2021–22 EFL Championship

The 2021–22 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 6th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 30th season under its current league division format.

EFL Championship

Season	2021–22
Dates	6 August 2021 – 7 May 2022
Champions	Fulham 1st Championship title 3rd 2nd tier title
Promoted	Fulham Bournemouth Nottingham Forest
Relegated	Peterborough United Derby County Barnsley
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,385 (2.51 per match)
Top goalscorer	Aleksandar Mitrović (Fulham) (43 goals)
Biggest home win	Fulham 7–0 Luton Town (2 May 2022)
Biggest away win	Blackburn Rovers 0–7 Fulham (3 November 2021) Reading 0–7 Fulham (11 January 2022)
Highest scoring	Sheffield United 6–2 Peterborough United (11 September 2021) Fulham 6–2 Bristol City (15 January 2022) Fulham 6–2 Birmingham City (18 January 2022) Reading 4–4 Swansea City (18 April 2022)
Longest winning run	Fulham (7 games)[1]
Longest unbeaten run	Huddersfield Town (17 games)[1]
Longest winless run	Peterborough United (15 games)[1]
Longest losing run	Cardiff City (8 games)[1]
Highest attendance	32,211 Derby County 2–2 Birmingham City (30 January 2022)[1]
Lowest attendance	6,832 Peterborough United 2–3 Swansea City (16 March 2022)[1]
Total attendance	9,310,401[2]
Average attendance	16,867[2]
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2020–21 season:

To Championship Promoted from League One Hull City Peterborough United Blackpool Relegated from the Premier League Fulham West Bromwich Albion Sheffield United

From Championship Promoted to the Premier League Norwich City Watford Brentford Relegated to League One Wycombe Wanderers Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday

Stadiums

London

Bournemouth

Barnsley

Birmingham City

Blackburn Rovers

Blackpool

Bristol
City

Cardiff City

Coventry City

Derby
County

Huddersfield Town

Hull City

Luton Town

Middlesbrough

Nottingham Forest

Peterborough United

Preston North
End

Reading

Sheffield United

Stoke City

Swansea City

West Bromwich Albion

London Teams
Fulham
Millwall
Queens Park Rangers

Locations of the 2021–22 EFL Championship teams

Fulham

Millwall

QPR

Greater London EFL Championship football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Bournemouth	Bournemouth	Dean Court	11,364
Barnsley	Barnsley	Oakwell	23,287
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	29,409
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Blackpool	Blackpool	Bloomfield Road	17,338
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate Stadium	27,000
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Cardiff City Stadium	33,280
Coventry City	Coventry	Coventry Building Society Arena	32,609
Derby County	Derby	Pride Park Stadium	33,600
Fulham	London (Fulham)	Craven Cottage	19,359
Huddersfield Town	Huddersfield	Kirklees Stadium	24,121
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	MKM Stadium	25,586
Luton Town	Luton	Kenilworth Road	10,356
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	34,742
Millwall	London (South Bermondsey)	The Den	20,146
Nottingham Forest	West Bridgford	City Ground	30,445
Peterborough United	Peterborough	London Road Stadium	15,314
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	23,404
Queens Park Rangers	London (White City)	Loftus Road	18,439
Reading	Reading	Select Car Leasing Stadium	24,161
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,050
Stoke City	Stoke-on-Trent	bet365 Stadium	30,089
Swansea City	Swansea	Swansea.com Stadium	21,088
West Bromwich Albion	West Bromwich	The Hawthorns	26,850

