdown
Cardiff City	1899	The Bluebirds	Vincent Tan
Coventry City	1883	The Sky Blues	Otium Entertainment Group
Derby County	1884	The Rams	Mel Morris
Fulham	1879	Cottagers, Whites, Black and White army	Shahid Khan
Huddersfield Town	1908	The Terriers	Phil Hodgkinson
Hull City	1904	The Tigers	Assem Allam
Luton Town	1885	The Hatters	Luton Town Football Club 2020 Ltd
Middlesbrough	1876	The Boro, Smoggies	Steve Gibson
Millwall	1885	The Lions (Formerly known as The Dockers)	Millwall Holdings plc
Nottingham Forest	1865	Forest	Evangelos Marinakis
Peterborough United	1934	The Posh	Darragh MacAnthony, Kelgary Sports & Entertainment
Preston North End	1880	The Lilywhites, PNE, The Whites, Preston, The Invincibles	Trevor Hemmings
Queens Park Rangers	1886	The Hoops, The Rs, QPR	Tune Group, Total Soccer Growth
Reading	1871	The Royals	Dai Yongge and Dai Xiuli
Sheffield United	1889	The Blades, Red, and White Wizards	Abdullah bin Musa’ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kevin McCabe
Stoke City	1863	The Potters	Bet365
Swansea	1912	The Swans	Stephen Kaplan & Jason Levien, Swansea City Supporters Trust
West Bromwich Albion	1878	The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion	Lai Guochuan

Championship History

Originally there were 12 members in the second division of the Championship and it was established in 1892 which was four years after the first division was established. Some of the original 12 members included Manchester city, Bootle, Burton Swifts, Crewe Alexandrea, Birmingham City, Sheffield United, and Lincon City.

This number increased over the years going from 12 to 16 teams in 1894, then increasing again in 1898 to 18, then to 20 in 1905, 22 in 1919, 23 in 1987, and finally 4 in 19888 which is the number of teams that are involved today. Initially, teams that won the Championship did not automatically qualify for the Premier League like today.

The top teams from the second division had to play a series of matches to be able to progress on to the premier league however, this system was later abolished in 1898 after a match-fixing incident between Stoke and Burnley ended in 0-0. The clubs purposely drew the test match playoff ensuring Burnely was promoted but Stoke could not be relegated.

The League has now run this way for over 100 years and in 2004 it was rebranded as the Coca-Cola Championship as part of a new sponsorship deal, the sponsorship ran for 5 years before Coca-Cola ended it and Npower was the new sponsor until 2013 until the new and current sponsors sky bet signed a 5-year deal.