2018–19 EFL Championship

The 2018–19 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-seventh season under its current league structure. Norwich City were crowned champions on the final day, following a 2–1 win over Aston Villa.^[2]

EFL Championship

Season	2018–19
Dates	3 August 2018 – 5 May 2019
Champions	Norwich City 1st Championship title 4th 2nd tier title
Promoted	Norwich City Sheffield United Aston Villa
Relegated	Rotherham United Bolton Wanderers Ipswich Town
Matches	552
Goals	1,473 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Teemu Pukki (Norwich City) (29 goals)
Biggest home win	West Bromwich Albion 7–1 Queens Park Rangers (18 August 2018)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday 0–4 Norwich City (3 October 2018) Rotherham United 0–4 West Bromwich Albion (22 December 2018) Bolton Wanderers 0–4 Norwich City (16 February 2019)
Highest scoring	Aston Villa 5–5 Nottingham Forest (28 November 2018)
Longest winning run	10 matches[1] Aston Villa
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches[1] Norwich City
Longest winless run	14 matches[1] Bolton Wanderers
Longest losing run	7 matches[1] Queens Park Rangers
Highest attendance	41,696 Aston Villa 1–2 Norwich City (5 May 2019)[1]
Lowest attendance	8,018 Rotherham United 2–2 Queens Park Rangers (27 November 2018)[1]
Total attendance	10,840,765[1]
Average attendance	20,075[1]
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Team changes

The following teams had changed division after the 2017–18 season.

To Championship

Promoted from League One

• Wigan Athletic
• Blackburn Rovers
• Rotherham United

Relegated from Premier League

• Swansea City
• Stoke City
• West Bromwich Albion

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League

• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Cardiff City
• Fulham

Relegated to League One

• Barnsley
• Burton Albion
• Sunderland

Stadiums

London

West Midlands

Blackburn Rovers

Bolton Wanderers

Bristol City

Derby County

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Middlesbrough

Norwich City

Nottingham Forest

Preston North End

Reading

Rotherham United

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Stoke City

Swansea City

Wigan Athletic

London teams
Brentford
Millwall
Queens Park Rangers

West Midlands teams
Aston Villa
Birmingham City
West Bromwich Albion

Locations of the 2018–19 Football League Championship teams

Brentford

Millwall

Queens Park Rangers

London Championship football clubs

Aston Villa

Birmingham City

West Bromwich Albion

West Midlands Championship football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity[3]
Aston Villa	Birmingham (Aston)	Villa Park	42,790
Birmingham City	Birmingham (Bordesley)	St Andrew's	30,015
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	University of Bolton Stadium	28,723
Brentford	London (Brentford)	Griffin Park	12,300
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate	27,000
Derby County	Derby	Pride Park Stadium	33,600
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	34,000
Millwall	London (South Bermondsey)	The Den	20,146
Norwich City	Norwich	Carrow Road	27,244
Nottingham Forest	West Bridgford	City Ground	30,445
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	23,408
Queens Park Rangers	London (White City)	Loftus Road	18,439
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161
Rotherham United	Rotherham	New York Stadium	12,021
Sheffield United	Sheffield (Highfield)	Bramall Lane	32,702
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield (Owlerton)	Hillsborough Stadium	39,752
Stoke City	Stoke-on-Trent	Bet365 Stadium	30,089
Swansea City	Swansea	Liberty Stadium	21,088
West Bromwich Albion	West Bromwich	The Hawthorns	26,850
Wigan Athletic	Wigan	DW Stadium	25,133

