EFL Championship stadiums are home to 24 teams across the EFL, each offering its own blend of size, history, and character. From state-of-the-art grounds to traditional football arenas, these venues reflect the rich diversity of English football.
Ashton Gate
Bristol City have called Ashton Gate home since 1904, exactly 110 years before the Bristol Rugby joined them. When it was opened in 1887, it was actually home to a club called Bedminster FC. However, when they joined forces with Bristol South End to form Bristol City in 1900, the new club actually played its games at South End’s old ground, St. John’s Lane.
- Total Capacity: 27,000
- Seats: 27,000
- Construction costs: £45 million
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Bristol City
- Website: ashtongatestadium.co.uk
Bet365 Stadium
Despite the feeling that The Britannia Stadium, now the Bet365 Stadium, has been around forever, it was, in fact, opened officially on the 30th of August 1997. It cost £14.7 million and was a replacement for The Victoria Ground, the stadium that Stoke had called home since 1878. The Britannia Stadium became the Bet365 Stadium in 2016 following a naming rights change to the stadium.
- Total Capacity: 30,089
- Seats: 30,089
- Construction costs: £14.7 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 100 x 64 (6400)
- Owner: Stoke City
- Website: stokecityfc.com/club/bet365-stadium
Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane is the home of Sheffield United. It is the oldest professional football ground in the world, having hosted its first match in 1862. The stadium has had its own claim to fame in a more modern sense. It should be recalled, it was the first stadium to host a floodlit football match, on the 14th of October 1878. Did you know, Bramall Lane has hosted an England football match, a cricket test match and a FA Cup Final.
- Total Capacity: 32,050
- Seats: 32,050
- Construction costs: Unknown
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 100 x 66 (6600)
- Owner: Sheffield United
- Website: sufc.co.uk/club/visiting-bramall-lane
Cardiff City Stadium
Cardiff City Stadium is the home of Cardiff City FC. It was officially opened on the 22nd of July 2009. Prior to this, Cardiff City FC had played their home games at Ninian Park, a ground that had been in existence since 1910, so the difference in quality between the two stadiums was marked. The ground is the second largest stadium in both the city of Cardiff and Wales in general, beaten only by The Millennium Stadium.
- Total Capacity: 32,050
- Seats: 33,280
- Construction costs: £48 million
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 100 x 68 (6800)
- Owner: Cardiff City
- Website: cardiffcitystadium.co.uk
Carrow Road
Carrow Road is the home of Norwich City Football Club. The club moved to the stadium when the Football Association declared their old ground, The Nest, was unsafe to play in after subsidence caused one corner of the pitch to collapse. Named after the street that surrounds three sides of the ground, was built within 82 days in 1935 and got the Royal seal of approval in 1938 when King George VI turned up and saw 20 minutes of the Canaries game with Millwall. It was the first time that a ruling monarch had ever watched any Second Division match.
- Total Capacity: 27,244
- Seats: 27,244
- Construction costs: Unknown
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 104 x 68 (7072)
- Owner: Norwich City
- Website: canaries.co.uk
Coventry Building Society Arena
Coventry Building Society Arena is the home of Coventry City Football Club. Coventry Building Society Arena (as it is now known) opened in 2005 as the Ricoh Arena, with Coventry City relocating from their historic home of Highfield Road in order to take up residence in the new, purpose-built stadium.
- Total Capacity: 32,753
- Seats: 32,753
- Construction costs: €100 million
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Coventry City
- Website: ccfc.co.uk
Deepdale
Deepdale is the home of Preston North End. Deepdale stands on the land of what was once Deepdale Farm, from which it takes its name. Though the land was leased by North End, the town’s sports club, as early as 1875, it was only used for cricket and rugby. They didn’t actually play association football until 1878 and only adopted the code for football proper in 1880.
- Total Capacity: 23,408
- Seats: 23,408
- Construction costs: £12 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 101 x 69 (6969)
- Owner: Preston North End
- Website: pnefc.net
Elland Road
Elland Road is the home of Leeds United Football Club. Since the club’s foundation in 1919, Leeds United have only ever played their home fixtures at one ground, Elland Road. The ground began its life as the host of sporting fixtures much earlier than the formation of Leeds United, however. Built in 1897 and opening the same year, it spent seven years as the home of Holbeck Rugby Club and was originally called The Old Peacock Ground, named after the pub, that stood opposite to it.
