List of winners of the EFL League One and predecessors

A national third tier of English league football was established in 1958–59, as the Third Division. This followed on from the regional third tier that had been established in the south in 1920 and the north in 1921. In 1992, with the departure of the First Division clubs to become the Premier League, the third tier became known as the Second Division. Since 2004 it has been known as Football League One.

English League (3rd tier)
Football League Third Division (1920–1921) Football League Third Division North/South (1921–1958) Football League Third Division (1958–1992) Football League Second Division (1992–2004) Football League One (2004–2016) EFL League One (2016–present)
Country
England
Founded
1920
Number of teams
24 (2025–26 season)
Current champions
Birmingham City (2024–25)
Most successful club
Plymouth Argyle (5 championships)

Football League Third Division (1920–1921)

Season	Winner	Runner-up (not promoted)
1920–21	Crystal Palace	Southampton

Football League Third Division North/South (1921–1958)

Season	North		South
	Winner	Runner-up (not promoted)	Winner	Runner-up (not promoted)
1921–22	Stockport County	Darlington	Southampton	Plymouth Argyle
1922–23	Nelson	Bradford Park Avenue	Bristol City	Plymouth Argyle
1923–24	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Rochdale	Portsmouth	Plymouth Argyle
1924–25	Darlington	Nelson	Swansea City	Plymouth Argyle
1925–26	Grimsby Town	Bradford Park Avenue	Reading	Plymouth Argyle
1926–27	Stoke City	Rochdale	Bristol City (2)	Plymouth Argyle
1927–28	Bradford Park Avenue	Lincoln City	Millwall	Northampton Town
1928–29	Bradford City	Stockport County	Charlton Athletic	Crystal Palace
1929–30	Port Vale	Stockport County	Plymouth Argyle	Brentford
1930–31	Chesterfield	Lincoln City	Notts County	Crystal Palace
1931–32	Lincoln City	Gateshead	Fulham	Reading
1932–33	Hull City	Wrexham	Brentford	Exeter City
1933–34	Barnsley	Chesterfield	Norwich City	Coventry City
1934–35	Doncaster Rovers	Halifax Town	Charlton Athletic (2)	Reading
1935–36	Chesterfield (2)	Chester City	Coventry City	Luton Town
1936–37	Stockport County (2)	Lincoln City	Luton Town	Notts County
1937–38	Tranmere Rovers	Doncaster Rovers	Millwall (2)	Bristol City
1938–39	Barnsley (2)	Doncaster Rovers	Newport County	Crystal Palace
1939–40 to 1945–46	League suspended due to World War II
1946–47	Doncaster Rovers (2)	Rotherham United	Cardiff City	Queens Park Rangers
1947–48	Lincoln City (2)	Rotherham United	Queens Park Rangers	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic
1948–49	Hull City (2)	Rotherham United	Swansea City (2)	Reading
1949–50	Doncaster Rovers (3)	Gateshead	Notts County (2)	Northampton Town
1950–51	Rotherham United	Mansfield Town	Nottingham Forest	Norwich City
1951–52	Lincoln City (3)	Grimsby Town	Plymouth Argyle (2)	Reading
1952–53	Oldham Athletic	Port Vale	Bristol Rovers	Millwall
1953–54	Port Vale (2)	Barnsley	Ipswich Town	Brighton & Hove Albion
1954–55	Barnsley (3)	Accrington Stanley	Bristol City (3)	Leyton Orient
1955–56	Grimsby Town (2)	Derby County	Leyton Orient	Brighton Hove & Albion
1956–57	Derby County	Hartlepool United	Ipswich Town (2)	Torquay United
1957–58	Scunthorpe United	Accrington Stanley	Brighton & Hove Albion	Brentford

Football League Third Division (1958–1992)

