2015–16 Football League Championship

Brighton & Hove Albion
(7 May 2016)
Lowest attendance	8,363; Brentford 2–1 Cardiff City; (19 April 2016)
Total attendance	9,703,004
Average attendance	17,578
	← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Football League Championship (referred to as the

Football League Championship

under its current title and it was the twenty-fourth season under its current league structure. The season started on 7 August 2015, and concluded on 7 May 2016.^[5] The fixtures were announced on 17 June 2015.

Teams

A total of 24 teams contested the league, including 18 sides from the 2014–15 season, three relegated from the 2014–15 Premier League and three promoted from the 2014–15 Football League One.

Team changes

The following teams changed division after the 2014–15 season. Blackpool were relegated on 6 April after
Colchester United. On 9 May, Burnley became the first team to be relegated from the Premier League despite winning away 1–0 against Hull City as results on the day went against them.^[8] On 10 May, Queens Park Rangers were the second team to be relegated from the Premier League after suffering a 6–0 defeat to Manchester City.^[9]
On 24 May 2015,
Preston North End achieved promotion at Wembley via the play-offs. On 25 May 2015, Norwich City
won the playoff final, and were promoted to the Premier League.

To Championship

Promoted from League One

Bristol City

Milton Keynes Dons

Preston North End

Relegated from Premier League

Hull City

Burnley

Queens Park Rangers

From Championship

Relegated to League One

Millwall

Wigan Athletic

Blackpool

Promoted to Premier League

Bournemouth

Watford

Norwich City

Overview of the teams

Stadia and locations

Leeds United
Middlesbrough
Milton Keynes Dons
Nottingham Forest
Preston North End
Reading
Rotherham United
Sheffield Wednesday
London
Wolverhampton Wanderers
London teams
Brentford
Charlton Athletic
Fulham
Queens Park Rangers

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Locations of teams in the 2015–2016 Football League Championship

[4]

[3]

[5]

[8]

[9]

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	30,016
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Bolton Wanderers	Bolton	Macron Stadium	28,723
Brentford	London (Brentford)	Griffin Park	12,300
Brighton & Hove Albion	Brighton	Falmer Stadium	30,750
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate	16,600
Burnley	Burnley	Turf Moor	21,401
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Cardiff City Stadium	33,280
Charlton Athletic	London (Charlton)	The Valley	27,111
Derby County	Derby	iPro Stadium	33,597
Fulham	London (Fulham)	Craven Cottage	25,700
Huddersfield Town	Huddersfield	John Smith's Stadium	24,500
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KC Stadium	25,400
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	37,914
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	34,742
Milton Keynes Dons	Milton Keynes	Stadium:mk	30,500
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham	City Ground	30,576
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	23,404
Queens Park Rangers	London (White City)	Loftus Road	18,439
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161
Rotherham United	Rotherham	New York Stadium	12,021
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough	39,732
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Wolverhampton	Molineux	31,700

Team	Manager^[α]	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Birmingham City	Gary Rowett	Paul Robinson	Carbrini^[10]	EZE Group^[11]
Blackburn Rovers	Owen Coyle	Grant Hanley	Nike^[12]	Dafabet^[13]
Bolton Wanderers	Phil Parkinson	Darren Pratley	Macron^[14]	ROK Mobile^[15]
Brentford	Dean Smith	Jake Bidwell	Adidas	Matchbook.com^[16]
Brighton & Hove Albion	Chris Hughton	Gordon Greer	Nike^[17]	American Express^[17]
Bristol City	Lee Johnson	Aaron Wilbraham	Bristol Sport	RSG
Burnley	Sean Dyche	Tom Heaton	Puma^[18]	Oak Furniture Land (home), Sofastore.com (away)
Cardiff City	Paul Trollope	David Marshall	Adidas^[19]	Visit Malaysia
Charlton Athletic	Russell Slade	Johnnie Jackson	Nike^[20]	University of Greenwich (front) Andrews Sykes (back), Mitsubishi Electric (shorts)
Derby County	Nigel Pearson	Richard Keogh	Umbro^[21]	JUST EAT^[22]
Fulham	Slaviša Jokanović	Scott Parker	Adidas^[23]	Visit Florida^[24]^[25]
Huddersfield Town	David Wagner	Mark Hudson	Puma	PURE Legal (home),^[26] RadianB (away), Cavonia (third)
Hull City	Steve Bruce	Michael Dawson	Umbro^[27]	Flamingo Land
Ipswich Town	Mick McCarthy	Luke Chambers	Adidas	Marcus Evans ^{[citation needed]}
Leeds United	Steve Evans	Sol Bamba	Kappa	No sponsor
Middlesbrough	Aitor Karanka	Grant Leadbitter	Adidas^[28]	Ramsdens^[29]
Milton Keynes Dons	Karl Robinson	Dean Lewington	Erreà	Suzuki
Nottingham Forest	Philippe Montanier	Chris Cohen	Adidas^[30]	Fawaz International Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Company^[31]
Preston North End	Simon Grayson	Tom Clarke	Nike^[32]	Virgin Trains^[33]
Queens Park Rangers	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	Nedum Onuoha	Nike^[34]	AirAsia (front),^[35] Smarkets (back)^[36]
Reading	Jaap Stam	Paul McShane	Puma^[37]	Thai Airways (away) Waitrose (Home back), Euro Cake (Away back) Legend Alliance (shorts)
Rotherham United	Alan Stubbs	Lee Frecklington	Puma	Parkgate Shopping (home) Balreed (away), TGB Sheds (third)
Sheffield Wednesday	Carlos Carvalhal	Glenn Loovens	Sondico	Chansiri^[38]
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Kenny Jackett	Danny Batth	Puma	Silverbug^[39]

