2021–22 EFL Championship

2021–22 EFL Championship

The 2021–22 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 6th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 30th season under its current league division format.

Team changes

2021–22 EFL Championship

The following teams have changed division since the 2020–21 season:

Stadiums

2021–22 EFL Championship

<table><thead><tr><th>Team</th><th>Location</th><th>Stadium</th><th>Capacity</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Bournemouth</td><td>Bournemouth</td><td>Dean Court</td><td>11,364</td></tr><tr><td>Barnsley</td><td>Barnsley</td><td>Oakwell</td><td>23,287</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham City</td><td>Birmingham</td><td>St Andrew's</td><td>29,409</td></tr><tr><td>Blackburn Rovers</td><td>Blackburn</td><td>Ewood Park</td><td>31,367</td></tr><tr><td>Blackpool</td><td>Blackpool</td><td>Bloomfield Road</td><td>17,338</td></tr><tr><td>Bristol City</td><td>Bristol</td><td>Ashton Gate Stadium</td><td>27,000</td></tr><tr><td>Cardiff City</td><td>Cardiff</td><td>Cardiff City Stadium</td><td>33,280</td></tr><tr><td>Coventry City</td><td>Coventry</td><td>Coventry Building Society Arena</td><td>32,609</td></tr><tr><td>Derby County</td><td>Derby</td><td>Pride Park Stadium</td><td>33,600</td></tr><tr><td>Fulham</td><td>London (Fulham)</td><td>Craven Cottage</td><td>19,359</td></tr><tr><td>Huddersfield Town</td><td>Huddersfield</td><td>Kirklees Stadium</td><td>24,121</td></tr><tr><td>Hull City</td><td>Kingston upon Hull</td><td>MKM Stadium</td><td>25,586</td></tr><tr><td>Luton Town</td><td>Luton</td><td>Kenilworth Road</td><td>10,356</td></tr><tr><td>Middlesbrough</td><td>Middlesbrough</td><td>Riverside Stadium</td><td>34,742</td></tr><tr><td>Millwall</td><td>London (South Bermondsey)</td><td>The Den</td><td>20,146</td></tr><tr><td>Nottingham Forest</td><td>West Bridgford</td><td>City Ground</td><td>30,445</td></tr><tr><td>Peterborough United</td><td>Peterborough</td><td>London Road Stadium</td><td>15,314</td></tr><tr><td>Preston North End</td><td>Preston</td><td>Deepdale</td><td>23,404</td></tr><tr><td>Queens Park Rangers</td><td>London (White City)</td><td>Loftus Road</td><td>18,439</td></tr><tr><td>Reading</td><td>Reading</td><td>Select Car Leasing Stadium</td><td>24,161</td></tr><tr><td>Sheffield United</td><td>Sheffield</td><td>Bramall Lane</td><td>32,050</td></tr><tr><td>Stoke City</td><td>Stoke-on-Trent</td><td>bet365 Stadium</td><td>30,089</td></tr><tr><td>Swansea City</td><td>Swansea</td><td>Swansea.com Stadium</td><td>21,088</td></tr><tr><td>West Bromwich Albion</td><td>West Bromwich</td><td>The Hawthorns</td><td>26,850</td></tr></tbody></table>