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Also Promoted	Playoff Winner
1958–59	Plymouth Argyle (3)	Hull City
1959–60	Southampton (2)	Norwich City
1960–61	Bury	Walsall
1961–62	Portsmouth (2)	Grimsby Town
1962–63	Northampton Town	Swindon Town
1963–64	Coventry City (2)	Crystal Palace
1964–65	Carlisle United	Bristol City
1965–66	Hull City (3)	Millwall
1966–67	Queens Park Rangers (2)	Middlesbrough
1967–68	Oxford United	Bury
1968–69	Watford	Swindon Town
1969–70	Leyton Orient (2)	Luton Town
1970–71	Preston North End	Fulham
1971–72	Aston Villa	Brighton and Hove Albion
1972–73	Bolton Wanderers	Notts County
1973–74	Oldham Athletic (2)	Bristol Rovers	York City
1974–75	Blackburn Rovers	Plymouth Argyle	Charlton Athletic
1975–76	Hereford United	Cardiff City	Millwall
1976–77	Mansfield Town	Brighton and Hove Albion	Crystal Palace
1977–78	Wrexham	Cambridge United	Preston North End
1978–79	Shrewsbury Town	Watford	Swansea City
1979–80	Grimsby Town (3)	Blackburn Rovers	Sheffield Wednesday
1980–81	Rotherham United (2)	Barnsley	Charlton Athletic
1981–82	Burnley	Carlisle United	Fulham
1982–83	Portsmouth (3)	Cardiff City	Huddersfield Town
1983–84	Oxford United (2)	Wimbledon	Sheffield United
1984–85	Bradford City (2)	Millwall	Hull City
1985–86	Reading (2)	Plymouth Argyle	Derby County
1986–87	AFC Bournemouth	Middlesbrough		Swindon Town
1987–88	Sunderland	Brighton and Hove Albion		Walsall
1988–89	Wolverhampton Wanderers (2)	Sheffield United		Port Vale
1989–90	Bristol Rovers (2)	Bristol City		Notts County
1990–91	Cambridge United	Southend United	Grimsby Town	Tranmere Rovers
1991–92	Brentford (2)	Birmingham City		Peterborough United

Football League Second Division (1992–2004)

Season	Winner	Runner Up	Playoff Winner
1992–93	Stoke City (2)	Bolton Wanderers	West Bromwich Albion
1993–94	Reading (3)	Port Vale	Burnley
1994–95	Birmingham City	Brentford (not promoted)	Huddersfield Town
1995–96	Swindon Town	Oxford United	Bradford City
1996–97	Bury (2)	Stockport County	Crewe Alexandra
1997–98	Watford (2)	Bristol City	Grimsby Town
1998–99	Fulham (2)	Walsall	Manchester City
1999–2000	Preston North End (2)	Burnley	Gillingham
2000–01	Millwall (3)	Rotherham United	Walsall
2001–02	Brighton & Hove Albion (2)	Reading	Stoke City
2002–03	Wigan Athletic	Crewe Alexandra	Cardiff City
2003–04	Plymouth Argyle (4)	Queens Park Rangers	Brighton & Hove Albion

Football League One/EFL League One (2004 onwards)

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Playoff Winner
2004–05	Luton Town (2)	Hull City	Sheffield Wednesday
2005–06	Southend United	Colchester United	Barnsley
2006–07	Scunthorpe United (2)	Bristol City	Blackpool
2007–08	Swansea City (3)	Nottingham Forest	Doncaster Rovers
2008–09	Leicester City	Peterborough United	Scunthorpe United
2009–10	Norwich City (2)	Leeds United	Millwall
2010–11	Brighton & Hove Albion (3)	Southampton	Peterborough United
2011–12	Charlton Athletic (3)	Sheffield Wednesday	Huddersfield Town
2012–13	Doncaster Rovers (4)	Bournemouth	Yeovil Town
2013–14	Wolverhampton Wanderers (3)	Brentford	Rotherham United
2014–15	Bristol City (4)	Milton Keynes Dons	Preston North End
2015–16	Wigan Athletic (2)	Burton Albion	Barnsley
2016–17	Sheffield United	Bolton Wanderers	Millwall
2017–18	Wigan Athletic (3)	Blackburn Rovers	Rotherham United
2018–19	Luton Town (3)	Barnsley	Charlton Athletic
2019–20	Coventry City (3)	Rotherham United	Wycombe Wanderers
2020–21	Hull City (4)	Peterborough United	Blackpool
2021–22	Wigan Athletic (4)	Rotherham United	Sunderland
2022–23	Plymouth Argyle (5)	Ipswich Town	Sheffield Wednesday
2023–24	Portsmouth (4)	Derby County	Oxford United
2024-25	Birmingham City (2)	Wrexham	Charlton Athletic

Number of titles overall

Clubs in bold are competing in the 2025–26 EFL League One.