- Total Capacity: 37,792
- Seats: 37,792
- Construction costs: Bought for £4,500
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Leeds United
- Website: leedsunited.com
Ewood Park
Ewood Park is the home of Blackburn Rovers. Built in 1882 and was an all-purpose sporting venue that hosted football matches, dog races and athletics meets before Rovers took over and turned into an exclusively footballing ground. The club had actually played some games there when it was first opened in 1882 and so when the board realised they would have to leave Leamington Road, it seemed like the most obvious fit for their needs.
- Total Capacity: 31,367
- Seats: 31,367
- Construction costs: £20 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 69 (7245)
- Owner: Blackburn Rovers
- Website: rovers.co.uk/club/ewood-park
Fratton Park
Fratton Park is the home of Portsmouth Football Club. Portsmouth moved into Fratton Park upon their formation and its completion in 1898 and have played all of their home games there since. The all-seater stadium has undergone numerous changes since it opened all those years ago, yet it retains the feel and look of a ground much older than its years. It has been used for more than just Portsmouth games over the years, too, with football played there when England hosted the 1948 Summer Olympic Games.
- Total Capacity: 20,899
- Seats: 20,899
- Construction costs: £13 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 66 (6930)
- Owner: Portsmouth
- Website: portsmouthfc.co.uk
Hillsborough
Hillsborough is the home of Sheffield Wednesday. Though Hillsborough has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club since it opened in 1899, it is probably still remembered for all of the wrong reasons. The ground was the location for what remains the worst sporting disaster in British history, the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives during an FA Cup match between the Merseyside club and Nottingham Forest. The disaster completely changed the landscape of modern football, seeing all-seater stadiums introduced as standard across the Football League.
- Total Capacity: 39,732
- Seats: 39,732
- Construction costs: £22 million redevelopments
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 106 x 69 (7314)
- Owner: Sheffield Wednesday
- Contact: swfc.co.uk
Home Park
Home Park is the home of Plymouth Argyle. Known to the fans as the Theatre of Greens, Home Park has welcomed Plymouth Argyle supporters through its gates since the club made it its permanent residence in 1901.
- Total Capacity: 17,900
- Seats: 17,900
- Construction costs: £11 million (2001) £10 million (2019)
- Surface: SIS Grass Hybrid
- Pitch size: 105 x 72 (7560)
- Owner: Plymouth Argyle
- Website: homeparkstadium.com
Kassam Stadium
Kassam Stadium is the home of Oxford United FC. Oxford United have called Kassam Stadium home since it opened in 2001. It was built as a replacement for their previous stadium, the Manor Ground, where they had played football for 75 years.
- Total Capacity: 17,900
- Seats: 17,900
- Construction costs: £15 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 102 x 71 (7242)
- Owner: Oxford United
- Website: thekassamstadium.com
Kenilworth Road
Kenilworth Road is the home of Luton Town. Kenilworth Road became the home of Luton Town in 1905 after the club left their previous stadium, Dunstable Road. The ground has enjoyed a colourful history since then, including the hosting of both women’s football and youth international matches.
- Total Capacity: 12,000
- Seats: 12,000
- Construction costs: £10 million (2023 – to conform with Premier league rules)
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 100 x 65 (6500)
- Owner: Luton Town
- Website: lutontown.co.uk/en/kenilworth-road
Swansea.com Stadium
Liberty Stadium is the home of Swansea City FC. It has been the home of Swansea City since they left Vetch Field in 2005. It is also the home of the Ospreys rugby team. Swansea’s promotion to the top-flight meant that Liberty Stadium became the first Premier League ground in Wales.
- Total Capacity: 21,088
- Seats: 21,088
- Construction costs: £27 million
- Surface: SIS Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Swansea City
- Website: swanseacity.com/club/swanseacom-stadium
Loftus Road
Loftus Road is the home of Queens Park Rangers or QPR for short. Between 1886, when the club was formed, and 1963, when they finally settled at Loftus Road, they played at no less than fourteen different grounds. They moved between Loftus Road itself and White City Stadium five times, though they were the only two stadiums the club has played at since being accepted into the Football League in 1920.