Personnel and sponsoring

2021–22 EFL Championship

<table><thead><tr><th>Team</th><th>Manager</th><th>Captain</th><th>Kit manufacturer</th><th>Shirt sponsor</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Bournemouth</td><td>Scott Parker</td><td>Lloyd Kelly</td><td>Umbro</td><td>MSP Capital</td></tr><tr><td>Barnsley</td><td>Martin Devaney (Interim)</td><td>Cauley Woodrow</td><td>Puma</td><td>The Investment Room</td></tr><tr><td>Birmingham City</td><td>Lee Bowyer</td><td>Troy Deeney</td><td>Nike</td><td>BoyleSports</td></tr><tr><td>Blackburn Rovers</td><td>Tony Mowbray</td><td>Darragh Lenihan</td><td>Macron</td><td>Totally Wicked1</td></tr><tr><td>Blackpool</td><td>Neil Critchley</td><td>Chris Maxwell</td><td>Puma</td><td>Blackpool Council (Home: "VisitBlackpool.com"; Away: "Get Vocal")</td></tr><tr><td>Bristol City</td><td>Nigel Pearson</td><td>Dan Bentley</td><td>Hummel</td><td>MansionBet</td></tr><tr><td>Cardiff City</td><td>Steve Morison</td><td>Sean Morrison</td><td>Adidas</td><td>Tourism Malaysia</td></tr><tr><td>Coventry City</td><td>Mark Robins</td><td>Liam Kelly</td><td>Hummel</td><td>BoyleSports</td></tr><tr><td>Derby County</td><td>Wayne Rooney</td><td>Tom Lawrence</td><td>Umbro</td><td>32Red</td></tr><tr><td>Fulham</td><td>Marco Silva</td><td>Tom Cairney</td><td>Adidas</td><td>World Mobile</td></tr><tr><td>Huddersfield Town</td><td>Carlos Corberán</td><td>Jonathan Hogg</td><td>Umbro</td><td>Utilita</td></tr><tr><td>Hull City</td><td>Shota Arveladze</td><td>Richie Smallwood</td><td>Umbro</td><td>Giacom</td></tr><tr><td>Luton Town</td><td>Nathan Jones</td><td>Sonny Bradley</td><td>Umbro</td><td>Utilita (home)2 Star Platforms (away) Ryebridge (third)</td></tr><tr><td>Middlesbrough</td><td>Chris Wilder</td><td>Jonny Howson</td><td>Hummel</td><td>32Red</td></tr><tr><td>Millwall</td><td>Gary Rowett</td><td>Alex Pearce</td><td>Macron</td><td>Huski Chocolate</td></tr><tr><td>Nottingham Forest</td><td>Steve Cooper</td><td>Lewis Grabban</td><td>Macron</td><td>BOXT</td></tr><tr><td>Peterborough United</td><td>Grant McCann</td><td>Oliver Norburn</td><td>Puma</td><td>Mick George Group</td></tr><tr><td>Preston North End</td><td>Ryan Lowe</td><td>Alan Browne</td><td>Nike</td><td>PAR Group</td></tr><tr><td>Queens Park Rangers</td><td>Mark Warburton</td><td>Stefan Johansen</td><td>Erreà</td><td>Ashville Holdings</td></tr><tr><td>Reading</td><td>Paul Ince (Interim) Michael Gilkes (Interim)</td><td>Michael Morrison</td><td>Macron</td><td>Select Car Leasing</td></tr><tr><td>Sheffield United</td><td>Paul Heckingbottom</td><td>Billy Sharp</td><td>Adidas</td><td>Randox</td></tr><tr><td>Stoke City</td><td>Michael O'Neill</td><td>Lewis Baker</td><td>Macron</td><td>bet365</td></tr><tr><td>Swansea City</td><td>Russell Martin</td><td>Matt Grimes</td><td>Joma</td><td>Swansea University</td></tr><tr><td>West Bromwich Albion</td><td>Steve Bruce</td><td>Jake Livermore</td><td>Puma</td><td>Ideal Heating</td></tr></tbody></table>

• ^ Blackburn Rovers' shirt sponsor was Recoverite Compression until 18 January 2022 when the deal was ended prematurely. • ^ Luton Town's home shirt sponsor was JB Developments until 18 February 2022 when the deal was ended prematurely.

