English Football League (EFL)

The English Football League (EFL) can refer to two organizations in the history of English football, the sport known as soccer in the United States. In its first incarnation, the English Football League was a twelve-team organization formed in 1888 by football director William McGregor. Later, with the merging of regional football organizations into a professional national union, the name English Football League came to denote three of the five national levels of the English football league system.

The highest level of this modern league system (and second highest of the overall national hierarchy) is the English Football League Championship. Below this are English Football League One and English Football League Two. Each of these leagues contains twenty-four teams that compete against one another. Successful teams progress to higher levels, while less-successful teams are demoted to lower levels. Teams may be promoted out of the Football League levels in either direction.

Background

English football, known as soccer in the United States, is based on the ancient format of games that involve kicking or otherwise propelling a ball toward a designated goal. At first, these games were likely the domain of children or farmers with free time. The earliest evidence of these football-type games has been found in Ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese accounts and artifacts. Over time, however, such games spread around the world.

After the Middle Ages, interest in games increased, and participation spread to upper classes of people and other individuals with leisure time. This led to the development of teams, with increasingly detailed and codified rules. Football became extremely popular in England and the rest of the British Isles. Until the 1800s, however, it was mainly a pastime of amateurs, who formed dedicated teams or clubs. During the nineteenth century, however, some clubs began pushing for the game to become a full-time professional occupation.

Researchers have analyzed the popularity of the game and the causes and effects of its indelible mark on English culture. Many have suggested that football has become a tool of English nationalism, by which the county of England can differentiate itself from other countries, including its United Kingdom alliance partners. Football fandom, including its extreme and sometimes violent form of hooliganism, can also serve in abstract ways to address various anxieties within English and British cultures, including immigration, war, political turmoil, and foreign relations.

Overview

In the late 1800s, many football clubs throughout England spoke out about professionalizing football. Among the most outspoken of these clubs was Aston Villa, directed by William McGregor. In 1888, McGregor enacted a plan to turn football into a full-time professional sport. He established an organization of football clubs in his region that he called the English Football League. This first incarnation of the English Football League had twelve members, including six from around Aston Villa and six from the Lancashire region.

The founding teams of the 1888 English Football League were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Derby, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and the Wolverhampton Wanderers. In the early twenty-first century, eleven of these teams remain active in English football. Accrington folded in 1896 after it was demoted to lower leagues due to poor showings. Aston Villa, Everton, Bolton, and others, however, remain some of the most successful teams in English football.

Shortly after the English Football League formed in 1888, a similar rival organization, the Football Alliance, formed. After several seasons, these groups decided to merge, setting the basis for a vast nationwide organization made of hundreds of teams. This organization is known as the English football league system, a general term that does not directly refer to the 1888 organization.

The English football league system contains a series of levels denoting increasing success. It is often referred to as a pyramid because it contains a huge number of teams with relatively low performances on the broad bottom levels and a small number of teams with relatively high performances on the narrow top levels. The topmost five levels are professional national teams. Three of those five levels (levels two, three, and four) are occupied by levels of the modern incarnation of the English Football League.

The four national levels, starting with the topmost first league, are known as Premier League, the English Football League Championship, English Football League One, and English Football League Two. Below these levels are the national levels, which includes six levels with the highest being the National League. The leagues are separate but interrelated, and according to the rules and traditions of the sport, teams can move between the levels based on their performances in a given season. Successful teams may be promoted to a higher level, while less-successful teams may be demoted, or relegated to a lower level.

Level two of the league system is the English Football League Championship, the highest level of the modern EFL. This level contains twenty-four teams. These teams compete during each season for prizes and rankings. The two teams with the best win records are automatically promoted to the top level, the Premier League. A third promotion is awarded to the winner of play-off contests between the other top teams of the season. At the same time, the three teams with the lowest win records are sent down to level three.

Level three is the English Football League One, which contains twenty-four teams vying for promotion and against relegation. As in the previous level, two promotion slots are filled automatically and a third is declared following play-off contests. This level differs from the previous by having four slots for relegation. Relegated teams are sent down to level four.

Level four is the English Football League Two. Also consisting of twenty-four teams, this level observes its own rates of promotion and relegation. Each season, four teams are promoted (three automatically and one by play-off) and only two teams are relegated. Relegated teams leave the English Football League section of the hierarchy and join the fifth level, the National League.

Generally, teams and players attempt to work their way up through the levels and aspire to leave the English Football League levels to reach Premier status. Prior to 1992, there was no Premier level, and the EFL levels represented the pinnacle of the sport in England. In 1992, however, Premier was created to represent the topmost of the entire hierarchy. That status means higher pay and higher profiles, as well as a greater likelihood of playing in the World Cup and other international events.

Bibliography

“About the EFL.” EFL Official Website, 2020, www.efl.com/-more/all-about-the-efl/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

"The English Football Pyramid: A Guide to the Tiers of English Football." Jobs in Football, 20 Dec. 2023, jobsinfootball.com/blog/english-football-pyramid-tiers/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025. 

Gerald, Paul. “A Guide to the Leagues and Cups of English Football.” The Groundhopper's Guide to Soccer in England, 25 Dec. 2017, englishsoccerguide.com/guide-leagues-cups-english-football/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

Gibbons, Tom. English National Identity and Football Fan Culture: Who Are Ya? Routledge, 2014.

“Home.” English Football League Official Website, 2020, www.efl.com. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

Roeder, Oliver. “Beneath the Premier League Stands the Great Football Pyramid of England.” FiveThirtyEight, 19 Sept. 2014, fivethirtyeight.com/features/beneath-the-premier-league-stands-the-great-football-pyramid-of-england/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.

Ward, Jamie. “The Founding Clubs of the English Football League: Where Are They Now?” Bleacher Report, 29 Dec. 2008, bleacherreport.com/articles/98145-the-founding-clubs-of-the-english-football-league-where-are-they-now. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.