The 2019–20 EFL Championship (referred to as the
Sky Bet
Bonne Terre Limited (trading as Sky Betting & Gaming) is a British-based gambling company, owned by Flutter Entertainment, with headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire and offices in Sheffield & Solihull. Sky Betting & Gaming consists of five co ...
Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the
EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...
under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format.
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system.
Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
won the title, with
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
following in second.
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
finished closely in third, only to lose in the playoff final to 4th placed
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
, a narrow
2–1 victory at Wembley.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The season was halted, following a decision on 13 March 2020 to suspend the league after a number of players and other club staff became ill due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The initial suspension was until 4 April, which was then extended until 30 April. On 13 May, following a meeting, the clubs decided to continue with the season with plans for players to return to training on 25 May.
In May, 1014 tests were carried out across all of the English Football League and funded by the clubs. Two people from
Hull City returned positive results. Later in May,
Elliott Bennett of Blackburn Rovers tested positive for the virus as did two unnamed players from Fulham. In further tests,
Jayden Stockley of Preston North End tested positive as did one unnamed person from both
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...
and
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
. On 31 May, the EFL stated plans to restart the league on 20 June, with the play-off final being scheduled for around 30 July, subject to safety requirement and government approval being met.
On 7 June, two Championship clubs reported one person each to have tested positive of coronavirus, during the latest round of testing. A total of 1,179 people were tested in the duration of four days and those tested positive were required to self-isolate, as per EFL guidelines. On 8 June, the first round of fixtures was released. The first set of fixtures following the restart was scheduled for 20 June with the first fixture being
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
against
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
with a 12:30pm kick-off. In a further round of testing on 8 June,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
manager
Michael O'Neill tested positive for the virus having tested negative in five previous rounds of testing. A practice game between Stoke and
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
was called off at short notice with the Stoke players already in United's
Carrington training ground.
Team changes
The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season.
Stadiums
*
1 The capacity of Craven Cottage will be reduced from 25,700 to 19,000 for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons due to the redevelopment of the Riverside Stand which will increase the capacity to 29,600.
Personnel and sponsoring
# Clotet was initially appointed as
caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...
before he was appointed on a permanent basis on 4 December 2019.
# Bristol City's captain was
Bailey Wright in the first half of the season, but he left on 21 January to join
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
on loan. Vice-captain
Josh Brownhill served in this position between 21 and 30 January when he left for
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
, no replacement has been named as of 30 January.
# Derby County's captain was
Richard Keogh until his contract was terminated on 30 October 2019, with
Curtis Davies acting in this position from 30 October until 1 January 2020.
# Huddersfield Town's shirt does not display Paddy Power's logo as part of the bookmakers' "Save Our Shirt" campaign.
# Queens Park Rangers' shirt sponsor was Royal Panda until 29 January 2020 when they decided to leave the United Kingdom market.
Managerial changes
League table
Play-offs
Results
Season statistics
Top scorers
*
1 Jarrod Bowen
Jarrod Bowen (born 20 December 1996) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a right winger or Forward (association football), forward for and captains club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. He has also app ...
left Hull City and the EFL Championship on 31 January 2020 to sign for Premier League club
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
; all of his 16 league goals were scored before this date.
Top assists
Hat-tricks
Awards
Monthly
Annual
PFA Championship Team of the Year
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 Football League Championship
EFL Championship seasons
1
*2
Eng
Eng or ENG may refer to:
Language and linguistics
* Eng (letter), Ŋ ŋ
* En with descender, Ң ң
* eng, ISO 639-3 and ISO 639-2 code for English language
* Velar nasal, a phoneme
People
* Eng (name), a given name and surname in various cu ...
EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...