2019–20 EFL Championship


The 2019–20 EFL Championship was the 4th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format. Leeds United won the title, with West Bromwich Albion following in second. Brentford finished closely in third, only to lose in the playoff final to 4th placed Fulham, 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 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 and Middlesbrough. 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 against Brentford with a 12:30pm kick-off. In a further round of testing on 8 June, Stoke City 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 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.

To Championship

Promoted from League One
Relegated from Premier League

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League
Relegated to League One

Stadiums

TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
BarnsleyBarnsleyOakwell23,287
Birmingham CityBirminghamSt Andrew's29,409
Blackburn RoversBlackburnEwood Park31,367
BrentfordLondon Griffin Park12,300
Bristol CityBristolAshton Gate27,000
Cardiff CityCardiffCardiff City Stadium33,316
Charlton AthleticLondon The Valley27,111
Derby CountyDerbyPride Park Stadium33,600
FulhamLondon Craven Cottage19,000
Huddersfield TownHuddersfieldKirklees Stadium24,121
Hull CityKingston upon HullKCOM Stadium25,586
Leeds UnitedLeedsElland Road37,890
Luton TownLutonKenilworth Road10,336
MiddlesbroughMiddlesbroughRiverside Stadium34,000
MillwallLondon The Den20,146
Nottingham ForestWest BridgfordCity Ground30,445
Preston North EndPrestonDeepdale23,408
Queens Park RangersLondon Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium18,439
ReadingReadingMadejski Stadium24,161
Sheffield WednesdaySheffieldHillsborough Stadium39,752
Stoke CityStoke-on-TrentBet365 Stadium30,089
Swansea CitySwanseaLiberty Stadium21,088
West Bromwich AlbionWest BromwichThe Hawthorns26,850
Wigan AthleticWiganDW Stadium25,133
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

TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerSponsor
Barnsley

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

1 Jarrod Bowen left Hull City and the EFL Championship on 31 January 2020 to sign for Premier League club West Ham United; all of his 16 league goals were scored before this date.

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDateRef

Awards

PFA Championship Team of the Year

Pos.PlayerClub
GK