EFL League Two

"League Two" and "League 2" redirect here. For the league in Scotland with this name, see Scottish League Two. For the Thailand's, see Thai League 2. For the American league, see USL League Two. For the French league, see Ligue 2.

The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two in England and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is the 3rd and lowest division of the English Football League (EFL) and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system.

EFL League Two

Founded	2004 1992–2004 (as Division Three) 1958–1992 (as Division Four)
Country	England
Other club(s) from	Wales
Number of teams	24
Level on pyramid	4
Promotion to	EFL League One
Relegation to	National League
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup
League cup(s)	EFL Cup EFL Trophy
International cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via FA Cup) UEFA Europa Conference League (via EFL Cup)
Current champions	Leyton Orient (1st title) (2022–23)
Most championships	Chesterfield Swindon Town (2 titles each)
TV partners	List of broadcasters
Website	Official website
Current: 2022–23 EFL League Two

Introduced for the 2004–05 English football season as Football League Two, it is a rebrand of the former Football League Third Division,^[1] which itself is a rebrand of the now-defunct Football League Fourth Division prior to the 1992 launch of the Premier League.

As of the 2022–23 season, Mansfield Town and Newport County hold the longest tenure in this division following their respective promotions in the 2012–13 season. There are currently two former Premier League clubs competing in this division: Bradford City (1999–2001) and Swindon Town (1993–94).

Structure

There are 24 clubs in this division. Each club plays each of the other clubs twice (once at home and once away) and is awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and no points for a loss. From these points a league table is constructed.

At the end of each season the top three teams, together with the winner of the play-offs between the teams which finished in the fourth to seventh positions, are promoted to EFL League One and are replaced by the four teams that finished at the bottom of that division.

Similarly, the two teams that finished at the bottom of League Two are relegated to the National League and are replaced by the team that finished first and the team that won the second through seventh place play-off in that division. Technically a team can be reprieved from relegation if the team replacing them does not have a ground suitable for League football, but in practice this is a non-factor because every team currently in the National League has a ground that meets the League criteria (and even if they did not, a ground-sharing arrangement with another team could be made until their stadium was upgraded). The other way that a team can be spared relegation is if another team either resigns or is expelled from the EFL.

Final league position is determined, in order, by points obtained, goal difference, goals scored, a mini-league of the results between two or more teams ranked using the previous three criteria, and finally a series of one or more play-off matches.

There is a mandatory wage cap in this division that limits spending on players' wages to 55% of club turnover.

Current members

 

 

Greater Manchester

 

London

 

Barrow

 

Bradford City

 

Carlisle United

 

Colchester
United

 

Crawley Town

 

Crewe Alexandra

 

Doncaster Rovers

 

Gillingham

 

Grimsby Town

 

Harrogate Town

 

Hartlepool United

 

Mansfield Town

 

Newport County

 

Northampton Town

 

Stevenage

 

Swindon Town

 

Tranmere Rovers

 

Walsall

 

Greater Manchester teams
Oldham Athletic
Rochdale
Salford City

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Locations of the 2022–23 EFL League Two teams

 

 

Rochdale

 

Salford City

 

Stockport County

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Greater Manchester League Two football clubs

 

 

AFC Wimbledon

 

Leyton Orient

 

Sutton United

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London League Two football clubs (Greater London clubs)

The following 24 clubs are competing in this division during this current season.^[2]

Club	Finishing position last season	Location	Stadium	Capacity
AFC Wimbledon	23rd in League One (relegated)	London (Wimbledon)	Plough Lane	9,300
Barrow	22nd	Barrow-in-Furness	Holker Street	5,045
Bradford City	14th	Bradford	Valley Parade	25,136
Carlisle United	20th	Carlisle	Brunton Park	18,202
Colchester United	15th	Colchester	Colchester Community Stadium	10,105
Crawley Town	12th	Crawley	Broadfield Stadium	6,134
Crewe Alexandra	24th in League One (relegated)	Crewe	Gresty Road	10,180
Doncaster Rovers	22nd in League One (relegated)	Doncaster	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
Gillingham	21st in League One (relegated)	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium	11,582
Grimsby Town	6th in National League (promoted via play-offs)	Cleethorpes	Blundell Park	9,052
Harrogate Town	19th	Harrogate	Wetherby Road	5,000
Hartlepool United	17th	Hartlepool	Victoria Park	7,856
Leyton Orient	13th	London (Leyton)	Brisbane Road	9,271
Mansfield Town	7th	Mansfield	Field Mill	10,000
Newport County	11th	Newport	Rodney Parade	7,850
Northampton Town	4th	Northampton	Sixfields Stadium	7,798
Rochdale	18th	Rochdale	Spotland Stadium	10,249
Salford City	10th	Salford	Moor Lane	5,108
Stevenage	21st	Stevenage	Broadhall Way	6,722
Stockport County	1st in National League (promoted)	Stockport	Edgeley Park	10,852
Sutton United	8th	London (Sutton)	Borough Sports Ground	5,032
Swindon Town	6th	Swindon	County Ground	15,728
Tranmere Rovers	9th	Birkenhead	Prenton Park	16,789
Walsall	16th	Walsall	Bescot Stadium	11,300

Teams promoted from League Two

For winners prior to 2004, see List of winners of the EFL League Two and predecessors.