Managerial changes

2021–22 EFL Championship

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
West Bromwich Albion	Sam Allardyce	Resigned	23 May 2021	Pre-season	Valérien Ismaël	24 June 2021
Sheffield United	Paul Heckingbottom	End of caretaker spell	Slaviša Jokanović	27 May 2021
Barnsley	Valérien Ismaël	Signed by West Bromwich Albion	24 June 2021	Markus Schopp	29 June 2021
Fulham	Scott Parker	Signed by Bournemouth	28 June 2021	Marco Silva	1 July 2021
Bournemouth	Jonathan Woodgate	End of contract	Scott Parker	28 June 2021
Swansea City	Steve Cooper	Mutual consent	21 July 2021	Russell Martin	1 August 2021
Nottingham Forest	Chris Hughton	Sacked	16 September 2021	24th	Steve Cooper	21 September 2021
Cardiff City	Mick McCarthy	Mutual consent	23 October 2021	21st	Steve Morison	12 November 2021
Barnsley	Markus Schopp	Sacked	1 November 2021	23rd	Poya Asbaghi	17 November 2021
Middlesbrough	Neil Warnock	Mutual consent	6 November 2021	14th	Chris Wilder	7 November 2021
Sheffield United	Slaviša Jokanović	Sacked	25 November 2021	16th	Paul Heckingbottom	25 November 2021
Preston North End	Frankie McAvoy	6 December 2021	18th	Ryan Lowe	7 December 2021
Hull City	Grant McCann	25 January 2022	19th	Shota Arveladze	27 January 2022
West Bromwich Albion	Valérien Ismaël	2 February 2022	5th	Steve Bruce	3 February 2022
Reading	Veljko Paunović	Mutual consent	19 February 2022	21st	Paul Ince (Interim) Michael Gilkes (Interim)	19 February 2022
Peterborough United	Darren Ferguson	Resigned	20 February 2022	23rd	Grant McCann	24 February 2022
Barnsley	Poya Asbaghi	Mutual consent	24 April 2022	24th	Martin Devaney (Interim)	24 April 2022

League table

2021–22 EFL Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Fulham (C, P)	46	27	9	10	106	43	+63	90	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Bournemouth (P)	46	25	13	8	74	39	+35	88
3	Huddersfield Town	46	23	13	10	64	47	+17	82	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Nottingham Forest (O, P)	46	23	11	12	73	40	+33	80
5	Sheffield United	46	21	12	13	63	45	+18	75
6	Luton Town	46	21	12	13	63	55	+8	75
7	Middlesbrough	46	20	10	16	59	50	+9	70
8	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	12	15	59	50	+9	69
9	Millwall	46	18	15	13	53	45	+8	69
10	West Bromwich Albion	46	18	13	15	52	45	+7	67
11	Queens Park Rangers	46	19	9	18	60	59	+1	66
12	Coventry City	46	17	13	16	60	59	+1	64
13	Preston North End	46	16	16	14	52	56	−4	64
14	Stoke City	46	17	11	18	57	52	+5	62
15	Swansea City	46	16	13	17	58	68	−10	61
16	Blackpool	46	16	12	18	54	58	−4	60
17	Bristol City	46	15	10	21	62	77	−15	55
18	Cardiff City	46	15	8	23	50	68	−18	53
19	Hull City	46	14	9	23	41	54	−13	51
20	Birmingham City	46	11	14	21	50	75	−25	47
21	Reading	46	13	8	25	54	87	−33	41
22	Peterborough United (R)	46	9	10	27	43	87	−44	37	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Derby County (R)	46	14	13	19	45	53	−8	34
24	Barnsley (R)	46	6	12	28	33	73	−40	30

Play-offs

2021–22 EFL Championship

	Semi-finals			Final
	3	Huddersfield Town	1	1	2
	6	Luton Town	1	0	1
		3	Huddersfield Town	0
			4	Nottingham Forest	1
	4	Nottingham Forest	2	1	3 (3)
	5	Sheffield United	1	2	3 (2)

3–3 on aggregate. Nottingham Forest won 3–2 on penalties.

Season statistics

Scoring

Aleksandar Mitrović won The Golden Boot this season, breaking the record for the most goals scored in a Championship season, with 43 goals. Mitrović also scored the most hat–tricks in the league, with three to his name, helping his club Fulham to the league title and an immediate Premier League return. Mitrović was rewarded by being named The Championship Player of the Season.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	43
2	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth	29
3	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers	22
Joël Piroe	Swansea City
Andreas Weimann	Bristol City
6	Karlan Grant	West Bromwich Albion	18
Brennan Johnson1	Nottingham Forest
8	Viktor Gyökeres	Coventry City	17
9	Elijah Adebayo	Luton Town	16
Emil Riis Jakobsen	Preston North End

• 1 Includes 2 goals in The Championship play-offs.