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bournemouth	Scott Parker	Lloyd Kelly	Umbro	MSP Capital[3]
Barnsley	Martin Devaney (Interim)	Cauley Woodrow	Puma	The Investment Room[4]
Birmingham City	Lee Bowyer	Troy Deeney	Nike	BoyleSports[5]
Blackburn Rovers	Tony Mowbray	Darragh Lenihan	Macron	Totally Wicked1
Blackpool	Neil Critchley	Chris Maxwell	Puma	Blackpool Council (Home: "VisitBlackpool.com"; Away: "Get Vocal")
Bristol City	Nigel Pearson	Dan Bentley	Hummel	MansionBet[6]
Cardiff City	Steve Morison	Sean Morrison	Adidas	Tourism Malaysia
Coventry City	Mark Robins	Liam Kelly	Hummel	BoyleSports[7]
Derby County	Wayne Rooney	Tom Lawrence	Umbro	32Red
Fulham	Marco Silva	Tom Cairney	Adidas	World Mobile [8]
Huddersfield Town	Carlos Corberán	Jonathan Hogg	Umbro	Utilita[9]
Hull City	Shota Arveladze	Richie Smallwood	Umbro	Giacom[10]
Luton Town	Nathan Jones	Sonny Bradley	Umbro	Utilita (home)2 Star Platforms (away) Ryebridge (third)
Middlesbrough	Chris Wilder	Jonny Howson	Hummel	32Red
Millwall	Gary Rowett	Alex Pearce	Macron	Huski Chocolate[11]
Nottingham Forest	Steve Cooper	Lewis Grabban	Macron	BOXT
Peterborough United	Grant McCann	Oliver Norburn	Puma	Mick George Group
Preston North End	Ryan Lowe	Alan Browne	Nike	PAR Group
Queens Park Rangers	Mark Warburton	Stefan Johansen	Erreà	Ashville Holdings[12]
Reading	Paul Ince (Interim) Michael Gilkes (Interim)	Michael Morrison	Macron	Select Car Leasing[13]
Sheffield United	Paul Heckingbottom	Billy Sharp	Adidas	Randox
Stoke City	Michael O'Neill	Lewis Baker	Macron	bet365
Swansea City	Russell Martin	Matt Grimes[14]	Joma[15]	Swansea University[16]
West Bromwich Albion	Steve Bruce	Jake Livermore	Puma[17]	Ideal Heating

1. ^ Blackburn Rovers' shirt sponsor was Recoverite Compression until 18 January 2022 when the deal was ended prematurely.^[18]
2. ^ Luton Town's home shirt sponsor was JB Developments until 18 February 2022 when the deal was ended prematurely.^[19]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
West Bromwich Albion	Sam Allardyce[20]	Resigned	23 May 2021	Pre-season	Valérien Ismaël[21]	24 June 2021
Sheffield United	Paul Heckingbottom[22]	End of caretaker spell			Slaviša Jokanović[23]	27 May 2021
Barnsley	Valérien Ismaël[24]	Signed by West Bromwich Albion	24 June 2021		Markus Schopp[25]	29 June 2021
Fulham	Scott Parker[26]	Signed by Bournemouth	28 June 2021		Marco Silva[27]	1 July 2021
Bournemouth	Jonathan Woodgate[28]	End of contract			Scott Parker[28]	28 June 2021
Swansea City	Steve Cooper[29]	Mutual consent	21 July 2021		Russell Martin[30]	1 August 2021
Nottingham Forest	Chris Hughton[31]	Sacked	16 September 2021	24th	Steve Cooper[32]	21 September 2021
Cardiff City	Mick McCarthy[33]	Mutual consent	23 October 2021	21st	Steve Morison[34]	12 November 2021
Barnsley	Markus Schopp[35]	Sacked	1 November 2021	23rd	Poya Asbaghi[36]	17 November 2021
Middlesbrough	Neil Warnock[37]	Mutual consent	6 November 2021	14th	Chris Wilder[38]	7 November 2021
Sheffield United	Slaviša Jokanović[39]	Sacked	25 November 2021	16th	Paul Heckingbottom[39]	25 November 2021
Preston North End	Frankie McAvoy[40]		6 December 2021	18th	Ryan Lowe[41]	7 December 2021
Hull City	Grant McCann[42]		25 January 2022	19th	Shota Arveladze[43]	27 January 2022
West Bromwich Albion	Valérien Ismaël[44]		2 February 2022	5th	Steve Bruce[45]	3 February 2022
Reading	Veljko Paunović[46]	Mutual consent	19 February 2022	21st	Paul Ince (Interim) Michael Gilkes (Interim)[46]	19 February 2022
Peterborough United	Darren Ferguson[47]	Resigned	20 February 2022	23rd	Grant McCann[48]	24 February 2022
Barnsley	Poya Asbaghi[49]	Mutual consent	24 April 2022	24th	Martin Devaney (Interim)[50]	24 April 2022

