Sunderland won the league in
the first season since rebranding, with
Wigan Athletic finishing second to win promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history. They had only been
elected to the
Football League in 1978 playing in the
fourth tier as recently as 1994 before their promotion.
West Ham United won the first
Championship play-off final that season, following a 1–0 victory over
Preston North End at the
Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The 2004–05 season saw the division announce a total attendance (including postseason) of 9.8 million, the fourth-highest total attendance for a European football division, behind the
Premier League (12.88 million), Spain's
La Liga (11.57 million) and Germany's
Bundesliga (10.92 million). Additionally,
Millwall, competing in the inaugural Championship season, qualified for the
UEFA Cup, only to lose in the
first round. In the
2005–06 season,
Reading broke the
Football League points record for a season, finishing with 106 points, exceeding the record of 105 set by Sunderland in
1998–99. Sunderland won their second Championship title in the
2006–07 season, after being relegated from the top division the previous season. On 4 May 2007,
Leeds United became the first side since the re-branding of the division to enter
administration; they were deducted 10 points and were relegated as a result. On 28 May 2007,
Derby County won the first Championship play-off final at the new
Wembley Stadium, beating
West Bromwich Albion 1–0. West Brom would go on to win the Championship in the following season.
Burnley, who finished fifth in 2009, defeated
Sheffield United to earn their first season in the newly branded Premier League, last being in the
Football League First Division in 1976.
Crystal Palace became the second Championship club to enter administration in 2010. After winning the
2011 League Cup final,
Birmingham City became the first Championship club to compete in the group stage of the
UEFA Cup/Europa League, finishing third in the group, only one point behind Portuguese club
Braga. Birmingham City eventually finished fourth in the Championship that season, and would lose to fifth-place
Blackpool in the play-off.
Wigan Athletic became the second club to participate in the Europa League group stage after winning the 2013 FA Cup, only to accumulate one win and lose their last three group matches. On 24 May 2014, the Championship play-off final between Derby County and
Queens Park Rangers saw the highest crowd for any Championship fixture – 87,348 witnessed a
Bobby Zamora stoppage time winner for QPR to win promotion for the London club. For the
2016–17 season, the Football League was rebranded as the English Football League. The league had a cumulative attendance of more than 11 million – excluding play-off matches – with more than two million watching
Newcastle United and
Aston Villa home fixtures alone, both of whom had been relegated from the Premier League in the previous season. This was included in the highest crowds for the second to fourth tier in England since the
1958–59 season. Newcastle won the title in 2016–17, while Aston Villa finished 13th, eventually returning to the Premier League in 2019. On 13 March 2020, Championship play was halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, with a suspension lasting until 4 April. It was then extended to the end of April, with the league eventually restarting on 20 June.
Leeds United were confirmed as champions on 17 July 2020, being promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.
Brentford, having been in
League Two in 2009 and gaining promotion to the Championship five years later, were promoted following a play-off victory against
Swansea City on 29 May 2021, after losing the play-off to
Fulham the previous year. On 29 May 2022,
Nottingham Forest, having been in the Championship for 14 consecutive seasons, ended their 23-year absence from the top flight by beating
Huddersfield Town in the play-off final, after being last in the league as late as round 8 of the 2021–22 season. The EFL Championship took a unique four-week break in November and December 2022 to allow for players to join their
national teams at the
2022 FIFA World Cup held in
Qatar. ==League structure==