2017–18 EFL Championship

The 2017–18 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-sixth season under its current league structure.

EFL Championship

Season	2017–18
Champions	Wolverhampton Wanderers 2nd Championship title 4th 2nd tier title
Promoted	Wolverhampton Wanderers Cardiff City Fulham
Relegated	Barnsley Burton Albion Sunderland
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,409 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Matěj Vydra (Derby County) (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Fulham 6–0 Burton Albion (20 January 2018)
Biggest away win	Burton Albion 0–5 Hull City (10 April 2018)
Highest scoring	Bristol City 5–5 Hull City (21 April 2018)
Longest winning run	8 matches Cardiff City
Longest unbeaten run	23 matches Fulham
Longest winless run	16 matches Sunderland
Longest losing run	8 matches Bolton Wanderers
Highest attendance	41,745[1] Aston Villa 1–1 Derby County (28 April 2018)
Lowest attendance	2,750[1] Burton Albion 1–3 Reading (30 January 2018)
Total attendance	11,314,143[1]
Average attendance	20,496[1]
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

This season notably saw Sunderland become the first English team to be relegated in successive seasons from the top division to the third tier since the champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2012 and 2013, and only the third team to do so since the top division was relaunched as the Premier League in 1992.

Team changes

The following teams had changed division since the 2016–17 season.

To Championship

Promoted from League One

• Sheffield United
• Bolton Wanderers
• Millwall

Relegated from Premier League

• Hull City
• Middlesbrough
• Sunderland

From Championship

Relegated to League One

• Blackburn Rovers
• Wigan Athletic
• Rotherham United

Promoted to Premier League

• Newcastle United
• Brighton & Hove Albion
• Huddersfield Town

Stadiums

London

Aston Villa

Barnsley

Birmingham City

Bristol City

Bolton Wanderers

Burton Albion

Cardiff City

Derby County

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Middlesbrough

Norwich City

Nottingham Forest

Preston North End

Reading

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland

Wolverhampton Wanderers

London teams
Brentford
Fulham
Millwall
Queens Park Rangers

Locations of the 2017–18 Football League Championship teams

Brentford

Fulham

Millwall

Queens Park Rangers

Greater London Championship football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity[2]
Aston Villa	Birmingham	Villa Park	42,790
Barnsley	Barnsley	Oakwell	23,009
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	30,015
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	Macron Stadium	28,723
Brentford	London (Brentford)	Griffin Park	12,300
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate	27,000
Burton Albion	Burton upon Trent	Pirelli Stadium	6,912
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Cardiff City Stadium	33,300
Derby County	Derby	Pride Park Stadium	33,600
Fulham	London (Fulham)	Craven Cottage	25,700
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KCOM Stadium	25,586
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,300
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	37,890
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	34,742
Millwall	London (South Bermondsey)	The Den	20,146
Norwich City	Norwich	Carrow Road	27,220
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham	City Ground	30,445
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	23,408
Queens Park Rangers	London (Shepherd's Bush)	Loftus Road	18,439
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,702
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,752
Sunderland	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	49,000
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Wolverhampton	Molineux	31,700

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Aston Villa	Steve Bruce	John Terry[3]	Under Armour	Unibet
Barnsley	José Morais	Andy Yiadom[4]3	Puma[5]	C.K. Beckett[6]
Birmingham City	Garry Monk	Michael Morrison	Adidas[7]	888sport[8]
Bolton Wanderers	Phil Parkinson	Darren Pratley	Macron	Betfred
Brentford	Dean Smith	John Egan	Adidas	LeoVegas[9]
Bristol City	Lee Johnson	Bailey Wright	Bristol Sport	Lancer Scott[10]
Burton Albion	Nigel Clough	Jake Buxton	TAG	Tempobet[11]
Cardiff City	Neil Warnock	Sean Morrison	Adidas	Visit Malaysia
Derby County	Gary Rowett	Curtis Davies[12]	Umbro[13]	Avon Tyres
Fulham	Slaviša Jokanović	Tom Cairney	Adidas	Grosvenor Casinos[14]
Hull City	Nigel Adkins	Michael Dawson	Umbro	SportPesa[15]
Ipswich Town	Paul Hurst	Luke Chambers	Adidas	Marcus Evans
Leeds United	Paul Heckingbottom	Liam Cooper	Kappa[16]	32Red[17]
Middlesbrough	Tony Pulis	Grant Leadbitter	Adidas	Ramsdens Currency
Millwall	Neil Harris	Steve Morison	Erreà	DCS Roofing[18]
Norwich City	Daniel Farke	Ivo Pinto2	Erreà	LeoVegas[19]
Nottingham Forest	Aitor Karanka	Chris Cohen	Adidas[20]	888sport[21]
Preston North End	Alex Neil	Greg Cunningham[22]	Nike	Tempobet[23]
Queens Park Rangers	Ian Holloway	Nedum Onuoha	Erreà[24]	Royal Panda[25]
Reading	Paul Clement	Liam Moore	Puma[26]	Carabao[27]
Sheffield United	Chris Wilder	Billy Sharp	Adidas	Teletext Holidays
Sheffield Wednesday	Jos Luhukay	Glenn Loovens	Elev8	Chansiri
Sunderland	Jack Ross	Lee Cattermole	Adidas	Dafabet
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Nuno Espírito Santo	Danny Batth	Puma	The Money Shop