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Aston Villa	Dean Smith	James Chester	Luke Sport	32Red
Birmingham City	Garry Monk	Michael Morrison	Adidas[4]	888sport[5]
Blackburn Rovers	Tony Mowbray	Charlie Mulgrew	Umbro	10Bet[6]
Bolton Wanderers	Phil Parkinson	David Wheater	Macron	Betfred
Brentford	Thomas Frank	Romaine Sawyers	Adidas	LeoVegas[7]
Bristol City	Lee Johnson	Bailey Wright	Avon	Dunder[8]
Derby County	Frank Lampard	Curtis Davies[9]	Umbro[10]	32Red
Hull City	Nigel Adkins	Markus Henriksen	Umbro	SportPesa
Ipswich Town	Paul Lambert	Luke Chambers	Adidas	Magical Vegas[11]
Leeds United	Marcelo Bielsa	Liam Cooper	Kappa[12]	32Red[13]
Middlesbrough	Tony Pulis	George Friend	Hummel	32Red[14]
Millwall	Neil Harris	Steve Morison	Macron	TW Drainage
Norwich City	Daniel Farke	Grant Hanley	Erreà	LeoVegas[15]
Nottingham Forest	Martin O'Neill	Ben Watson[16]	Macron	BetBright[17]
Preston North End	Alex Neil	Tom Clarke	Nike	32Red[18]
Queens Park Rangers	John Eustace (caretaker)	Toni Leistner	Erreà[19]	Royal Panda[20]
Reading	José Gomes	Paul McShane	Puma[21]	Carabao[22]
Rotherham United	Paul Warne	Richard Wood	Puma	Hodge Clemco[23]
Sheffield United	Chris Wilder	Billy Sharp	Adidas	Ramsdens Currency
Sheffield Wednesday	Steve Bruce	Tom Lees	Elev8	Chansiri
Stoke City	Nathan Jones	Ryan Shawcross	Macron	bet365
Swansea City	Graham Potter	Leroy Fer	Joma[24]	Bet UK[25]
West Bromwich Albion	James Shan (caretaker)	Chris Brunt	Puma[26]	Ideal Boilers
Wigan Athletic	Paul Cook	Sam Morsy	Puma	DW Sports Fitness

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ipswich Town	Bryan Klug[citation needed]	End of caretaker spell	6 May 2018	Pre-season	Paul Hurst[27]	30 May 2018
Queens Park Rangers	Ian Holloway[28]	Mutual consent	10 May 2018		Steve McClaren[29]	18 May 2018
Swansea City	Carlos Carvalhal[30]	End of contract	18 May 2018		Graham Potter[31]	11 June 2018
Stoke City	Paul Lambert[32]	Resigned			Gary Rowett[33]	22 May 2018
Derby County	Gary Rowett[34]	Signed by Stoke City	22 May 2018		Frank Lampard[35]	31 May 2018
Leeds United	Paul Heckingbottom[36]	Sacked	1 June 2018		Marcelo Bielsa[37][38]	15 June 2018
Aston Villa	Steve Bruce[39]		3 October 2018	12th	Dean Smith[40]	10 October 2018
Brentford	Dean Smith[40]	Signed by Aston Villa	10 October 2018	7th	Thomas Frank[41]	16 October 2018
Ipswich Town	Paul Hurst[42]	Sacked	25 October 2018	24th	Paul Lambert[43]	27 October 2018
Reading	Paul Clement[44]		6 December 2018	21st	José Gomes[45]	22 December 2018
Sheffield Wednesday	Jos Luhukay[46]		21 December 2018	18th	Steve Bruce	2 January 2019
Stoke City	Gary Rowett[47][48]		8 January 2019	14th	Nathan Jones[49]	9 January 2019
Nottingham Forest	Aitor Karanka[50]	Mutual consent	11 January 2019	7th	Martin O'Neill[51]	14 January 2019
West Bromwich Albion	Darren Moore[52]	Sacked	9 March 2019	4th	Slaven Bilić[53]	13 June 2019
Queens Park Rangers	Steve McClaren[54]		1 April 2019	17th	Mark Warburton[55]	8 May 2019

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Norwich City (C, P)	46	27	13	6	93	57	+36	94	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Sheffield United (P)	46	26	11	9	78	41	+37	89
3	Leeds United	46	25	8	13	73	50	+23	83	Qualification for Championship play-offs[a]
4	West Bromwich Albion	46	23	11	12	87	62	+25	80
5	Aston Villa (O, P)	46	20	16	10	82	61	+21	76
6	Derby County	46	20	14	12	69	54	+15	74
7	Middlesbrough	46	20	13	13	49	41	+8	73
8	Bristol City	46	19	13	14	59	53	+6	70
9	Nottingham Forest	46	17	15	14	61	54	+7	66
10	Swansea City	46	18	11	17	65	62	+3	65
11	Brentford	46	17	13	16	73	59	+14	64[b]
12	Sheffield Wednesday	46	16	16	14	60	62	−2	64
13	Hull City	46	17	11	18	66	68	−2	62
14	Preston North End	46	16	13	17	67	67	0	61
15	Blackburn Rovers	46	16	12	18	64	69	−5	60
16	Stoke City	46	11	22	13	45	52	−7	55
17	Birmingham City	46	14	19	13	64	58	+6	52[c]
18	Wigan Athletic	46	13	13	20	51	64	−13	52
19	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	9	23	53	71	−18	51
20	Reading	46	10	17	19	49	66	−17	47
21	Millwall	46	10	14	22	48	64	−16	44
22	Rotherham United (R)	46	8	16	22	52	83	−31	40	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Bolton Wanderers (R)	46	8	8	30	29	78	−49	32[b]
24	Ipswich Town (R)	46	5	16	25	36	77	−41	31