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Fulham (C, P)	46	27	9	10	106	43	+63	90	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Bournemouth (P)	46	25	13	8	74	39	+35	88
3	Huddersfield Town	46	23	13	10	64	47	+17	82	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Nottingham Forest (O, P)	46	23	11	12	73	40	+33	80
5	Sheffield United	46	21	12	13	63	45	+18	75
6	Luton Town	46	21	12	13	63	55	+8	75
7	Middlesbrough	46	20	10	16	59	50	+9	70
8	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	12	15	59	50	+9	69
9	Millwall	46	18	15	13	53	45	+8	69
10	West Bromwich Albion	46	18	13	15	52	45	+7	67
11	Queens Park Rangers	46	19	9	18	60	59	+1	66
12	Coventry City	46	17	13	16	60	59	+1	64
13	Preston North End	46	16	16	14	52	56	−4	64
14	Stoke City	46	17	11	18	57	52	+5	62
15	Swansea City	46	16	13	17	58	68	−10	61
16	Blackpool	46	16	12	18	54	58	−4	60
17	Bristol City	46	15	10	21	62	77	−15	55
18	Cardiff City	46	15	8	23	50	68	−18	53
19	Hull City	46	14	9	23	41	54	−13	51
20	Birmingham City	46	11	14	21	50	75	−25	47
21	Reading	46	13	8	25	54	87	−33	41[a]
22	Peterborough United (R)	46	9	10	27	43	87	−44	37	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Derby County (R)	46	14	13	19	45	53	−8	34[b]
24	Barnsley (R)	46	6	12	28	33	73	−40	30

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^[54]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Reading were deducted 6 points for breach of profit and sustainability regulations.^[51]
2. Derby County were deducted 12 points for entering administration,^[52] and a further 9 points for financial irregularities.^[53]

Play-offs

Main article: 2022 English Football League play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final
	3	Huddersfield Town	1	1	2
	6	Luton Town	1	0	1
								3	Huddersfield Town	0
								4	Nottingham Forest	1
	4	Nottingham Forest	2	1	3 (3)
	5	Sheffield United	1	2	3 (2)

First leg

13 May 2022

19:45

Luton Town	1–1	Huddersfield Town
Bradley 30'	Report	Sinani 12'

Kenilworth Road, Luton

Attendance: 10,005

Referee: Robert Jones

14 May 2022

15:00

Sheffield United	1–2	Nottingham Forest
Berge 90+1'	Report	Colback 10' Johnson 71'

Bramall Lane, Sheffield

Attendance: 30,225

Referee: Andre Marriner

Second leg

16 May 2022

19:45

Huddersfield Town	1–0	Luton Town
Rhodes 82'	Report

Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield

Attendance: 23,507

Referee: Peter Bankes

Huddersfield Town won 2–1 on aggregate.

17 May 2022

19:45

Nottingham Forest	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Sheffield United
Johnson 19'	Report	Gibbs-White 47' Fleck 75'
Penalties
Johnson Cafú Cook Lolley	3–2	Norwood Hourihane Berge Ndiaye Gibbs-White

City Ground, West Bridgford

Attendance: 29,015

Referee: Michael Oliver

3–3 on aggregate. Nottingham Forest won 3–2 on penalties.

Final

Main article: 2022 EFL Championship play-off final

29 May 2022 (2022-05-29)

16:30 BST

Huddersfield Town	0–1	Nottingham Forest
	Report	Colwill 43' (o.g.)