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
John Swift	Reading	Queens Park Rangers	3–3 (H)	11 September 2021
Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers	Cardiff City	5–1 (H)	25 September 2021
Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	Swansea City	3–1 (H)	29 September 2021
West Bromwich Albion	3–0 (H)	30 October 2021
Andreas Weimann	Bristol City	Millwall	3–2 (H)	2 January 2022
Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham	Bristol City	6–2 (H)	15 January 2022
Danny Ward	Huddersfield Town	Reading	4–3 (A)	22 January 2022
Sam Surridge	Nottingham Forest	Swansea City	5–1 (H)	30 April 2022

Clean sheets

Mark Travers won The Golden Glove in The Championship this season, keeping 20 clean sheets, which helped Bournemouth to automatic promotion.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Mark Travers	Bournemouth	20
2	Lee Nicholls1	Huddersfield Town	19
3	Wes Foderingham	Sheffield United	18
4	Sam Johnstone	West Bromwich Albion	15
Brice Samba1	Nottingham Forest
6	Bartosz Białkowski	Millwall	14
Marek Rodák	Fulham
8	Daniel Iversen	Preston North End	13
Thomas Kaminski	Blackburn Rovers
Joe Lumley	Middlesbrough

• 1 Includes 1 clean sheet in The Championship play-offs.

Player

• Most yellow cards: 16 • Matt Crooks (Middlesbrough) • Most red cards: 2 • Fankaty Dabo (Coventry City) • Darnell Furlong (West Bromwich Albion) • Gary Gardner (Birmingham City) • Tom Lawrence (Derby County) • Jefferson Lerma (Bournemouth) • Jake Livermore (West Bromwich Albion) • Ryan Manning (Swansea City)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 107 • Blackburn Rovers • Most red cards: 7 • Derby County • West Bromwich Albion

Awards

Monthly

Month	Manager of the Month	Player of the Month	Reference
August	Marco Silva	Fulham	Sorba Thomas	Huddersfield Town
September	Scott Parker	Bournemouth	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers
October	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham
November	Mark Warburton	Queens Park Rangers	Chris Willock	Queens Park Rangers
December	Chris Wilder	Middlesbrough	Isaiah Jones	Middlesbrough
January	Marco Silva	Fulham	Antoine Semenyo	Bristol City
February	Carlos Corberán	Huddersfield Town	Lucas João	Reading
March	Steve Morison	Cardiff City	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest
April	Steve Cooper	Nottingham Forest	Brennan Johnson

Annual

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham
Young Player of the Season	Brennan Johnson	Nottingham Forest
Apprentice of the Season	Ryan Howley	Coventry City

Pos.	Player	Club	Ref.
GK	Lee Nicholls	Huddersfield Town
CB	Tosin Adarabioyo	Fulham
CB	Lloyd Kelly	Bournemouth
CB	Joe Worrall	Nottingham Forest
RWB	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest
CM	Ryan Yates	Nottingham Forest
CM	Philip Billing	Bournemouth
LWB	Antonee Robinson	Fulham
FW	Harry Wilson	Fulham
FW	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth
FW	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham
Manager	Nathan Jones	Luton Town

PFA Championship Team of the Year

Pos.	Player	Club
GK	Lee Nicholls	Huddersfield Town
DF	Tim Ream	Fulham
DF	Tosin Adarabioyo	Fulham
DF	Lloyd Kelly	Bournemouth
DF	Djed Spence	Nottingham Forest
MF	Philip Billing	Bournemouth
MF	Fábio Carvalho	Fulham
MF	Harry Wilson	Fulham
FW	Ben Brereton Díaz	Blackburn Rovers
FW	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth
FW	Aleksandar Mitrović	Fulham