The Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short, or the npower Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League.
The Football League Championship was introduced for the 2004–05 season, having been previously known as the Football League First Division. According to Deloitte, in the 2004–05 season it was the wealthiest non-top flight football division in the world, and the sixth richest division in Europe.
The winners of the Football League Championship receive the Football League Championship trophy which is the same trophy as the old First Division (now the Premier League) Champions were handed prior to the Premier League's inception in the 1992–93 season.
At present (2012/2013 season), Ipswich Town have held the longest tenure in the Championship, having not been promoted or relegated from the division since the 2002–03 season.
Read more about Football League Championship: History, Structure of The League, Top Scorers
Famous quotes containing the words football and/or league:
“In football they measure forty-yard sprints. Nobody runs forty yards in basketball. Maybe you run the ninety-four feet of the court; then you stop, not on a dime, but on Miss Liberty’s torch. In football you run over somebody’s face.”
—Donald Hall (b. 1928)
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.