Rank	Club	Winners	Winning seasons
1	Plymouth Argyle	5	1929–30 South, 1951–52 South, 1958–59, 2003–04, 2022–23
2	Bristol City	4	1922–23 South, 1926–27 South, 1954–55 South, 2014–15
	Doncaster Rovers	4	1934–35 North, 1946–47 North, 1949–50 North, 2012–13
	Hull City	4	1932–33 North, 1948–49 North, 1965–66, 2020–21
	Wigan Athletic	4	2002–03, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22
	Portsmouth	4	1923–24 South, 1961–62, 1982–83, 2023-24
6	Barnsley	3	1933–34 North, 1938–39 North, 1954–55 North
	Brighton & Hove Albion	3	1957–58 South, 2001–02, 2010–11
	Charlton Athletic	3	1928–29 South, 1934–35 South, 2011–12
	Coventry City	3	1935–36 South, 1963–64, 2019–20
	Grimsby Town	3	1925–26 North, 1955–56 North, 1979–80
	Lincoln City	3	1931–32 North, 1947–48 North, 1951–52 North
	Luton Town	3	1936–37 South, 2004–05, 2018–19
	Millwall	3	1927–28 South, 1937–38 South, 2000–01
	Reading	3	1925–26 South, 1985–86, 1993–94
	Swansea City	3	1924–25 South, 1948–49 South, 2007–08
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3	1923–24 North, 1988–89, 2013–14
18	Bradford City	2	1928–29 North, 1984–85
	Brentford	2	1932–33 South, 1991–92
	Bristol Rovers	2	1952–53 South, 1989–90
	Bury	2	1960–61, 1996–97
	Chesterfield	2	1930–31 North, 1935–36 North
	Fulham	2	1931–32 South, 1998–99
	Ipswich Town	2	1953–54 South, 1956–57 South
	Leyton Orient	2	1955–56 South, 1969–70
	Norwich City	2	1933–34 South, 2009–10
	Notts County	2	1930–31 South, 1949–50 South
	Oldham Athletic	2	1952–53 North, 1973–74
	Oxford United	2	1967–68, 1983–84
	Port Vale	2	1929–30 North, 1953–54 North
	Preston North End	2	1970–71, 1999–2000
	Queens Park Rangers	2	1947–48 South, 1966–67
	Rotherham United	2	1950–51 North, 1980–81
	Scunthorpe United	2	1957–58 North, 2006–07
	Southampton	2	1921–22 South, 1959–60
	Stockport County	2	1921–22 North, 1936–37 North
	Stoke City	2	1926–27 North, 1992–93
	Watford	2	1968–69, 1997–98
39	AFC Bournemouth	1	1986–87
	Aston Villa	1	1971–72
	Birmingham City	1	1994–95
	Blackburn Rovers	1	1974–75
	Bolton Wanderers	1	1972–73
	Bradford Park Avenue	1	1927–28 North
	Burnley	1	1981–82
	Cambridge United	1	1990–91
	Cardiff City	1	1946–47 South
	Carlisle United	1	1964–65
	Crystal Palace	1	1920–21
	Darlington	1	1924–25 North
	Derby County	1	1956–57 North
	Hereford United	1	1975–76
	Leicester City	1	2008–09
	Mansfield Town	1	1976–77
	Nelson	1	1922–23 North
	Newport County	1	1938–39 South
	Northampton Town	1	1962–63
	Nottingham Forest	1	1950–51 South
	Sheffield United	1	2016–17
	Shrewsbury Town	1	1978–79
	Southend United	1	2005–06
	Sunderland	1	1987–88
	Swindon Town	1	1995–96
	Tranmere Rovers	1	1937–38 North
	Wrexham	1	1977–78

References

• "Past Winners of the Football League". Archived from the original on 23 August 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2006.
• Playfair Football Annual, various editions