• ¹ According to current revision of List of current Premier League and English Football League managers.
• ² Current Norwich captain Russell Martin is on loan at Rangers, therefore Ivo Pinto will be the stand-in captain for the remainder of the season.
• ³ Barnsley first team Captain was Angus MacDonald from August 2017 to January 2018. MacDonald left Barnsley in January 2018, after signing a new contract with Hull City. Adam Davies named as Barnsley's first team Vice-Captain in August 2017.^[28][29][30] In February 2018, Barnsley confirmed Andy Yiadom as the first-team captain on the club's official website.^[4]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Norwich City	Alan Irvine	End of caretaker spell	7 May 2017[citation needed]	Pre-season	Daniel Farke	25 May 2017[31]
Middlesbrough	Steve Agnew		21 May 2017[citation needed]		Garry Monk	9 June 2017 [32]
Sunderland	David Moyes	Resigned	22 May 2017[33]		Simon Grayson	29 June 2017[34]
Leeds United	Garry Monk		25 May 2017[35]		Thomas Christiansen	15 June 2017 [36]
Hull City	Marco Silva		25 May 2017[37]		Leonid Slutsky	9 June 2017[38]
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Paul Lambert	Mutual consent	30 May 2017[39]		Nuno Espírito Santo	31 May 2017[40]
Preston North End	Simon Grayson	Signed by Sunderland	29 June 2017[34]		Alex Neil	4 July 2017[41]
Birmingham City	Harry Redknapp	Sacked	16 September 2017[42]	23rd	Steve Cotterill	29 September 2017[43]
Sunderland	Simon Grayson		31 October 2017[44]	22nd	Chris Coleman	17 November 2017[45]
Hull City	Leonid Slutsky	Mutual consent	3 December 2017[46]	20th	Nigel Adkins	7 December 2017[47]
Middlesbrough	Garry Monk	Sacked	23 December 2017[48]	9th	Tony Pulis	26 December 2017[49]
Sheffield Wednesday	Carlos Carvalhal	Mutual consent	24 December 2017[50]	15th	Jos Luhukay	5 January 2018[51]
Nottingham Forest	Mark Warburton	Sacked	31 December 2017[52]	14th	Aitor Karanka	8 January 2018[53]
Leeds United	Thomas Christiansen		4 February 2018[54]	10th	Paul Heckingbottom	6 February 2018[55]
Barnsley	Paul Heckingbottom	Signed by Leeds United	6 February 2018[55]	21st	José Morais	16 February 2018[56]
Birmingham City	Steve Cotterill	Sacked	3 March 2018[57]	22nd	Garry Monk	4 March 2018[58]
Reading	Jaap Stam		21 March 2018[59]	18th	Paul Clement	23 March 2018[60]
Ipswich Town	Mick McCarthy	Resigned	10 April 2018[61]	12th	Paul Hurst	30 May 2018[62]
Sunderland	Chris Coleman	Sacked	29 April 2018[63]	24th	Jack Ross	25 May 2018[64]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers (C, P)	46	30	9	7	82	39	+43	99	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Cardiff City (P)	46	27	9	10	69	39	+30	90
3	Fulham (O, P)	46	25	13	8	79	46	+33	88	Qualification for Championship play-offs[a]
4	Aston Villa	46	24	11	11	72	42	+30	83
5	Middlesbrough	46	22	10	14	67	45	+22	76
6	Derby County	46	20	15	11	70	48	+22	75
7	Preston North End	46	19	16	11	57	46	+11	73
8	Millwall	46	19	15	12	56	45	+11	72
9	Brentford	46	18	15	13	62	52	+10	69
10	Sheffield United	46	20	9	17	62	55	+7	69
11	Bristol City	46	17	16	13	67	58	+9	67
12	Ipswich Town	46	17	9	20	57	60	−3	60
13	Leeds United	46	17	9	20	59	64	−5	60
14	Norwich City	46	15	15	16	49	60	−11	60
15	Sheffield Wednesday	46	14	15	17	59	60	−1	57
16	Queens Park Rangers	46	15	11	20	58	70	−12	56
17	Nottingham Forest	46	15	8	23	51	65	−14	53
18	Hull City	46	11	16	19	70	70	0	49
19	Birmingham City	46	13	7	26	38	68	−30	46
20	Reading	46	10	14	22	48	70	−22	44
21	Bolton Wanderers	46	10	13	23	39	74	−35	43
22	Barnsley (R)	46	9	14	23	48	72	−24	41	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Burton Albion (R)	46	10	11	25	38	81	−43	41
24	Sunderland (R)	46	7	16	23	52	80	−28	37

