All 24 EFL Championship clubs ranked by how old they are | OneFootball

The EFL celebrates its 138th birthday this summer, so here's a run-down of the ages of each of the 24 members of the 2025-26 Championship.

The EFL is the oldest football league in the world, celebrating its 138th anniversary this summer, so here's a list of all 24 clubs in the 2025-26 Championship, ranked by their age.

On the 22nd March 1888, letters were sent to twelve football clubs that would change the world forever. The letters were sent by William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa, proposing the formation of a new football competition.

The Football Association had permitted professionalism for the first time three years earlier, but clubs had spent the intervening three years struggling to find fixtures to fill their calendars. The FA Cup, county cup and exhibition matches weren't enough.

Clubs needed a regular, week-in-week-out schedule which they didn't have to arrange themselves, and a league in which everybody played everybody else twice a season would give them a regular roster of matches which would allow them to earn a regular income. Meetings were held to formalise the arrangement in London and Manchester in March and April of that year, and on the 8th September 1888, the Football League kicked off its first season.

138 years on, albeit under the slightly different name of the English Football League, that competition is still with us, although it hasn't been the top division of English football since the Premier League broke away in 1992. Its 24 clubs contains five of those original twelve, but each of those 24 has a story to tell about their place within a league system which has grown since the 19th century to include hundreds of clubs.

24 ? ? Swansea City - 1912

The youngest of the 24 teams who played 2025-26 in the Championship are Swansea City. They were formed as Swansea Town in 1912. Football had first come to Swansea in the early 1870s, but the team that played there switched to rugby in 1874, and it wouldn't be until the next century that a new club was formed. They won the Welsh Cup, the Welsh League and finished third in the Second Division of the Southern League, and joined the newly-formed Third Division of the Football League in 1920.

In July 1969, as part of the investiture celebrations for the Prince of Wales, Swansea was granted city status. Accordingly, the football club changed their name to Swansea City the following year. They were very nearly wound up altogether at the HIgh Court over huge debts at the end of 1985, but were granted extra time to put together a rescue package, which was completed in July 1986.

23 ? ? Charlton Athletic - 1905

Charlton Athletic were founded on the 9th June 1905 by a group of teenagers, working their way up through local leagues to claim senior status in 1913. Their ascent was rapid after the end of World War One, joining the Kent League in 1919, the Southern League in 1920, and then being invited to join the newly-formed Third Division (South) of the Football League in 1921.

By the late 1930s, they were one of the most consistent clubs in the Football League, finishing second, fourth and third in the three seasons prior to the outbreak of war in 1939. Although Charlton were unable to recapture this league success when play resumed six years later, they reached the first FA Cup Final after the war, losing to Derby County in 1946, and beat Burnley in the final the following year to claim what remains the only major trophy in their 121-year history.

22 ? ? Hull City - 1904

Kingson-upon-Hull was another city in which the development of association football was delayed by the popularity of rugby. By the start of the 20th century, rugby had cleaved itself into two parallel sports, the amateur union game and the professional league game, and Hull RFC and Hull Kingston Rovers were already well-established rugby league clubs.

With the Football League concerned at the time about the growing popularity of rugby league in working-class strongholds which would otherwise have been football towns, getting a place in the Football League wasn't much of a problem. Having been formed too late to apply to join the Football League for that season, Hull City's first competitive match was a 3-3 draw with Stockton in the 1904-05 FA Cup, but they lost the replay 4-2. They were voted into the Football League for the start of the 1905-06 season, finishing their first season in 5th place in the Second Division.

21 ? ? Norwich City - 1902

Formed on the 17th June 1902 in a cafe in the city, Norwich City joined the Southern League in 1905 and graduated to the Third Division of the Football League in 1920. Their formative years were not a straightforward path, though. They'd formed as an amateur club, but following an investigation by the FA at the end of 1904 they were deemed to be a professional club, which required them to be completely reconstituted. Without much competitive football, they went into voluntary liquidation in December 1917 and were reformed in February 1919, joining the Football League in 1920.

