EFL League One

League One is contested by 24 clubs each season. Every club plays the other 23 twice, for 46 matches in total, using the standard three-points-for-a-win scoring system. The league table at the end of the season decides promotion to the Championship above and relegation to League Two below. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is officially branded as Sky Bet League One, but it is usually referred to simply as League One.

League One sits at an interesting level of the English game. Most clubs in the division have either fallen from the Championship or come up from League Two, while some have long top-flight histories and are trying to work their way back up the system. The matches are competitive and the league is well-attended for a third tier, although the financial and broadcasting profile is much smaller than the top two divisions.

The season runs broadly in parallel with the Championship and the Premier League, usually running from August to early May. Most matches are played on Saturdays, with selected matches moved for television and regular midweek fixtures across the season. The 46 games are demanding for smaller squads, and most clubs rely on rotation through the middle of the season, particularly across the busy Christmas and Easter periods.

The main table rules are the standard EFL league rules: three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat. If clubs finish level on points, they are separated first by goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head league record, with further EFL criteria used only if clubs still cannot be separated. The League One table at the end of the season decides everything — the champion, the two automatic promotion places, the four play-off places, and the four relegation places.

The top two clubs in the League One table at the end of the season are automatically promoted to the Championship. The clubs finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth enter the League One play-offs, a four-team knockout for the third promotion place. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with the higher-seeded clubs hosting the second leg. The final is a single match held at Wembley Stadium in late May.

The League One play-off final is one of the major end-of-season fixtures in English football and can draw large crowds at Wembley. The financial reward for winning is significant — Championship clubs receive more central distribution income than League One clubs, plus larger commercial and broadcasting opportunities — and the move up brings greater media attention and higher-profile fixtures. The play-offs are a long-established route to promotion: many clubs that later became established in the Championship or Premier League came up from League One via the play-off final at Wembley.

The four clubs finishing in the bottom four positions of League One at the end of the season are automatically relegated to League Two. There is no relegation play-off — the bottom four drop straight down. League One has a larger relegation zone than the Premier League or Championship because the league as a whole is shaped to fit the EFL structure: the top three of League Two come up automatically, plus the League Two play-off winner, balancing the four relegated clubs from League One.

Relegation from League One to League Two is a meaningful financial blow for affected clubs, although less dramatic than relegations higher up the system. Clubs sometimes recover quickly, with several modern examples of clubs that have spent only one or two seasons in League Two before returning to League One. Others have struggled to come back up, particularly when long-term financial pressures combine with sporting decline.

English football's third tier was created in 1920 as the Football League Third Division. It was split into Third Division North and Third Division South from 1921 to 1958, then reorganised as a single national Third Division when the Fourth Division was created. It became the Second Division in 1992 when the Premier League formed above the Football League, then was renamed League One in 2004 alongside the broader rebrand that also renamed the second tier as the Championship.

League One has had a continuous third-tier role under different names. Many historic clubs in English football have spent time in League One or its predecessors, and some clubs that later reached the Premier League have come up through League One on their way up the pyramid. The division has consistently produced competitive promotion races and dramatic play-off finals, with the final at Wembley typically attracting crowds far larger than most clubs' usual home support.