Source: English Football League
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

See also: 2018 English Football League play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final
	3	Fulham	0	2	2
	6	Derby County	1	0	1
								3	Fulham	1
								4	Aston Villa	0
	4	Aston Villa	1	0	1
	5	Middlesbrough	0	0	0

Results

Home \ Away	AST	BAR	BIR	BOL	BRE	BRI	BRT	CAR	DER	FUL	HUL	IPS	LEE	MID	MIL	NOR	NOT	PNE	QPR	REA	SHU	SHW	SUN	WOL
Aston Villa	—	3–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	5–0	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	4–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	3–0	2–2	1–2	2–1	4–1
Barnsley	0–3	—	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–2	1–2	0–1	0–3	1–3	0–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–2	1–1	3–0	0–0
Birmingham City	0–0	0–2	—	0–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–3	1–2	0–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–1
Bolton Wanderers	1–0	3–1	0–1	—	0–3	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–3	0–3	0–2	2–1	3–2	1–3	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–4
Brentford	2–1	0–0	5–0	2–0	—	2–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–4	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–3	0–0
Bristol City	1–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	0–1	—	0–0	2–1	4–1	1–1	5–5	1–0	0–3	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	2–3	4–0	3–3	1–2
Burton Albion	0–4	2–4	2–1	2–0	0–2	0–0	—	0–1	3–1	2–1	0–5	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–4
Cardiff City	3–0	2–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	3–1	—	0–0	2–4	1–0	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	4–0	0–1
Derby County	2–0	4–1	1–1	3–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	—	1–2	5–0	0–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–4	1–1	2–0	1–4	0–2
Fulham	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	6–0	1–1	1–1	—	2–1	4–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	3–0	0–1	2–1	2–0
Hull City	0–0	1–1	6–1	4–0	3–2	2–3	4–1	0–2	0–0	2–2	—	2–2	0–0	1–3	1–2	4–3	2–3	1–2	4–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–3
Ipswich Town	0–4	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–3	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–2	0–3	—	1–0	2–2	2–2	0–1	4–2	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	5–2	0–1
Leeds United	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–2	5–0	1–4	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–2	—	2–1	3–4	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–3
Middlesbrough	0–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–3	0–1	3–1	2–0	3–0	—	2–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–2
Millwall	1–0	1–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	0–0	3–4	1–0	2–1	—	4–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	2–2
Norwich City	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–2
Nottingham Forest	0–1	3–0	2–1	3–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	0–0	1–3	0–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	0–3	4–0	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–1	1–2
Preston North End	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–3	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–3	0–0	0–0	1–1	—	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–1
Queens Park Rangers	1–2	1–0	3–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	0–3	2–2	4–1	2–5	1–2	—	2–0	1–0	4–2	1–0	2–1
Reading	2–1	3–0	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–2	3–3	1–1	1–1	0–4	2–2	0–2	0–2	1–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	—	1–3	0–0	2–2	0–2
Sheffield United	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	4–5	4–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	—	0–0	3–0	2–0
Sheffield Wednesday	2–4	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–3	0–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–2	2–1	5–1	3–1	4–1	1–1	3–0	2–4	—	1–1	0–1
Sunderland	0–3	0–1	1–1	3–3	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	3–3	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–3	1–2	1–3	—	3–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–0	2–1	2–0	5–1	3–0	3–3	3–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–0	4–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	0–2	3–2	2–1	3–0	3–0	0–0	0–0	—

