The 2019–20 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) 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 requirements 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.
Stadiums
Team Location Stadium Capacity Barnsley Barnsley Oakwell 23,287 Birmingham City Birmingham St Andrew's 29,409 Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park 31,367 Brentford London Griffin Park 12,300 Bristol City Bristol Ashton Gate 27,000Cardiff City CardiffCardiff City Stadium 33,316 Charlton Athletic London The Valley 27,111 Derby County Derby Pride Park Stadium 33,600 Fulham London Craven Cottage 19,000 Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Kirklees Stadium 24,121 Hull City Kingston upon Hull KCOM Stadium 25,586 Leeds United Leeds Elland Road 37,890 Luton Town Luton Kenilworth Road 10,336 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium 34,000 Millwall London The Den 20,146 Nottingham Forest West Bridgford City Ground 30,445 Preston North End Preston Deepdale 23,408 Queens Park Rangers London Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium 18,439 Reading Reading Madejski Stadium 24,161 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield 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
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
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer SponsorBarnsley Gerhard Struber Mike-Steven BähreBarnsley F.C. Adam Davis Barnsleyfc.co.uk. Barnsley Football Club. Adam Davis. Retrieved 7 September 2018. Puma C.K. BeckettBirmingham City Pep Clotet Harlee Dean AdidasBoyleSportsBlackburn Rovers Tony Mowbray Elliott Bennett Umbro10betBrentford Thomas Frank Pontus Jansson UmbroEcoWorldBristol City Dean Holden Bristol SportDunderCardiff City Neil Harris AdidasTourism Malaysia Charlton Athletic Chris Solly Hummel Children with Cancer UKDerby County Phillip Cocu Wayne Rooney Umbro32RedFulham Scott Parker Tom Cairney AdidasDafabetHuddersfield Town Carlos Corberán Christopher Schindler UmbroPaddy Power (unbranded)Hull City Grant McCann Eric Lichaj UmbroSportPesaLeeds United Marcelo Bielsa Liam Cooper Kappa32Red Luton Town Nathan Jones Sonny Bradley PumaIndigo Residential (home)Star Platforms (away)Ryebridge (third)Middlesbrough Neil Warnock George Friend Hummel32RedMillwall Gary Rowett Alex Pearce MacronHuski ChocolateNottingham Forest Sabri Lamouchi Michael Dawson MacronFootball IndexPreston North End Alex Neil Tom Clarke Nike32RedQueens Park Rangers Mark Warburton Grant Hall ErreàBet UKReading Mark Bowen Liam Moore MacronCasumo Sheffield Wednesday Tom Lees Elev8ChansiriStoke City Michael O'Neill Ryan Shawcross Macronbet365Swansea City Steve Cooper Matt Grimes JomaYOBETSwansea University (back-of-shirt & training kit sponsor)West Bromwich Albion Slaven Bilić Chris Brunt PumaIdeal BoilersWigan Athletic Paul Cook Sam Morsy PumaKB88
Clotet was initially appointed as caretaker manager 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 on loan. Vice-captain Josh Brownhill served in this position between 21 and 30 January when he left for Burnley, 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 Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointmentLuton Town Mick HarfordEnd of caretaker spell4 May 2019Pre-season Graeme Jones7 May 2019Queens Park Rangers John Eustace5 May 2019 Mark Warburton8 May 2019West Bromwich Albion James Shan14 May 2019 Slaven Bilić13 June 2019Middlesbrough Tony PulisEnd of contract17 May 2019 Jonathan Woodgate14 June 2019Swansea City Graham PotterSigned by Brighton & Hove Albion20 May 2019 Steve Cooper13 June 2019Hull City Nigel AdkinsEnd of contract8 June 2019 Grant McCann21 June 2019Birmingham City Garry MonkSacked18 June 2019 Pep Clotet4 December 2019Nottingham Forest Martin O'Neill28 June 2019 Sabri Lamouchi28 June 2019Derby County Frank LampardSigned by Chelsea4 July 2019 Phillip Cocu5 July 2019Sheffield Wednesday Steve BruceResigned15 July 2019 Garry Monk6 September 2019Huddersfield