2006–07 Football League Championship

The 2006–07 Football League Championship (known as the Coca-Cola Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the league under its current title and fifteenth season under its current league division format.

Football League Championship

Season	2006–07
Champions	Sunderland 2nd Championship title 5th 2nd tier title
Direct promotion to Premier League	Sunderland Birmingham City
Promoted to Premier League through play-offs	Derby County
Relegated	Leeds United, Luton Town, Southend United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,439 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jamie Cureton (Colchester United), 23[1]
← 2005–06 2007–08 →

The Football League is contested through three Divisions. The top divisions of these is the League Championship. The winner and the runner up of the League Championship will be automatically promoted to the Premiership and they will be joined by the winner of the League Championship playoff. The bottom three teams in the Championship will be relegated to the second division, League One.

Sunderland finished top of the league with 88 points, closely followed by Birmingham City who had 86 points.^[2] Derby County were promoted through the play-offs. Southend United, Luton Town and Leeds United were relegated.

Changes from last season

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League

• Reading (1st)
• Sheffield United (2nd)
• Watford (3rd Play-offs)

Relegated to League One

• Crewe Alexandra (22nd)
• Millwall (23rd)
• Brighton & Hove Albion (24th)

To Championship

Relegated from Premier League

• Birmingham City (18th)
• West Bromwich Albion (19th)
• Sunderland (20th)

Promoted from League One

• Southend United (1st)
• Colchester United (2nd)
• Barnsley (3rd Play-offs)

Teams

Stadia and locations

Barnsley

Birmingham City

Burnley

Cardiff City

Colchester

Coventry City

Crystal Palace

Derby County

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Leicester City

Luton Town

Norwich City

Plymouth Argyle

Preston

Queens Park Rangers

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

Southend Utd

Stoke City

Sunderland

West Brom

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Locations of teams in the 2006–07 Football League Championship

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Barnsley	Barnsley	Oakwell	23,009
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's Stadium	30,009
Burnley	Burnley	Turf Moor	22,546
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Ninian Park	22,008
Colchester United	Colchester	Layer Road	6,320
Coventry City	Coventry	Ricoh Arena	32,609
Crystal Palace	London (Croydon)	Selhurst Park	26,309
Derby County	Derby	Pride Park Stadium	33,597
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KC Stadium	25,586
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	37,792
Leicester City	Leicester	Walkers Stadium	32,261
Luton Town	Luton	Kenilworth Road	10,356
Norwich City	Norwich	Carrow Road	26,034
Plymouth Argyle	Plymouth	Home Park	19,500
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	24,500
Queens Park Rangers	London (White City)	Loftus Road	19,128
Southend United	Southend-on-Sea	Roots Hall	12,392
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough	39,814
Southampton	Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,689
Stoke City	Stoke-on-Trent	Brittania Stadium	27,500
Sunderland	Sunderland	Stadium of Light	49,000
West Bromwich Albion	West Bromwich	The Hawthorns	26,688
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Wolverhampton	Molineux	28,525

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Kit maker	Main sponsor
Barnsley	Simon Davey	Jako	Barnsley Building Society
Birmingham City	Steve Bruce	Lonsdale	flybe.com
Burnley	Steve Cotterill	Erreà	Hunters Estate Agents
Cardiff City	Dave Jones	Joma	Communications Direct
Colchester United	Geraint Williams	Diadora	MutualPoints.com (H) / Smart Energy (A)
Coventry City	Iain Dowie	Puma	Cassidy Group
Crystal Palace	Peter Taylor	Diadora	GAC Logistics
Derby County	Billy Davies	Joma	The Derbyshire
Hull City	Phil Brown	Diadora	Bonus Electrical
Ipswich Town	Jim Magilton	Punch	E.ON
Leeds United	Dennis Wise	Admiral	Bet24
Leicester City	Nigel Worthington	JJB	Alliance & Leicester
Luton Town	Kevin Blackwell	Diadora	Electrolux
Norwich City	Peter Grant	Xara	flybe.com
Plymouth Argyle	Ian Holloway	Puma	Ginsters
Preston North End	Paul Simpson	Diadora	Enterprise plc
Queens Park Rangers	John Gregory	Le Coq Sportif	Cargiant
Southend United	Steve Tilson	Nike	InsureandGo
Sheffield Wednesday	Brian Laws	Diadora	Plusnet
Southampton	George Burley	Saints	flybe.com
Stoke City	Tony Pulis	Puma	Britannia Building Society
Sunderland	Roy Keane	Lonsdale	Reg Vardy
West Bromwich Albion	Tony Mowbray	Umbro	T-Mobile
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Mick McCarthy	Le Coq Sportif	Chaucer Consulting

