Football in England

Association football is the national sport in the United Kingdom, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs involved in the code than any other country as well as the world's first club (Sheffield F.C.), the world's oldest professional association football club (Notts County F.C), the oldest national governing body (the Football Association), the first national team, the oldest national knockout competition (the FA Cup) and the oldest national league (the Football League). Today the UK's top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world.

The England National Football Team is one of only 8 teams to win the World Cup in 1966. A total of five English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League (European Cup).

History of English football

List of English football champions

English football champions mean those that won the highest league in English football, which since 1992-1993 is the Premier League.

Following the legalisation of professional football by the Football Association in 1885, the English Football League was established in 1888, after a series of meetings initiated by Aston Villa director William McGregor. At the end of the 1888–89 season, Preston North End were the first club to be crowned champions after completing their fixtures unbeaten.

The first fully professional football competition in the world, the League's early years were dominated by teams from the North and Midlands, where professionalism was embraced more readily than in the South. Its status as the country's pre-eminent league was strengthened in 1892, when the rival Football Alliance was absorbed into the Football League. Former Alliance clubs comprised the bulk of a new Second Division, from which promotion to the top level could be gained. It was not until 1931 that a Southern club were crowned champions, when Herbert Chapman's Arsenal secured the title. Arsenal scored 127 goals in the process, a record for a title-winning side (though runners-up Aston Villa ironically scored one goal more, a record for the top division).

List of winners of English Football League One and predecessors

A national third tier of English league football was established in 1958–59, as the Third Division. This followed on from the regional third tier that had been established in the south in 1920 and the north in 1921. In 1992, with the departure of the First Division clubs to become the Premier League, the third tier became known as the Second Division. Since 2004 it has been known as Football League One.

Football League Third Division (1920–1921)

Football League Third Division South/Football League Third Division North (1921–1958)

Football League Third Division (1958–1992)

Football League Second Division (1992–2004)

Football League One (2004–)

Number of titles overall