Season	Winner	Points	Runner-up	Points	Third place	Points	Promoted via play-off	League position	Points
2004–05	Yeovil Town	83	Scunthorpe United	80	Swansea City	80	Southend United	4th	78
2005–06	Carlisle United	86	Northampton Town	83	Leyton Orient	81	Cheltenham Town	5th	72
2006–07	Walsall	89	Hartlepool United	88	Swindon Town	85	Bristol Rovers	6th	72
2007–08	Milton Keynes Dons	97	Peterborough United	92	Hereford United	88	Stockport County	4th	82
2008–09	Brentford	85	Exeter City	79	Wycombe Wanderers	78	Gillingham	5th	75
2009–10	Notts County	93	Bournemouth	83	Rochdale	82	Dagenham & Redbridge	7th	72
2010–11	Chesterfield	86	Bury	81	Wycombe Wanderers	81	Stevenage	6th	69
2011–12	Swindon Town	93	Shrewsbury Town	88	Crawley Town	84	Crewe Alexandra	7th	72
2012–13	Gillingham	83	Rotherham United	79	Port Vale	78	Bradford City	7th	69
2013–14	Chesterfield	84	Scunthorpe United	81	Rochdale	81	Fleetwood Town	4th	76
2014–15	Burton Albion	94	Shrewsbury Town	89	Bury	85	Southend United	5th	84
2015–16	Northampton Town	99	Oxford United	86	Bristol Rovers	85	AFC Wimbledon	7th	75
2016–17	Portsmouth	87	Plymouth Argyle	87	Doncaster Rovers	85	Blackpool	7th	70
2017–18	Accrington Stanley	93	Luton Town	88	Wycombe Wanderers	84	Coventry City	6th	75
2018–19	Lincoln City	85	Bury	79	Milton Keynes Dons	79	Tranmere Rovers	6th	73
2019–20^[3]	Swindon Town	88.32	Crewe Alexandra	85.56	Plymouth Argyle	84.64	Northampton Town	7th	72.22
2020–21	Cheltenham Town	82	Cambridge United	80	Bolton Wanderers	79	Morecambe	4th	78
2021–22	Forest Green Rovers	84	Exeter City	84	Bristol Rovers	80	Port Vale	5th	78
2022–23	Leyton Orient	91	Stevenage	85	Northampton Town	83	TBC

