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Football League Championship
The Football League Championship, frequently referred to as the Championship, is the second highest league division in England, behind the Premier League. The Championship runs concurrent to the Premier League, with clubs also participating in the Carling Cup and FA Cup.
In recent years the Championship has developed into one of the strongest in Europe, and is preferred by some English football fans to the Premier League due to the greater representation of local talent, and a more even distribution of both player and financial resources across clubs.
The Championship comprises 24 teams playing in a round robin, home and away league tournament. The two clubs finishing the season at the top of the Championship league table are promoted to the Premier League, while the 3rd and 4th placed clubs contest a playoff for Premier League promotion.
Football Championship Betting
| European Leagues - Npower Football League Championship Winner - | |||||||||||
| Click red odds to strike a bet |  | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queens Park Rangers | 2/7 | ||||||||||
As the fourth most popular league in Europe after the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga, the Football Championship receives extensive coverage from online sportsbooks. A wide variety of betting markets are made available for each Football Championship game, including occasional money back specials.
Football Championship History
The Football League Championship is the most recent incarnation of the English second division. The second division has a history dating back to 1892, when the Football Alliance was assimilated into the English Football League as a second tier competition, to accommodate clubs not participating in the Football League First Division.
In 1992 the decision was made to launch the Premier League in England to consolidate the financial resources of the biggest clubs in English football. This league absorbed the majority of clubs that had been participating in the Football League First Division, leading to the effective promotion of the entire second division to the first division.
In 2004 the first division was renamed the Football League Championship. While the name changed, the format and participants in this division remained the same. The league awards the oldest league trophy in England, the English Football League Championship Trophy, previously the prize awarded to the winners of the first division.
Football Championship Winners
The format of the Football Championship means that successful clubs are unlikely to stay in the league for long enough to exert extended periods of dominance. With the top teams promoted to the Premier League, the Football Championship produces a new champion every season.
However, since first being re-branded in 1992, Sunderland has achieved some measure of consistency in the Football Championship, claiming four league titles as they bounced back and forth between the second division and the Premier League.
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