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 80,019

Referee: Jon Moss

Results

Home \ Away	BOU	BAR	BIR	BLA	BLP	BRI	CAR	COV	DER	FUL	HUD	HUL	LUT	MID	MIL	NTF	PET	PNE	QPR	REA	SHU	STO	SWA	WBA
Bournemouth	—	3–0	3–1	0–2	2–2	3–2	3–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	4–0	2–2
Barnsley	0–1	—	1–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	3–2	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–3	1–1	0–2	0–0
Birmingham City	0–2	2–1	—	1–2	1–0	3–0	2–2	2–4	2–0	1–4	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–2	2–2	0–3	2–2	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	1–0
Blackburn Rovers	0–3	2–1	4–0	—	1–1	0–1	5–1	2–2	3–1	0–7	0–0	2–0	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	4–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	1–2
Blackpool	1–2	1–0	6–1	2–1	—	3–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–3	1–0	0–3	1–2	1–0	1–4	3–1	2–0	1–1	4–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–0
Bristol City	0–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	—	3–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–3	5–0	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–2
Cardiff City	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	—	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	3–1	2–1	4–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–3	2–1	0–4	0–4
Coventry City	0–3	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	3–2	1–0	—	1–1	4–1	1–2	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	4–1	1–0	1–2	1–2
Derby County	3–2	2–0	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–3	0–1	1–1	—	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0
Fulham	1–1	4–1	6–2	2–0	1–1	6–2	2–0	1–3	0–0	—	1–2	2–0	7–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	2–1	3–0	4–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	3–1	3–0
Huddersfield Town	0–3	2–1	0–0	3–2	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–5	—	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	3–0	1–0	2–2	4–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0
Hull City	0–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	—	1–3	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–3	3–0	1–3	0–2	2–0	0–2
Luton Town	3–2	2–1	0–5	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	5–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	—	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	4–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–3	2–0
Middlesbrough	1–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	4–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–1	—	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–1
Millwall	1–1	4–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–2	0–0	—	0–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–0
Nottingham Forest	1–2	3–0	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–4	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	—	2–0	3–0	3–1	4–0	1–1	2–2	5–1	4–0
Peterborough United	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	5–0	2–3	2–2	1–4	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–1	0–4	2–1	0–1	—	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	2–2	2–3	0–1
Preston North End	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–4	1–0	2–2	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–4	2–0	4–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	—	2–1	2–3	2–2	1–1	3–1	1–1
Queens Park Rangers	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–3	3–2	—	4–0	1–3	0–2	0–0	1–0
Reading	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–3	2–3	1–2	2–3	2–2	0–7	3–4	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	3–3	—	0–1	2–1	4–4	0–1
Sheffield United	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	4–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	4–1	1–2	1–1	6–2	2–2	1–0	1–2	—	2–1	4–0	2–0
Stoke City	0–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–3	1–1	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	3–2	1–0	—	3–0	1–0
Swansea City	3–3	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	3–0	3–1	2–1	1–5	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–4	3–0	1–0	0–1	2–3	0–0	1–3	—	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	2–0	4–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–3	0–2	—

Source: "Championship Results". Sky Sports. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
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

Aleksandar Mitrović won The Golden Boot this season, breaking the record for the most goals scored in a Championship season, with 43 goals. Mitrović also scored the most hat–tricks in the league, with three to his name, helping his club Fulham to the league title and an immediate Premier League return. Mitrović was rewarded for his sensational season by being named The Championship Player of the Season.