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Brentford	Mark Warburton	End of contract	15 May 2015^[40]	Pre-season	Marinus Dijkhuizen	1 June 2015^[41]
Leeds United	Neil Redfearn	Sacked	20 May 2015^[42]		Uwe Rösler	20 May 2015 ^[43]
Derby County	Steve McClaren		25 May 2015 ^[44]		Paul Clement	1 June 2015 ^[45]
Sheffield Wednesday	Stuart Gray		12 June 2015 ^[46]		Carlos Carvalhal	30 June 2015^[47]
Brentford	Marinus Dijkhuizen		28 September 2015^[48]	19th	Lee Carsley	28 September 2015^[49]
Rotherham United	Steve Evans	Mutual consent	28 September 2015^[50]	20th	Neil Redfearn	9 October 2015^[51]
Leeds United	Uwe Rösler	Sacked	19 October 2015 ^[52]	18th	Steve Evans	19 October 2015 ^[52]
Charlton Athletic	Guy Luzon		24 October 2015 ^[53]	22nd	Jose Riga	14 January 2016
Huddersfield Town	Chris Powell		4 November 2015	18th	David Wagner	5 November 2015
Queens Park Rangers	Chris Ramsey		4 November 2015	13th	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	4 December 2015
Fulham	Kit Symons		8 November 2015	12th	Slaviša Jokanović	27 December 2015
Blackburn Rovers	Gary Bowyer		10 November 2015	16th	Paul Lambert	15 November 2015
Brentford	Lee Carsley	End of caretaker spell	30 November 2015	11th	Dean Smith	30 November 2015
Reading	Steve Clarke	Sacked	4 December 2015^[54]	7th	Brian McDermott	17 December 2015^[55]
Bristol City	Steve Cotterill		14 January 2016	22nd	Lee Johnson	6 February 2016
Rotherham United	Neil Redfearn		8 February 2016	22nd	Neil Warnock	11 February 2016
Derby County	Paul Clement		8 February 2016	5th	Nigel Pearson	27 May 2016^[56]
Nottingham Forest	Dougie Freedman		13 March 2016 ^[57]	14th	Philippe Montanier	27 June 2016^[58]
Bolton Wanderers	Neil Lennon		15 March 2016^[59]	24th	Phil Parkinson	10 June 2016^[60]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Burnley (C, P)	46	26	15	5	72	35	+37	93	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Middlesbrough (P)	46	26	11	9	63	31	+32	89	Promotion to the Premier League
3	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	24	17	5	72	42	+30	89	Qualification for the Championship play-offs^[a]
4	Hull City (O, P)	46	24	11	11	69	35	+34	83
5	Derby County	46	21	15	10	66	43	+23	78
6	Sheffield Wednesday	46	19	17	10	66	45	+21	74
7	Ipswich Town	46	18	15	13	53	51	+2	69
8	Cardiff City	46	17	17	12	56	51	+5	68
9	Brentford	46	19	8	19	72	67	+5	65
10	Birmingham City	46	16	15	15	53	49	+4	63
11	Preston North End	46	15	17	14	45	45	0	62
12	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	18	14	54	54	0	60
13	Leeds United	46	14	17	15	50	58	−8	59
14	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	14	16	16	53	58	−5	58
15	Blackburn Rovers	46	13	16	17	46	46	0	55
16	Nottingham Forest	46	13	16	17	43	47	−4	55
17	Reading	46	13	13	20	52	59	−7	52
18	Bristol City	46	13	13	20	54	71	−17	52
19	Huddersfield Town	46	13	12	21	59	70	−11	51
20	Fulham	46	12	15	19	66	79	−13	51
21	Rotherham United	46	13	10	23	53	71	−18	49
22	Charlton Athletic (R)	46	9	13	24	40	80	−40	40	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Milton Keynes Dons (R)	46	9	12	25	39	69	−30	39
24	Bolton Wanderers (R)	46	5	15	26	41	81	−40	30