The Canaries nickname came about as a result of a newspaper headline. When a preview of a game against Kings Lynn was headlined "The Canaries vs The Linnet" in 1905 - canary-breeding had been an increasingly popular pastime in the city since the 16th century - the nickname stuck, and in 1907 the club changed their colours from sky blue and white halves - based on those of Blackburn Rovers - to the yellow and green which has become so familiar since.

20 ? ? Portsmouth - 1898

Portsmouth's formation came about after several other clubs had tried to establish the game in the city. One of them, the Portsmouth Association Football Club, had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, as their goalkeeper for a few seasons. But the modern Portsmouth Football Club came into being in April 1898, formed by brewery owner John Brickwood following the dissolution of a local army team called Royal Artillery (Portsmouth) FC, again as a result of a dispute with the FA over their amateur status.

The club was set up to be a professional club from the outset and were elected straight into the Southern League in 1899. They were also members of the Western League in their early years, which they won in each of their first three seasons. The club were elected into the Third Division of the Football League in 1920.

19 ? ? Bristol City - 1894

Bristol City were formed as Bristol South End in 1894, and changed their name to Bristol City upon turning professional and joining the Southern League three years later. They merged with Bedminster FC in 1900, and joined the Football League in 1901, playing their first League match against Blackpool on the 7th September of that year. They were at the time only the third club from south of Birmingham to be members of the League, along with Woolwich Arsenal and Luton Town.

18 ? ? Oxford United - 1893

Many of the other clubs in this list have undergone name changes over the years, but no-one else left it as late to do so as Oxford United. They were formed as Headington FC as a means for the cricketers of Headington Cricket Club to maintain their fitness during the winter, and changed their name to Headington United in 1913 following a merger.

Headington United didn't turn professional until 1949, when they joined the Southern League. The following year, they became the first professional club in England to install floodlights at their ground for use in matches. Following a successful decade in the Southern League - they won it in 1953 - they changed their name to Oxford United in 1960.

Two years later they were elected into the Football League to replace Accrington Stanley, who'd resigned their place in March 1962. Their captain when they were elected into the League - and until 1968 - was one Ron Atkinson, who'd go on to find fame as the manager of West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United and Aston Villa, among others, and as a television pundit.

17 ? ? Sheffield United - 1889

As the city that gave birth to the world's two oldest football clubs, Sheffield FC and Hallam FC, the Steel City has earned its reputation as the Home of Football. Bramall Lane had been the home of the Sheffield United Cricket Club since 1854, and in 1881 a local club called The Wednesday FC started using it for football during the winter months.

But after they left in 1887 over a rent dispute, the cricket club was hit by the lost revenue, so the suggestion was put forward to form a Sheffield United Football Club, which was formally agreed on the 22nd March 1889. Bramall Lane would continue to be used as a cricket ground until 1973, remaining three-sided until then in order to accommodate a cricket pitch. It's the oldest continuously used sports ground in the world.

16 ? ? Southampton - 1885

Southampton's nickname comes from St Mary's Church in the city, where they were founded in 1885. Originally known as St Mary's FC, they changed their name to Southampton St Mary's upon turning professional and were a founding member of the Southern League in 1894. Three years later, they changed their name to Southampton, and they joined the Football League in 1920.

Leaving The Dell in 2001 was something of a homecoming for the club. The Dell may have been their home for 103 years, but St Mary's Stadium is very close to the church at which they were first formed.

15 ? ? Millwall - 1885

Southampton may have been founding members of the Southern League, but the Southern League was Millwall's idea. They'd been formed in 1885 as Millwall Rovers by workers from the J.T. Morton cannery and food processing plant on Millwall dock on the Isle of Dogs in East London.

The Football League had been founded six years earlier with its clubs based in the Midlands and North-West of England, but despite the creation of a Second Division in 1891, the game was catching on in the south and entry routes into the Football League were very limited.

The league became a strong challenger to the Football League over the coming years, and in 1920 it would be from the Southern League that the Football League would acquire its Third Division, Millwall - who by this time had lost the 'Rovers' suffix - included.