- Total Capacity: 18,439
- Seats: 18,439
- Construction costs: Unknown
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 102 x 66 (6732)
- Owner: QPR
- Website: qpr.co.uk
Pride Park
Pride Park is the home of Derby County FC. The decision to move away from the club’s former stadium, The Baseball Ground to Pride Park, was brought about because of two of football’s biggest tragedies: The Bradford City Stadium fire and The Hillsborough disaster.
- Total Capacity: 32,956
- Seats: 32,956
- Construction costs: £28 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Derby County
- Website: dcfc.co.uk/page/pride-park-stadium
Riverside Stadium
Riverside Stadium is the home of Middlesbrough AFC. The Riverside Stadium opened in 1995 as a replacement for Ayresome Park after the Taylor Report declared that stadiums needed to be all-seater, and it was decided that it would be too difficult to expand the original ground.
- Total Capacity: 34,742
- Seats: 34,742
- Construction costs: £16 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 69 (7245)
- Owner: Middlesbrough
- Website: mfc.co.uk
The Den
The Den is the home of Millwall FC. Millwall Football Club have long been associated with The Den, though the less observant football fan might not realise that the one they play their games in now is different from the one they played at for 83 years. That is, perhaps, because the new ground is also called The Den.
- Total Capacity: 20,146
- Seats: 20,146
- Construction costs: £16 million
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 106 x 68 (7208)
- Owner: Millwall
- Website: millwallfc.co.uk/supporters/gettingtotheden
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is the home of West Bromwich Albion or WBA for short. The Hawthorns has been the home of West Bromwich Albion since its doors first opened on the third of September 1900. It was the first Football League ground to be built in the 20th Century and its construction took just four months.
- Total Capacity: 26,668
- Seats: 26,668
- Construction costs: £7.5 million for East Stand
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: WBA
- Website: wba.co.uk
The MKM Stadium
The MKM Stadium is the home of Hull City AFC. The MKM Stadium has been the ground that Hull City Association Football Club has called home since it opened in 2002. It is the very definition of a multi-purpose facility given that it is also the home of Hull FC, the rugby league club.
- Total Capacity: 25,586
- Seats: 25,586
- Construction costs:£44 million
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Hull City
- Website: wearehullcity.co.uk/getting-to-the-mkm-stadium/visit
The Stadium of Light
The Stadium of Light is the home of Sunderland AFC. With the eighth largest capacity of any football stadium in England, the Stadium of Light has been Sunderland’s home since they left the much-loved Roker Park in 1997.
- Total Capacity: 49,000
- Seats: 49,000
- Construction costs: £24 million
- Surface: Natural Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Sunderland
- Contact: safc.com
Turf Moor
Turf Moor is the home of Burnley FC. Turf Moor has been the home of Burnley Football Club since it opened in 1883. The ground is located on Harry Potts Way, a location named after the club’s longest serving manager.
- Total Capacity: 21,944
- Seats: 21,944
- Construction costs: £5.3 million
- Surface: Hybrid Grass
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Burnley
- Website: burnleyfootballclub.com
Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road is the home of Watford FC. Watford have been at Vicarage Road since 1922 when they left their previous ground, Cassio Road, to head to a new home. The club has also had a long-standing relationship with a giant amongst giants of the music industry, Sir Elton John.
- Total Capacity: 22,220
- Seats: 22,220
- Construction costs: £2.3 million
- Surface: Desso Grassmaster
- Pitch size: 105 x 68 (7140)
- Owner: Watford
- Website: watfordfc.com
Championship History
The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship in England and for sponsorship purposes as SkyBet Championship, is the highest division of the English Football League(EFL) and second-highest overall in the English football league system, after the Premier League, and is currently contested by 24 clubs.
Introduced for the 2004 – 05 season as the Football League Championship, the division is a rebrand of the former Football League First Division, which itself is a rebrand of the now-defunct Football League Second Division prior to the 1992 launch of the Premier League. The winning club of this division each season receives the EFL Championship trophy, which was the previous trophy awarded to the winners of the English top-flight prior to the launch of the Premier League. As with other divisions of professional English football, Welsh clubs can be part of this division, thus making it a cross-border league.
Each season, the two top-finishing teams in the Championship are automatically promoted 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 are relegated to League One.