Semi-finals					Final

3	Brighton & Hove Albion	0	1	1

6	Sheffield Wednesday	2	1	3
					6	Sheffield Wednesday	0

					4	Hull City	1
4	Hull City	3	0	3

5	Derby County	0	2	2

2015–16 Football League Championship

Teams

Team changes

To Championship

From Championship

Overview of the teams

Stadia and locations

Personnel and sponsoring

Managerial changes

Rule changes

League table

Play-offs

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

Discipline

Player

Club

Monthly awards

Attendances

References

Home \ Away	BIR	BLB	BOL	BRE	B&HA	BRI	BUR	CAR	CHA	DER	FUL	HUD	HUL	IPS	LEE	MID	MKD	NOT	PNE	QPR	REA	ROT	SHW	WOL
Birmingham City		0–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	4–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	3–0	1–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	0–2
Blackburn Rovers	2–0		0–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	3–0	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	2–1	3–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–2	1–2
Bolton Wanderers	0–1	1–0		1–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	2–3	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–1
Brentford	0–2	0–1	3–1		0–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	1–2	1–3	3–0	4–2	0–2	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–2	3–0
Brighton & Hove Albion	2–1	1–0	3–2	3–0		2–1	2–2	1–1	3–2	1–1	5–0	2–1	1–0	0–1	4–0	0–3	2–1	1–0	0–0	4–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–1
Bristol City	0–0	0–2	6–0	2–4	0–4		1–2	0–2	1–1	2–3	1–4	4–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	4–1	1–0
Burnley	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	4–0		0–0	4–0	4–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–0	3–1	1–1
Cardiff City	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–2	4–1	0–0	2–2		2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–2	2–2	2–0
Charlton Athletic	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–3	1–3	0–1	0–3	0–0		0–1	2–2	1–2	2–1	0–3	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–3	2–0	3–4	1–1	3–1	0–2
Derby County	0–3	1–0	4–1	2–0	2–2	4–0	0–0	2–0	1–1		2–0	2–0	4–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–1	4–2
Fulham	2–5	2–1	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	2–3	2–1	3–0	1–1		1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	4–0	4–2	4–1	0–1	0–3
Huddersfield Town	1–1	1–1	4–1	1–5	1–1	1–2	1–3	2–3	5–0	1–2	1–1		2–2	0–1	0–3	0–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–0	0–1	1–0
Hull City	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	4–0	3–0	2–0	6–0	0–2	2–1	2–0		3–0	2–2	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	5–1	0–0	2–1
Ipswich Town	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–3	2–3	2–2	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–1		2–1	0–2	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–2
Leeds United	0–2	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–4	2–1	0–1		0–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–1
Middlesbrough	0–0	1–1	3–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	3–0		2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–1
Milton Keynes Dons	0–2	3–0	1–0	1–4	1–2	0–2	0–5	2–1	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–2	1–1		1–2	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–4	2–1	1–2
Nottingham Forest	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–3	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1		1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	0–3	1–1
Preston North End	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0		1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1
Queens Park Rangers	2–0	2–2	4–3	3–0	2–2	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–3	3–0	1–2	0–0		1–1	4–2	0–0	1–1
Reading	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	5–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1		1–0	1–1	0–0
Rotherham United	0–0	0–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	1–2	2–1	1–4	3–3	1–3	1–1	2–0	2–5	2–1	1–0	1–4	0–0	0–0	0–3	1–1		1–2	1–2
Sheffield Wednesday	3–0	2–1	3–2	4–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	3–0	0–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	0–1		4–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	3–2	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–3	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–3	1–0	0–0	2–1

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Derby County	682,249	33,010	26,834	29,663	+1.5%^†
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	588,415	30,292	21,397	25,583	−0.2%^†
3	Middlesbrough	566,419	33,806	19,966	24,627	+25.9%^†
4	Sheffield Wednesday	520,738	31,843	18,706	22,641	+2.9%^†
5	Leeds United	516,261	29,311	17,103	22,446	−7.5%^†
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	463,609	24,238	17,387	20,157	−10.1%^†
7	Nottingham Forest	452,543	27,551	16,449	19,676	−16.2%^†
8	Ipswich Town	436,756	23,615	16,488	18,989	−5.1%^†
9	Birmingham City	404,867	20,302	14,366	17,603	+9.3%^†
10	Fulham	404,023	20,316	14,283	17,566	−3.9%^†
11	Reading	397,556	21,581	12,949	17,285	+1.5%^†
12	Hull City	395,568	21,842	15,139	17,199	−27.0%¹
13	Burnley	384,305	20,478	12,430	16,709	−12.7%¹
14	Cardiff City	378,653	28,680	12,729	16,463	−22.1%^†
15	Queens Park Rangers	367,857	18,031	14,007	15,994	−10.2%¹
16	Charlton Athletic	359,541	21,506	12,294	15,632	−6.4%^†
17	Bristol City	351,705	15,854	14,291	15,292	+26.8%²
18	Bolton Wanderers	346,299	18,423	12,257	15,056	−2.3%^†
19	Blackburn Rovers	325,003	21,029	12,002	14,131	−5.2%^†
20	MK Dons	302,633	21,345	9,402	13,158	+39.2%²
21	Preston North End	299,801	19,852	9,963	13,035	+20.1%²
22	Huddersfield Town	290,505	17,118	9,736	12,631	−7.2%^†
23	Brentford	237,120	12,202	8,363	10,310	−4.7%^†
24	Rotherham United	230,578	11,658	8,534	10,025	−2.1%^†
	League total	9,703,004	33,806	8,363	17,578	+2.9%^†