The England Championship is the highest division of the EFL and second-highest overall in the English football league system. 24 clubs contest in this league. Each season, the two top-finishing teams in the Championship are automatically promoting to the Premier League. The teams that finish the season in 3rd to 6th place enter a playoff tournament, with the winner also gaining promotion to the Premier League. The three lowest-finishing teams in the Championship relegated to League One.
The England Championship introduced for the 2004–05 season. Previously it was Football League First Division (1992–2004), and before that as the Football League Second Division (1892–1992). The winners of the Championship receive the EFL Championship trophy. The same trophy as the old First Division champions were handed prior to the Premier League’s inception in 1992. Similar to other divisions of professional English football, Welsh clubs can be part of the division, it a cross-border league.