2020–21 EFL League One

The 2020–21 EFL League One (referred to as the Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season of Football League One under its current title and the 29th season under its current league division format.

EFL League One

Season	2020–21
Dates	12 September 2020 – 9 May 2021
Champions	Hull City
Promoted	Hull City Peterborough United Blackpool
Relegated	Rochdale Northampton Town Swindon Town Bristol Rovers
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,447 (2.62 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jonson Clarke-Harris (31 goals)
Biggest home win	Peterborough United 7–0 Accrington Stanley (27 March 2021)
Biggest away win	Crewe Alexandra 0–6 Oxford United (10 April 2021) Plymouth Argyle 0–6 Charlton Athletic (20 April 2021)
Highest scoring	AFC Wimbledon 4–4 Plymouth Argyle (19 September 2020) Charlton Athletic 4–4 Rochdale (12 January 2021)
Longest winning run	Oxford United (7 games)[1]
Longest unbeaten run	Blackpool (16 games)[1]
Longest winless run	Burton Albion, Northampton Town, AFC Wimbledon (11 games)[1]
Longest losing run	Plymouth Argyle (6 games)[1]
Highest attendance	3,204 Oxford United vs Blackpool (18 May 2021)
Lowest attendance	1,000 Shrewsbury Town vs Northampton Town (19 September 2020)
Total attendance	53,321[1]
Average attendance	1,904[1]
← 2019–20 2021–22 → All statistics correct as of 24 April 2021.

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2019–20 season.

To League One Promoted from League Two Swindon Town Crewe Alexandra Plymouth Argyle Northampton Town Relegated from Championship Charlton Athletic Wigan Athletic[a] Hull City

From League One Promoted to Championship Coventry City Rotherham United Wycombe Wanderers Relegated to League Two Bolton Wanderers Southend United Tranmere Rovers Expelled from the EFL Bury

Stadiums

Accrington
Stanley

AFC Wimbledon

Blackpool

Bristol Rovers

Burton Albion

Charlton Athletic

Crewe Alexandra

Doncaster Rovers

Fleetwood Town

Gillingham

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Lincoln City

Milton Keynes Dons

Northampton Town

Oxford United

Peterborough United

Plymouth Argyle

Portsmouth

Rochdale

Shrewsbury Town

Sunderland

Swindon Town

Wigan Athletic

Locations of the confirmed 2020–21 EFL League One teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Accrington Stanley	Accrington	Crown Ground	5,057
AFC Wimbledon	London (Wimbledon)	Plough Lane	9,300
Blackpool	Blackpool	Bloomfield Road	17,338
Bristol Rovers	Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,300
Burton Albion	Burton upon Trent	Pirelli Stadium	6,912
Charlton Athletic	London (Charlton)	The Valley	27,111
Crewe Alexandra	Crewe	Gresty Road	10,180
Doncaster Rovers	Doncaster	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
Fleetwood Town	Fleetwood	Highbury Stadium	5,327
Gillingham	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium	11,582
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KCOM Stadium	25,586
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Lincoln City	Lincoln	LNER Stadium	10,120
Milton Keynes Dons	Milton Keynes	Stadium MK	30,500
Northampton Town	Northampton	PTS Academy Stadium	7,798
Oxford United	Oxford	Kassam Stadium	12,500
Peterborough United	Peterborough	Weston Homes Stadium	15,314
Plymouth Argyle	Plymouth	Home Park	17,300
Portsmouth	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	19,669
Rochdale	Rochdale	Crown Oil Arena	10,500
Shrewsbury Town	Shrewsbury	Montgomery Waters Meadow	9,875
Sunderland	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	48,707
Swindon Town	Swindon	County Ground	15,728
Wigan Athletic	Wigan	DW Stadium	25,133