^[55]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	43
2	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth	29
3	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers	22
	Joël Piroe	Swansea City
	Andreas Weimann	Bristol City
6	Karlan Grant	West Bromwich Albion	18
	Brennan Johnson1	Nottingham Forest
8	Viktor Gyökeres	Coventry City	17
9	Elijah Adebayo	Luton Town	16
	Emil Riis Jakobsen	Preston North End

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

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of EFL Championship hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
John Swift	Reading	Queens Park Rangers	3–3 (H)[56]	11 September 2021
Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers	Cardiff City	5–1 (H)[57]	25 September 2021
Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	Swansea City	3–1 (H)[58]	29 September 2021
		West Bromwich Albion	3–0 (H)[59]	30 October 2021
Andreas Weimann	Bristol City	Millwall	3–2 (H)[60]	2 January 2022
Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	Bristol City	6–2 (H)[61]	15 January 2022
Danny Ward	Huddersfield Town	Reading	4–3 (A)[62]	22 January 2022
Sam Surridge	Nottingham Forest	Swansea City	5–1 (H)[63]	30 April 2022

Clean sheets

Mark Travers won The Golden Glove in The Championship this season, keeping 20 clean sheets, which helped Bournemouth to automatic promotion.

^[64]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Mark Travers	Bournemouth	20
2	Lee Nicholls1	Huddersfield Town	19
3	Wes Foderingham	Sheffield United	18
4	Sam Johnstone	West Bromwich Albion	15
	Brice Samba1	Nottingham Forest
6	Bartosz Białkowski	Millwall	14
	Marek Rodák	Fulham
8	Daniel Iversen	Preston North End	13
	Thomas Kaminski	Blackburn Rovers
	Joe Lumley	Middlesbrough

• ¹ Includes 1 clean sheet in The Championship play-offs.

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 16
  • Matt Crooks (Middlesbrough)
• Most red cards: 2
  • Fankaty Dabo (Coventry City)
  • Darnell Furlong (West Bromwich Albion)
  • Gary Gardner (Birmingham City)
  • Tom Lawrence (Derby County)
  • Jefferson Lerma (Bournemouth)
  • Jake Livermore (West Bromwich Albion)
  • Ryan Manning (Swansea City)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 107
  • Blackburn Rovers
• Most red cards: 7
  • Derby County
  • West Bromwich Albion

Awards

Monthly

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
August	Marco Silva	Fulham	Sorba Thomas	Huddersfield Town	[65]
September	Scott Parker	Bournemouth	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers	[66]
October			Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	[67]
November	Mark Warburton	Queens Park Rangers	Chris Willock	Queens Park Rangers	[68]
December	Chris Wilder	Middlesbrough	Isaiah Jones	Middlesbrough	[69]
January	Marco Silva	Fulham	Antoine Semenyo	Bristol City	[70]
February	Carlos Corberán	Huddersfield Town	Lucas João	Reading	[71]
March	Steve Morison	Cardiff City	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest	[72]
April	Steve Cooper	Nottingham Forest	Brennan Johnson		[73]

Annual

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Aleksandar Mitrović[74]	Fulham
Young Player of the Season	Brennan Johnson[75]	Nottingham Forest
Apprentice of the Season	Ryan Howley[76]	Coventry City

Championship Team of the Season

Pos.	Player	Club	Ref.
GK	Lee Nicholls	Huddersfield Town	[77]
CB	Tosin Adarabioyo	Fulham
CB	Lloyd Kelly	Bournemouth
CB	Joe Worrall	Nottingham Forest
RWB	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest
CM	Ryan Yates	Nottingham Forest
CM	Philip Billing	Bournemouth
LWB	Antonee Robinson	Fulham
FW	Harry Wilson	Fulham
FW	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth
FW	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham
Manager	Nathan Jones	Luton Town

PFA Championship Team of the Year

Pos.	Player	Club
GK	Lee Nicholls	Huddersfield Town
DF	Tim Ream	Fulham
DF	Tosin Adarabioyo	Fulham
DF	Lloyd Kelly	Bournemouth
DF	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest
MF	Philip Billing	Bournemouth
MF	Fábio Carvalho	Fulham
MF	Harry Wilson	Fulham
FW	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers
FW	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth
FW	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham

Notes