Play-off results

Main article: EFL League Two play-offs

Season	Semi-final (1st leg)	Semi-final (2nd leg)	Final
2004–05	Lincoln City 1–0 Macclesfield Town Northampton Town 0–0 Southend United	Macclesfield Town 1–1 Lincoln City Southend United 1–0 Northampton Town	Lincoln City 0–2 Southend United
2005–06	Lincoln City 0–1 Grimsby Town Wycombe Wanderers 1–2 Cheltenham Town	Grimsby Town 2–1 Lincoln City Cheltenham Town 0–0 Wycombe Wanderers	Grimsby Town 0–1 Cheltenham Town
2006–07	Bristol Rovers 2–1 Lincoln City Shrewsbury Town 0–0 Milton Keynes Dons	Lincoln City 3–5 Bristol Rovers Milton Keynes Dons 1–2 Shrewsbury Town	Bristol Rovers 3–1 Shrewsbury Town
2007–08	Darlington 2–1 Rochdale Wycombe Wanderers 1–1 Stockport County	Rochdale 2–1 Darlington (Rochdale won 5–4 on penalties, a.e.t.) Stockport County 1–0 Wycombe Wanderers	Rochdale 2–3 Stockport County
2008–09	Shrewsbury Town 0–1 Bury Rochdale 0–0 Gillingham	Bury 0–1 Shrewsbury Town (Shrewsbury won 4–3 on penalties, a.e.t.) Gillingham 2–1 Rochdale	Gillingham 1–0 Shrewsbury Town
2009–10	Dagenham & Redbridge 6–0 Morecambe Aldershot Town 0–1 Rotherham United	Morecambe 2–1 Dagenham & Redbridge Rotherham United 2–0 Aldershot Town	Dagenham & Redbridge 3–2 Rotherham United
2010–11	Torquay United 2–0 Shrewsbury Town Stevenage 2–0 Accrington Stanley	Shrewsbury Town 0–0 Torquay United Accrington Stanley 0–1 Stevenage	Stevenage 1–0 Torquay United
2011–12	Crewe Alexandra 1–0 Southend United Cheltenham Town 2–0 Torquay United	Southend United 2–2 Crewe Alexandra Torquay United 1–2 Cheltenham Town	Cheltenham Town 0–2 Crewe Alexandra
2012–13	Bradford City 2–3 Burton Albion Northampton Town 1–0 Cheltenham Town	Burton Albion 1–3 Bradford City Cheltenham Town 0–1 Northampton Town	Bradford City 3–0 Northampton Town
2013–14	Burton Albion 1–0 Southend United York City 0–1 Fleetwood Town	Southend United 2–2 Burton Albion Fleetwood Town 0–0 York City	Burton Albion 0–1 Fleetwood Town
2014–15	Stevenage 1–1 Southend United Plymouth Argyle 2–3 Wycombe Wanderers	Southend United 3–1 Stevenage (a.e.t.) Wycombe Wanderers 2–1 Plymouth Argyle	Southend United 1–1 Wycombe Wanderers (Southend won 7–6 on penalties, a.e.t.)
2015–16	Portsmouth 2–2 Plymouth Argyle AFC Wimbledon 1–0 Accrington Stanley	Plymouth Argyle 1–0 Portsmouth Accrington Stanley 2–2 AFC Wimbledon (a.e.t.)	AFC Wimbledon 2–0 Plymouth Argyle
2016–17	Blackpool 3–2 Luton Town Carlisle United 3–3 Exeter City	Luton Town 3–3 Blackpool Exeter City 3–2 Carlisle United	Blackpool 2–1 Exeter City
2017–18	Lincoln City 0–0 Exeter City Coventry City 1–1 Notts County	Exeter City 3–1 Lincoln City Notts County 1–4 Coventry City	Coventry City 3–1 Exeter City
2018–19	Newport County 1–1 Mansfield Town Tranmere Rovers 1–0 Forest Green Rovers	Mansfield Town 0–0 Newport County (Newport won 5–3 on penalties, a.e.t.) Forest Green Rovers 1–1 Tranmere Rovers	Newport County 0–1 Tranmere Rovers (a.e.t.)
2019–20	Colchester United 1–0 Exeter City Northampton Town 0–2 Cheltenham Town	Exeter City 3–1 Colchester United Cheltenham Town 0–3 Northampton Town	Exeter City 0–4 Northampton Town
2020–21	Newport County 2–0 Forest Green Rovers Tranmere Rovers 1–2 Morecambe	Forest Green Rovers 4–3 Newport County (a.e.t.) Morecambe 1–1 Tranmere Rovers	Morecambe 1–0 Newport County
2021–22	Mansfield Town 2–1 Northampton Town Swindon Town 2–1 Port Vale	Northampton Town 0-1 Mansfield Town Port Vale 1–1 Swindon Town (Port Vale won 6–5 on penalties, a.e.t.)	Mansfield Town 0–3 Port Vale

Relegated teams

Season	Clubs
2004–05	Kidderminster Harriers, Cambridge United
2005–06	Oxford United, Rushden & Diamonds
2006–07	Boston United, Torquay United
2007–08	Mansfield Town, Wrexham
2008–09	Chester City, Luton Town^[4]
2009–10	Darlington, Grimsby Town
2010–11	Lincoln City, Stockport County
2011–12	Macclesfield Town, Hereford United
2012–13	Aldershot Town, Barnet
2013–14	Bristol Rovers, Torquay United
2014–15	Cheltenham Town, Tranmere Rovers
2015–16	York City, Dagenham & Redbridge
2016–17	Hartlepool United, Leyton Orient
2017–18	Barnet, Chesterfield
2018–19	Notts County, Yeovil Town
2019–20	Macclesfield Town^[a]
2020–21	Southend United, Grimsby Town
2021–22	Oldham Athletic, Scunthorpe United
2022–23	Hartlepool United, Rochdale