Source: Sky Sports Archived 25 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results^[58]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Four teams play for one spot and promotion to the Premier League.
2. Brentford were awarded a 1–0 win over Bolton due to Bolton's inability to hold the fixture.^[57]
3. Birmingham City were deducted 9 points for failure to comply with the EFL profitability and sustainability rules.^[56]

Play-offs

See also: 2019 English Football League play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final
	3	Leeds United	1	2	3
	6	Derby County	0	4	4
								6	Derby County	1
								5	Aston Villa	2
	4	West Bromwich Albion	1	1	2 (3)
	5	Aston Villa	2	0	2 (4)

Results

Home \ Away	AST	BIR	BLB	BOL	BRE	BRI	DER	HUL	IPS	LEE	MID	MIL	NOR	NOT	PNE	QPR	REA	ROT	SHU	SHW	STO	SWA	WBA	WIG
Aston Villa	—	4–2	2–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–0	1–2	5–5	3–3	2–2	1–1	2–0	3–3	1–2	2–2	1–0	0–2	3–2
Birmingham City	0–1	—	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	3–3	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	2–2	2–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1
Blackburn Rovers	1–1	2–2	—	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	4–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	3–0
Bolton Wanderers	0–2	1–0	0–1	—	0–1[59]	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–4	0–3	1–2	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–2	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–1
Brentford	1–0	1–1	5–2	1–0	—	0–1	3–3	5–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–2	5–1	2–3	2–0	3–1	2–3	0–1	2–0
Bristol City	1–1	1–2	4–1	2–1	1–1	—	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	3–2	2–2
Derby County	0–3	3–1	0–0	4–0	3–1	1–1	—	2–0	2–0	1–4	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	6–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–1
Hull City	1–3	2–0	0–1	6–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	—	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–3	3–0	2–0	3–2	1–0	2–1
Ipswich Town	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–3	1–1	0–2	—	3–2	0–2	2–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–0
Leeds United	1–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	—	0–0	3–2	1–3	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	4–0	1–2
Middlesbrough	0–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	—	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0
Millwall	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–2	—	1–3	1–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–3	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	2–1
Norwich City	2–1	3–1	2–1	3–2	1–0	3–2	3–4	3–2	3–0	0–3	1–0	4–3	—	3–3	2–0	4–0	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	0–1	1–0	3–4	1–0
Nottingham Forest	1–3	2–2	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	4–2	3–0	2–2	1–2	—	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	3–1
Preston North End	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–2	4–3	1–1	0–0	1–2	4–0	0–2	1–1	3–2	3–1	0–0	—	1–0	2–3	1–1	0–1	3–3	2–2	1–1	2–3	4–0
Queens Park Rangers	1–0	3–4	1–2	1–2	3–2	0–3	1–1	2–3	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–4	—	0–0	1–2	1–2	3–0	0–0	4–0	2–3	1–0
Reading	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	3–0	2–2	0–3	0–1	3–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	—	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–4	0–0	3–2
Rotherham United	1–2	1–3	3–2	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–0	2–3	1–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	—	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	0–4	1–1
Sheffield United	4–1	0–0	3–0	2–0	2–0	2–3	3–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–0	4–0	2–0	—	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–2	4–2
Sheffield Wednesday	1–3	1–1	4–2	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–4	3–0	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–2	0–0	—	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–0
Stoke City	1–1	0–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	2–2	2–2	0–0	—	1–0	0–1	0–3
Swansea City	0–1	3–3	3–1	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–3	2–2	3–1	1–0	1–4	0–0	1–0	3–0	2–0	4–3	1–0	2–1	3–1	—	1–2	2–2
West Bromwich Albion	2–2	3–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–4	3–2	1–1	4–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	2–2	4–1	7–1	4–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	3–0	—	2–0
Wigan Athletic	3–0	0–3	3–1	5–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–3	3–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	—