Source: BBC Sport
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.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[65]
1	Matěj Vydra	Derby County	21
2	Lewis Grabban	Sunderland/Aston Villa	20
3	Bobby Reid	Bristol City	19
	Leon Clarke	Sheffield United
5	Diogo Jota	Wolverhampton Wanderers	17
6	Martyn Waghorn	Ipswich Town	16
7	Ryan Sessegnon	Fulham	15
	Britt Assombalonga	Middlesbrough
9	James Maddison	Norwich City	14
	Albert Adomah	Aston Villa
	Jarrod Bowen	Hull City

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Football League Championship hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Abel Hernández	Hull City	Burton Albion	4–1 (H)[66]	12 August 2017
Conor Hourihane	Aston Villa	Norwich City	4–2 (H)[67]	19 August 2017
Kieran Dowell	Nottingham Forest	Hull City	3–2 (A)[68]	28 October 2017
Leon Clarke4	Sheffield United	Hull City	4–1 (H)[69]	4 November 2017
Ryan Sessegnon	Fulham	Sheffield United	5–4 (A)[70]	21 November 2017
Leon Clarke	Sheffield United	Fulham	4–5 (H)[70]	21 November 2017
Matěj Vydra	Derby County	Middlesbrough	3–0 (A)[71]	25 November 2017
Kemar Roofe	Leeds United	Queens Park Rangers	3–1 (A)[72]	9 December 2017
Patrick Bamford	Middlesbrough	Leeds United	3–0 (H)[73]	2 March 2018
Bobby Reid	Bristol City	Sheffield Wednesday	4–0 (H)[74]	3 March 2018
James Maddison	Norwich City	Hull City	3–4 (A)[75]	10 March 2018
Atdhe Nuhiu	Sheffield Wednesday	Norwich City	5–1 (H)[76]	6 May 2018

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Neil Warnock	Cardiff City	Nathaniel Mendez-Laing	Cardiff City	[77][78]
September	Lee Johnson	Bristol City	Aden Flint	Bristol City	[79][80]
October	Gary Rowett	Derby County	Léo Bonatini	Wolverhampton Wanderers	[81][82]
November	Nuno Espírito Santo	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Leon Clarke	Sheffield United	[83][84]
December	Gary Rowett	Derby County	Scott Carson	Derby County	[85][86]
January	Steve Bruce	Aston Villa	Ryan Sessegnon	Fulham	[87][88]
February	Neil Warnock	Cardiff City	Oli McBurnie	Barnsley	[89][90]
March	Neil Warnock	Cardiff City	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	[91][92]
April	Slaviša Jokanović	Fulham	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	[93][94]

Attendances

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Average	Minimum	Maximum	Percentage Full
Aston Villa	Villa Park	42,790	32,097	26,631	41,745	75%
Barnsley	Oakwell	23,009	13,704	10,920	17,163	60%
Birmingham City	St Andrew's	30,015	21,042	18,301	27,608	70%
Bolton Wanderers	Macron Stadium	28,723	15,887	13,113	21,097	55%
Brentford	Griffin Park	12,300	10,234	7,957	12,367	83%
Bristol City	Ashton Gate	27,000	20,953	17,203	25,540	78%
Burton Albion	Pirelli Stadium	6,912	4,645	2,750	6,535	67%
Cardiff City	Cardiff City Stadium	33,300	20,164	15,951	32,478	61%
Derby County	Pride Park Stadium	33,600	27,175	23,296	31,196	81%
Fulham	Craven Cottage	25,700	19,896	15,792	24,547	77%
Hull City	KCOM Stadium	25,404	15,622	13,524	18,026	61%
Ipswich Town	Portman Road	30,300	16,271	13,061	24,928	54%
Leeds United	Elland Road	37,890	31,521	26,434	35,377	83%
Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	34,742	25,544	22,848	29,443	74%
Millwall	The Den	20,146	13,368	9,817	17,617	66%
Norwich City	Carrow Road	27,220	25,785	21,167	27,100	95%
Nottingham Forest	City Ground	30,445	24,680	20,596	29,106	81%
Preston North End	Deepdale	23,408	13,774	10,796	18,570	59%
Queens Park Rangers	Loftus Road	18,439	13,928	11,488	16,934	76%
Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161	16,656	6,769	21,771	69%
Sheffield United	Bramall Lane	32,702	26,854	24,409	31,120	82%
Sheffield Wednesday	Hillsborough	39,752	25,995	22,733	32,839	65%
Sunderland	Stadium of Light	49,000	27,635	24,894	31,237	56%
Wolverhampton	Molineux	31,700	28,298	23,045	30,239	89%