1. As a result of Bury's expulsion from League One, only one team was relegated to maintain League Two at 24 teams.^[5]

Top scorers

Season	Top scorer(s)	Club(s)	Goals
2004–05	Phil Jevons	Yeovil Town	27
2005–06	Karl Hawley	Carlisle United	23
2006–07	Richie Barker	Hartlepool United	21
	Izale McLeod	Milton Keynes Dons
2007–08	Aaron McLean	Peterborough United	29
2008–09	Grant Holt	Shrewsbury Town	20
	Jack Lester	Chesterfield
2009–10	Lee Hughes	Notts County	30
2010–11	Clayton Donaldson	Crewe Alexandra	28
2011–12	Adebayo Akinfenwa	Northampton Town	18
	Jack Midson	AFC Wimbledon
	Izale McLeod	Barnet
	Lewis Grabban	Rotherham United
2012–13	Tom Pope	Port Vale	31
2013–14	Sam Winnall	Scunthorpe United	23
2014–15	Matt Tubbs	Portsmouth	21
2015–16	Matty Taylor	Bristol Rovers	27
2016–17	John Akinde	Barnet	26
	John Marquis	Doncaster Rovers
2017–18	Billy Kee	Accrington Stanley	25
2018–19	James Norwood	Tranmere Rovers	29
2019–20	Eoin Doyle	Bradford City, Swindon Town	25
2020–21	Paul Mullin	Cambridge United	31
2021–22	Dom Telford	Newport County	25
2022–23	Andy Cook	Bradford City	28

Historic performance

Since the restructuring into League Two in 2004, 68 teams have spent at least one season in the division, including 2 of the 20 teams in the 2022–23 Premier League.

Key

•      Teams with this background and symbol in the "Club" column will be competing in the 2022–23 EFL League Two
•      Team will be competing in the 2022–23 Premier League
•    The club competed in League Two during that season (the number is the club's final league position)

Club	Total Seasons	Number of Spells	Longest Spell (Seasons)	Highest Position	Lowest Position	Season
						2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Accrington Stanley	12	1	12	1	20																						20	17	16	15	5	14	18	15	17	4	13	1
AFC Bournemouth	2	1	2	2	21					21	2
AFC Wimbledon	6	2	5	7	20								16	20	20	15	7							-
Aldershot Town	5	1	5	6	24					15	6	14	11	24
Barnet	11	2	8	12	23		18	14	12	17	21	22	22	23			15	15	23
Barrow	3	1	3	22	22																	22	22	-
Blackpool	1	1	1	7	7													7
Bolton Wanderers	1	1	1	3	3																	3
Boston United	3	1	3	11	23	16	11	23
Bradford City	10	2	6	7	18				10	9	14	18	18	7							9	10	14	-
Brentford	2	1	2	1	14				14	1
Bristol Rovers	8	4	3	3	23	12	12	6					13	14	23		3						3
Burton Albion	6	1	6	1	19						13	19	17	4	6	1
Bury	10	3	7	2	21	17	19	21	13	4	9	2			12	3				2
Cambridge United	8	2	7	2	24	24										19	9	11	12	21	16	2
Carlisle United	10	2	9	1	20		1									20	10	6	10	11	18	10	20	-
Cheltenham Town
Chester City
Chesterfield
Colchester United																								-
Coventry City
Crawley Town																								-
Crewe Alexandra																								-
Dagenham & Redbridge
Darlington
Doncaster Rovers																								-
Exeter City
Fleetwood Town
Forest Green Rovers
Gillingham	5	3	3	1	8					5		8	8	1										-
Grimsby Town																								-
Harrogate Town	3	1	3	17	19																	17	19	-
Hartlepool United																								-
Hereford United
Kidderminster Harriers
Leyton Orient																								-
Lincoln City
Luton Town
Macclesfield Town
Mansfield Town																								-
Milton Keynes Dons
Northampton Town																								-
Notts County
Oldham Athletic	4	1	4	14	23															14	19	18	23
Oxford United
Peterborough United
Plymouth Argyle
Portsmouth
Rochdale																								-
Rotherham United
Rushden & Diamonds
Salford City																								-
Scunthorpe United
Stevenage																								-
Shrewsbury Town
Southend United
Stockport County																								-
Sutton United	2	1	2	8	8																		8	-
Swansea City
Swindon Town																								-
Torquay United
Tranmere Rovers																								-
Walsall																								-
Wrexham
Wycombe Wanderers
Yeovil Town
York City

See also

• Football League Fourth Division (1958–59 – 1991–92)
• Football League Third Division (1992–93 – 2003–04)
• List of professional sports teams in the United Kingdom

References and notes

1. . English Football League. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
2. "Sky Bet League Two Clubs".
3. The teams listed for this season were ranked using points per game following the curtailment of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
4. Luton were deducted 30 points for financial irregularities
5. "Bury FC: Membership of the League withdrawn". EFL. 27 August 2019.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to EFL League Two.

• Official website