Source: EFL Official Website
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[60]
1	Teemu Pukki	Norwich City	29
2	Tammy Abraham	Aston Villa	25
	Neal Maupay	Brentford
4	Dwight Gayle	West Bromwich Albion	23
	Billy Sharp	Sheffield United
6	Che Adams	Birmingham City	22
	Jarrod Bowen	Hull City
	Oli McBurnie	Swansea City
	Jay Rodriguez	West Bromwich Albion
10	Lewis Grabban	Nottingham Forest	16

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of EFL Championship hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Lukas Jutkiewicz	Birmingham City	Rotherham United	3–1 (H)	6 October 2018	[61]
Billy Sharp	Sheffield United	Wigan Athletic	4–2 (H)	27 October 2018	[62]
Che Adams	Birmingham City	Hull City	3–3 (H)	10 November 2018	[63]
Tammy Abraham	Aston Villa	Nottingham Forest	5–5 (H)[a]	28 November 2018	[64]
Danny Graham	Blackburn Rovers	Sheffield Wednesday	4–2 (H)	1 December 2018	[65]
Dwight Gayle	West Bromwich Albion	Rotherham United	0–4 (A)	22 December 2018	[66]
Billy Sharp	Sheffield United	Aston Villa	3–3 (A)	8 February 2019	[67]
Che Adams	Birmingham City	Queens Park Rangers	3–4 (A)	9 February 2019	[68]
Saïd Benrahma	Brentford	Hull City	5–1 (H)	23 February 2019	[69]
Martyn Waghorn	Derby County	Rotherham United	6–1 (H)	30 March 2019	[70]
Andreas Weimann	Bristol City	Sheffield United	2–3 (A)	30 March 2019	[71]
Mason Mount	Derby County	Bolton Wanderers	4–0 (H)	13 April 2019	[72]
Dwight Gayle	West Bromwich Albion	Preston North End	4–1 (H)	13 April 2019	[73]

1. Player scored 4 goals

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Marcelo Bielsa	Leeds United	Kemar Roofe	Leeds United	[74][75]
September	Darren Moore	West Bromwich Albion	Dwight Gayle	West Bromwich Albion	[76][77]
October	Steve McClaren	Queens Park Rangers	Lukas Jutkiewicz	Birmingham City	[78][79]
November	Daniel Farke	Norwich City	Tammy Abraham	Aston Villa	[80][81]
December	Nigel Adkins	Hull City	Jarrod Bowen	Hull City	[82][83]
January	Tony Mowbray	Blackburn Rovers	Adam Armstrong	Blackburn Rovers	[84]
February	Chris Wilder	Sheffield United	Ché Adams	Birmingham City	[85]
March	Dean Smith	Aston Villa	Semi Ajayi	Rotherham United	[86]
April	Chris Wilder	Sheffield United	Dwight Gayle	West Bromwich Albion	[87]

Attendances

Source:^[88]

No.	Club	Average	Change	Highest	Lowest
1	Aston Villa	36,027	12.2%	41,696	27,331
2	Leeds United	34,033	8.0%	37,004	27,729
3	Nottingham Forest	28,144	14.0%	29,530	25,753
4	Derby County	26,850	-1.2%	32,055	23,580
5	Sheffield United	26,177	-2.5%	30,261	23,400
6	Norwich City	26,014	0.2%	27,040	24,642
7	Stoke City	25,200	-13.9%	28,586	22,078
8	Sheffield Wednesday	24,429	-6.0%	31,630	20,861
9	West Bromwich Albion	24,148	-1.5%	26,548	20,282
10	Middlesbrough	23,217	-9.1%	30,881	21,016
11	Birmingham City	22,483	6.8%	26,631	19,795
12	Bristol City	21,080	0.6%	25,556	18,411
13	Swansea City	18,737	-9.1%	20,860	17,197
14	Ipswich Town	17,765	9.2%	25,690	13,612
15	Reading	14,991	-10.0%	17,458	11,271
16	Bolton Wanderers	14,636	-7.9%	17,811	12,195
17	Blackburn Rovers	14,550	13.4%	21,577	11,818
18	Preston North End	14,160	2.8%	19,912	10,849
19	Queens Park Rangers	13,866	-0.4%	17,609	10,854
20	Millwall	13,636	2.0%	17,195	11,190
21	Hull City	12,165	-22.1%	14,116	10,191
22	Wigan Athletic	11,663	27.4%	15,655	8,848
23	Brentford	10,257	0.2%	12,225	8,903
24	Rotherham United	9,880	16.0%	11,736	8,018