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Accrington Stanley	John Coleman	Séamus Conneely	Adidas	Wham
AFC Wimbledon	Mark Robinson	Alex Woodyard	Puma	Sports Interactive
Blackpool	Neil Critchley	Chris Maxwell	Puma	Blackpool Council Home: "VisitBlackpool.com"; Away: "Get Vocal"
Bristol Rovers	Joey Barton	Max Ehmer[4]	Macron	Utilita[5]
Burton Albion	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	John Brayford	TAG	Prestec UK Ltd[6]
Charlton Athletic	Nigel Adkins	Jason Pearce	Hummel	Children with Cancer UK
Crewe Alexandra	David Artell	Harry Pickering	FBT	Mornflake
Doncaster Rovers	Andy Butler (interim)	Tom Anderson	Elite Pro Sports	LNER
Fleetwood Town	Simon Grayson	Callum Connolly	Hummel	BES Utilities
Gillingham	Steve Evans	Kyle Dempsey	Macron	MEMS Power Generation
Hull City	Grant McCann	Richie Smallwood[7]	Umbro	Giacom[8]
Ipswich Town	Paul Cook	Luke Chambers	Adidas	Carers Trust
Lincoln City	Michael Appleton	Liam Bridcutt	Erreà	Peregrine Holdings[9]
Milton Keynes Dons	Russell Martin	Dean Lewington	Erreà	Suzuki
Northampton Town	Jon Brady	Cian Bolger	Hummel	University of Northampton
Oxford United	Karl Robinson	John Mousinho	Puma	Amazing Thailand[10]
Peterborough United	Darren Ferguson	Mark Beevers	Puma	Mick George Group
Plymouth Argyle	Ryan Lowe	Gary Sawyer	Puma	Ginsters
Portsmouth	Danny Cowley	Tom Naylor	Nike	University of Portsmouth
Rochdale	Brian Barry-Murphy	Eoghan O'Connell	Erreà	Crown Oil Ltd
Shrewsbury Town	Steve Cotterill	Oliver Norburn	Admiral	Tuffins Supermarkets (Home) Shropshire Homes (Away)
Sunderland	Lee Johnson	Max Power	Nike	Great Annual Savings Group
Swindon Town	Tommy Wright (interim)	Dion Conroy	Puma	Imagine Cruising
Wigan Athletic	Leam Richardson	Jamie Jones[11]	Puma	Wigan Athletic Official Supporters Club

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Wigan Athletic	Paul Cook[12]	Resigned	29 July 2020	Pre-season	John Sheridan[13]	11 September 2020
Swindon Town	Richie Wellens[14]	Signed by Salford City	4 November 2020	20th	John Sheridan[15]	13 November 2020
Wigan Athletic	John Sheridan[15]	Signed by Swindon Town	13 November 2020	24th	Leam Richardson[b][16]	13 November 2020
Bristol Rovers	Ben Garner[17]	Sacked	14 November 2020	18th	Paul Tisdale[18]	19 November 2020
Shrewsbury Town	Sam Ricketts[19]		25 November 2020	23rd	Steve Cotterill[20]	27 November 2020
Sunderland	Phil Parkinson[21]		29 November 2020	8th	Lee Johnson[22]	5 December 2020
Burton Albion	Jake Buxton[23]		29 December 2020	24th	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink[24]	1 January 2021
Fleetwood Town	Joey Barton[25]		4 January 2021	10th	Simon Grayson[26]	31 January 2021
AFC Wimbledon	Glyn Hodges[27]	Mutual consent	30 January 2021	21st	Mark Robinson[28]	17 February 2021
Bristol Rovers	Paul Tisdale[29]	Sacked	10 February 2021	20th	Joey Barton[30]	22 February 2021
Northampton Town	Keith Curle[31]		10 February 2021	23rd	Jon Brady[32]	11 February 2021
Ipswich Town	Paul Lambert[33]	Mutual consent	28 February 2021	8th	Paul Cook[34]	2 March 2020
Doncaster Rovers	Darren Moore[35]	Signed by Sheffield Wednesday	1 March 2021	6th	Andy Butler (interim)[36]	1 March 2021
Portsmouth	Kenny Jackett[37]	Sacked	14 March 2021	7th	Danny Cowley	19 March 2021
Charlton Athletic	Lee Bowyer[38]	Resigned	15 March 2021	8th	Nigel Adkins	18 March 2021
Swindon Town	John Sheridan[39]		18 April 2021	24th	Tommy Wright (interim)	18 April 2021

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Hull City (C, P)	46	27	8	11	80	38	+42	89	Promotion to the EFL Championship
2	Peterborough United (P)	46	26	9	11	83	46	+37	87
3	Blackpool (O, P)	46	23	11	12	60	37	+23	80	Qualification for League One play-offs
4	Sunderland	46	20	17	9	70	42	+28	77
5	Lincoln City	46	22	11	13	69	50	+19	77
6	Oxford United	46	22	8	16	77	56	+21	74
7	Charlton Athletic	46	20	14	12	70	56	+14	74
8	Portsmouth	46	21	9	16	65	51	+14	72
9	Ipswich Town	46	19	12	15	46	46	0	69
10	Gillingham	46	19	10	17	63	60	+3	67
11	Accrington Stanley	46	18	13	15	63	68	−5	67
12	Crewe Alexandra	46	18	12	16	56	61	−5	66
13	Milton Keynes Dons	46	18	11	17	64	62	+2	65
14	Doncaster Rovers	46	19	7	20	63	67	−4	64
15	Fleetwood Town	46	16	12	18	49	46	+3	60
16	Burton Albion	46	15	12	19	61	73	−12	57
17	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	15	18	50	57	−7	54
18	Plymouth Argyle	46	14	11	21	53	80	−27	53
19	AFC Wimbledon	46	12	15	19	54	70	−16	51
20	Wigan Athletic	46	13	9	24	54	77	−23	48
21	Rochdale (R)	46	11	14	21	61	78	−17	47	Relegation to EFL League Two
22	Northampton Town (R)	46	11	12	23	41	67	−26	45
23	Swindon Town (R)	46	13	4	29	55	89	−34	43
24	Bristol Rovers (R)	46	10	8	28	40	70	−30	38