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Sunderland (C, P)	46	27	7	12	76	47	+29	88	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Birmingham City (P)	46	26	8	12	67	42	+25	86
3	Derby County (O, P)	46	25	9	12	62	46	+16	84	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	West Bromwich Albion	46	22	10	14	81	55	+26	76
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	22	10	14	59	56	+3	76
6	Southampton	46	21	12	13	77	53	+24	75
7	Preston North End	46	22	8	16	64	53	+11	74
8	Stoke City	46	19	16	11	62	41	+21	73
9	Sheffield Wednesday	46	20	11	15	70	66	+4	71
10	Colchester United	46	20	9	17	70	56	+14	69
11	Plymouth Argyle	46	17	16	13	63	62	+1	67
12	Crystal Palace	46	18	11	17	58	50	+8	65
13	Cardiff City	46	17	13	16	57	53	+4	64
14	Ipswich Town	46	18	8	20	64	59	+5	62
15	Burnley	46	15	12	19	52	49	+3	57
16	Norwich City	46	16	9	21	56	71	−15	57
17	Coventry City	46	16	8	22	47	62	−15	56
18	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	11	21	54	68	−14	53
19	Leicester City	46	13	14	19	49	64	−15	53
20	Barnsley	46	15	5	26	53	85	−32	50
21	Hull City	46	13	10	23	51	67	−16	49
22	Southend United (R)	46	10	12	24	47	80	−33	42	Relegation to Football League One
23	Luton Town (R)	46	10	10	26	53	81	−28	40
24	Leeds United (R)	46	13	7	26	46	72	−26	36[lower-alpha 1]

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Leeds United had 10 points deducted for entering financial administration.

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BIR	BUR	CAR	COL	COV	CRY	DER	HUL	IPS	LEE	LEI	LUT	NWC	PLY	PNE	QPR	SHW	SOU	SEU	STK	SUN	WBA	WOL
Barnsley		1–0	1–0	1–2	0–3	0–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	3–2	0–1	1–2	1–3	2–2	0–1	2–0	0–3	2–2	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–0
Birmingham City	2–0		0–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–1	3–0	3–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1
Burnley	4–2	1–2		2–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	4–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–3	0–0	0–1	2–2	3–2	0–1
Cardiff City	2–0	2–0	1–0		0–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	2–2	1–0	3–2	4–1	1–0	2–2	4–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	4–0
Colchester United	1–2	1–1	0–0	3–1		0–0	0–2	4–3	5–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	4–1	3–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	4–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	3–1	1–2	2–1
Coventry City	4–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–1		2–4	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–0	0–1	0–4	0–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–1
Crystal Palace	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–2	1–3	1–0		2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	3–0	3–0	1–2	0–2	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	2–2
Derby County	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	5–1	1–1	1–0		2–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	3–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	0–2
Hull City	2–3	2–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–2		2–5	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–4	4–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	2–0
Ipswich Town	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	3–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0		1–0	0–2	5–0	3–1	3–0	2–3	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	0–1	3–1	1–5	0–1
Leeds United	2–2	3–2	1–0	0–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–1		1–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	0–3	2–0	0–4	0–3	2–3	0–1
Leicester City	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	1–1		1–1	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–3	1–4	3–2	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–4
Luton Town	0–2	3–2	0–2	0–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	0–2	5–1	2–0		2–3	1–2	2–0	2–3	3–2	0–2	0–0	2–2	0–5	2–2	2–3
Norwich City	5–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–2		1–3	2–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1
Plymouth Argyle	2–4	0–1	2–0	3–3	3–0	3–2	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	3–0	1–0	3–1		2–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	1–1
Preston North End	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	4–1	0–1	3–0	2–1	3–0		1–1	0–0	3–1	2–3	3–2	4–1	1–0	0–1
Queens Park Rangers	1–0	0–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	4–2	1–2	2–0	1–3	2–2	1–1	3–2	3–3	1–1	1–0		1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–2	0–1
Sheffield Wednesday	2–1	0–3	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	3–2	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–2	1–1	1–3	3–2		3–3	3–2	1–1	2–4	3–1	2–2
Southampton	5–2	4–3	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–1		4–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–0
Southend United	1–3	0–4	1–0	0–3	1–3	2–3	0–1	0–1	2–3	1–3	1–1	2–2	1–3	3–3	1–1	0–0	5–0	0–0	2–1		1–0	3–1	3–1	0–1
Stoke City	0–1	0–0	0–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	4–2	0–0	5–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1		2–1	1–0	1–1
Sunderland	2–0	0–1	3–2	1–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–3	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–2		2–0	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	7–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	5–0	2–3	1–0	2–0	2–0	4–2	2–0	3–2	0–1	2–1	4–2	3–3	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–2		3–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–0	2–3	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–0	2–2	0–6	3–1	2–0	1–1	1–0

Updated to match(es) played on 7 September 2020. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jamie Cureton	Colchester United	23
2	Michael Chopra	Cardiff City	22
3	Diomansy Kamara	West Bromwich Albion	21
4	Robert Earnshaw	Norwich City	19
5	Chris Iwelumo	Colchester United	18
=	Grzegorz Rasiak	Southampton	18
7	Steve Howard	Derby County	16
=	Alan Lee	Ipswich Town	16
=	Kevin Phillips	West Bromwich Albion	16
10	David Nugent	Preston North End	15

^[3]

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Southampton	4–4 (3–4 pens)	Derby County 3rd	1–2	3–2 aet
5th Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–4	West Bromwich Albion 4th	2–3	0–1

Final

Main article: 2007 Football League Championship play-off Final

Derby County	1–0	West Bromwich Albion
Pearson 61'	(Details)

28 May 2007

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 74,993

Referee: Graham Poll

References

1. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
2. "Luton 0–5 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 6 May 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
3. "ESPN". Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.