Town Jan Siewert Sacked16 August 201920th Danny Cowley9 September 2019Millwall Neil HarrisResigned3 October 201918th Gary Rowett21 October 2019Barnsley Daniel StendelSacked8 October 201923rd Gerhard Struber20 November 2019Reading José Gomes9 October 201922nd Mark Bowen14 October 2019Stoke City Nathan Jones1 November 201924th Michael O'Neill8 November 2019Cardiff City Neil WarnockMutual consent11 November 201914th Neil Harris16 November 2019Luton Town Graeme Jones24 April 202023rd Nathan Jones28 May 2020Middlesbrough Jonathan WoodgateSacked23 June 202021st Neil Warnock23 June 2020Bristol City Lee Johnson4 July 202012th Dean Holden10 August 2020Birmingham City Pep ClotetMutual consent8 July 202017th Aitor Karanka31 July 2020Huddersfield Town Danny CowleySacked19 July 202018th Carlos Corberán 23 July 2020
League table
Play-offs
Results
Season statistics Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Aleksandar MitrovićFulham262 Ollie WatkinsBrentford253 Lewis GrabbanNottingham Forest204 Karlan GrantHuddersfield Town195 Nahki WellsQueens Park Rangers / Bristol City186 Saïd BenrahmaBrentford177 Adam ArmstrongBlackburn Rovers16 Patrick BamfordLeeds United Jarrod BowenHull City10 André AyewSwansea City 15 Lukas JutkiewiczBirmingham City Bryan MbeumoBrentford Steven FletcherSheffield Wednesday Martyn WaghornDerby County James CollinsLuton Town Jed WallaceMillwall Cauley WoodrowBarnsley
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Matheus PereiraWest Bromwich Albion 162 Jed WallaceMillwall133 Niclas EliassonBristol City 124 John SwiftReading 10 Lee TomlinCardiff City 6 Jacob BrownBarnsley9 Pablo HernándezLeeds United8 Sammy AmeobiNottingham Forest8 Barry BannanSheffield Wednesday Saïd BenrahmaBrentford Stewart DowningBlackburn Rovers Eberechi EzeQueens Park Rangers Conor GallagherSwansea Kamil GrosickiHull City / West Bromwich Albion Jack HarrisonLeeds United Joe LolleyNottingham Forest Alex MowattBarnsley Bright Osayi-SamuelQueens Park Rangers
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstResultDateRef Ollie WatkinsBrentfordBarnsley3–1 (A)29 September 2019 Aleksandar MitrovićFulhamLuton Town3–2 (H)23 October 2019 Joe RallsCardiff CityBirmingham City4–2 (H)2 November 2019 Josh DasilvaBrentfordLuton Town7–0 (H)30 November 2019 George PușcașReadingWigan Athletic3–1 (A)30 November 2019 Conor ChaplinBarnsleyQueens Park Rangers5–3 (H)14 December 2019 Jordan RhodesSheffield Wednesday Nottingham Forest 4–0 (A)14 December 2019 Nahki WellsQueens Park Rangers Cardiff City6–1 (H)1 January 2020 Saïd BenrahmaBrentford Hull City5–1 (A)1 February 2020 Matt SmithMillwall Nottingham Forest3–0 (A)6 March 2020 Louie SibleyDerby County Millwall3–2 (A)20 June 2020 Yakou MéïtéReadingLuton Town5–0 (A)4 July 2020 Saïd BenrahmaBrentford Wigan Athletic3–0 (H)4 July 2020 Kieran DowellWigan Athletic Hull City8–0 (H)14 July 2020
Awards
Monthly MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Steve CooperSwansea City Daniel JohnsonPreston North EndSeptember Sabri LamouchiNottingham Forest Chey DunkleyWigan AthleticOctober Danny CowleyHuddersfield Town Aleksandar MitrovićFulhamNovember Marcelo BielsaLeeds United Jarrod BowenHull CityDecember Jonathan WoodgateMiddlesbrough Conor ChaplinBarnsleyJanuary Sabri LamouchiNottingham Forest Nahki WellsQueens Park RangersFebruary Slaven BilićWest Bromwich Albion Scott HoganBirmingham CityJune Thomas FrankBrentford Jason PearceCharlton AthleticJuly Marcelo BielsaLeeds United Saïd BenrahmaBrentford
Annual AwardWinnerClubPlayer of the Season Ollie WatkinsBrentfordYoung Player of the Season Jude BellinghamBirmingham City
PFA Championship Team of the Year
Pos.PlayerClubGK Brice SambaNottingham ForestDF Luke AylingLeeds UnitedDF Ben WhiteLeeds UnitedDF Liam CooperLeeds UnitedDF Joe BryanFulhamMF Romaine SawyersWest Bromwich AlbionMF Kalvin PhillipsLeeds UnitedMF Eberechi EzeQueens Park RangersFW Saïd BenrahmaBrentfordFW Ollie WatkinsBrentfordFW Aleksandar MitrovićFulham
References