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^[40]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final
	3	Blackpool	3	3	6
	6	Oxford United	0	3	3
								3	Blackpool	2
								5	Lincoln City	1
	4	Sunderland	0	2	2
	5	Lincoln City	2	1	3

First leg

18 May 2021

18:00

Oxford United	0–3	Blackpool
	Report	Turton 23' Simms 26', 74'

Kassam Stadium, Oxford

Attendance: 3,224

Referee: Bobby Madley

19 May 2021

18:00

Lincoln City	2–0	Sunderland
Hopper 51' Johnson 77'	Report

Sincil Bank, Lincoln

Attendance: 3,145

Referee: Craig Hicks

Second leg

21 May 2021

19:45

Blackpool	3–3	Oxford United
Embleton 11' Dougall 13' Yates 54'	Report	Taylor 7' Atkinson 52' Shodipo 74'

Bloomfield Road, Blackpool

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Keith Stroud

22 May 2021

15:00

Sunderland	2–1	Lincoln City
Stewart 13' Wyke 33'	Report	Hopper 56'

Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Michael Salisbury

Final

Main article: 2021 EFL League One play-off final

30 May 2021

15:00 BST

Blackpool	2–1	Lincoln City
Dougall 34', 54'	Report	Turton 1' (o.g.)

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 9,751

Referee: Tony Harrington

Results

Home \ Away	ACC	WIM	BLA	BRI	BRT	CHA	CRE	DON	FLE	GIL	HUL	IPS	LIN	MKD	NOR	OXF	PET	PLY	POR	ROC	SHR	SUN	SWI	WIG
Accrington Stanley	—	1–5	0–0	6–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–4	2–0	0–1	3–3	2–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	3–1
AFC Wimbledon	1–2	—	1–0	2–4	0–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–3	3–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	4–4	1–3	3–3	0–1	0–3	4–1	1–1
Blackpool	0–0	1–1	—	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	3–2	1–4	2–3	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
Bristol Rovers	4–1	0–0	2–1	—	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–4	0–2	1–3	0–2	0–1	0–2	2–0	0–2	0–2	3–0	3–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–2
Burton Albion	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	—	4–2	1–1	1–3	5–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–3	1–5	2–1	1–1	2–4	0–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	3–4
Charlton Athletic	0–2	5–2	0–3	3–2	1–2	—	2–2	1–3	3–2	2–3	1–0	0–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–3	4–4	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–0
Crewe Alexandra	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–3	0–2	—	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	0–6	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	2–2	4–2	3–0
Doncaster Rovers	0–1	2–0	3–2	4–1	0–3	0–1	1–2	—	0–1	2–1	3–3	4–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–2	1–4	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–4
Fleetwood Town	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	3–1	—	1–0	4–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	5–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1
Gillingham	0–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	4–1	2–2	0–2	—	0–2	3–1	0–3	3–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–0
Hull City	3–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	—	0–1	0–0	0–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	3–1
Ipswich Town	2–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–3	—	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	2–3	2–0
Lincoln City	2–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	5–1	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–2	0–3	1–2	1–0	—	4–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	1–2	0–1	0–4	2–2	2–1
Milton Keynes Dons	3–2	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	—	4–3	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–3	2–2	2–2	5–0	2–0
Northampton Town	0–1	2–2	0–3	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–2	3–0	0–4	0–0	—	1–0	0–2	2–0	4–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1
Oxford United	1–2	2–0	0–2	2–0	4–0	0–0	0–2	3–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	3–2	4–0	—	0–0	3–1	0–1	3–1	4–1	0–2	1–2	2–1
Peterborough United	7–0	3–0	1–2	0–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	3–3	3–0	3–1	2–0	—	1–0	1–0	4–1	5–1	1–1	3–1	2–1
Plymouth Argyle	2–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–6	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–3	1–2	4–3	1–0	2–1	2–3	0–3	—	2–2	0–4	1–1	1–3	4–2	0–2
Portsmouth	0–1	4–0	0–1	1–0	1–2	0–2	4–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–4	2–1	0–1	2–1	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	—	2–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–2
Rochdale	3–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	3–3	1–2	2–1	1–4	0–3	0–0	0–2	1–4	1–1	3–4	3–3	0–0	0–0	—	0–2	2–2	2–1	3–3
Shrewsbury Town	2–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	4–2	1–2	2–3	2–0	3–0	1–2	1–2	—	2–1	3–3	1–2
Sunderland	3–3	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	4–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	1–2	1–3	2–0	1–0	—	1–0	0–1
Swindon Town	0–3	0–1	0–2	1–0	4–2	2–2	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–4	2–1	1–2	0–3	0–2	3–1	3–1	0–1	0–2	—	1–0
Wigan Athletic	4–3	2–3	0–5	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–3	0–5	0–0	1–2	3–0	2–3	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–5	1–1	2–1	3–4	—

Updated to match(es) played on 9 May 2021. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/league-one/table
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

Top scorers

As of 9 May 2021^[41]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[42]
1	Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United	31
2	Charlie Wyke	Sunderland	25
3	Joe Pigott	AFC Wimbledon	20
	Jerry Yates	Blackpool
5	Dion Charles	Accrington Stanley	19
	Mallik Wilks	Hull City
7	Josh Magennis	Hull City	18
	Matty Taylor	Oxford United
9	Vadaine Oliver	Gillingham	17
10	Luke Jephcott	Plymouth Argyle	16
	John Marquis	Portsmouth

Hat-tricks

As of 24 April 2021

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Marcus Harness	Portsmouth	Burton Albion	2–4	30 October 2020
Siriki Dembélé	Peterborough United	Shrewsbury Town	5–1	31 October 2020
Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United	Rochdale	4–1	12 December 2020
Kyle Joseph	Wigan Athletic	Burton Albion	4–3	29 December 2020
Charlie Wyke	Sunderland	AFC Wimbledon	3–0	16 January 2021
Joe Mason	Milton Keynes Dons	Fleetwood Town	3–1	19 January 2021
Dion Charles	Accrington Stanley	Bristol Rovers	6–1	2 February 2021
Charlie Wyke	Sunderland	Doncaster Rovers	4–1	13 February 2021
Mallik Wilks	Hull City	Wigan Athletic	5–0	17 February 2021
Kane Hemmings	Burton Albion	Crewe Alexandra	3–0	13 March 2021
Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United	Accrington Stanley	7–0	27 March 2021
Will Grigg	Milton Keynes Dons	Swindon Town	5–0[c]	24 April 2021

Awards

Monthly

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
September	Paul Lambert	Ipswich Town	Madger Gomes	Doncaster Rovers	[43]
October	Darren Ferguson	Peterborough United	Ben Amos	Charlton	[44]
November	John Coleman	Accrington Stanley	Callum Camps	Fleetwood Town	[45]
December	Steve Cotterill	Shrewsbury Town	Owen Dale	Crewe Alexandra	[46]
January	Grant McCann	Hull City	Matty Lund	Rochdale	[47]
February	Darren Ferguson	Peterborough United	Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United	[48][49]
March	Steve Evans	Gillingham	Vadaine Oliver	Gillingham	[50][51]
April	Grant McCann	Hull City	Josh Magennis	Hull City	[52]

Annual

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Jonson Clarke-Harris[53]	Peterborough United

EFL League One Team of the season

Pos.	Player	Club	Ref.
GK	Lee Burge	Sunderland	[53][54]
DF	Luke O'Nien	Sunderland
DF	Robert Atkinson	Oxford United
DF	Mark Beevers	Peterborough United
DF	Callum Elder	Hull City
MF	Joe Ward	Peterborough United
MF	George Honeyman	Hull City
MF	Jorge Grant	Lincoln City
FW	Aiden McGeady	Sunderland
FW	Jonson Clarke-Harris	Peterborough United
FW	Charlie Wyke	Sunderland
Manager	Grant McCann	Hull City

Notes

1. Wigan Athletic were deducted 12 points by the EFL for entering administration. The club appealed against the decision, and it was confirmed on 4 August 2020 that it had not been upheld. Therefore, Wigan will not be reprieved from relegation.^[2][3]
2. Richardson was originally appointed as caretaker manager before being permanently appointed as manager on 21 April 2021
3. Player scored 4 goals