The English Football League is the body that runs the three divisions below the Premier League (Championship, League One and League Two), with 72 member clubs, an operations centre in Preston and a commercial office in London.
The English Football League, or EFL, runs the Championship, League One and League Two, which together hold 72 clubs. Sixty-eight of those clubs are in England and four are in Wales: Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham and Newport County. Each division has 24 clubs, and the league also runs the EFL Cup (sponsored as the Carabao Cup) and the EFL Trophy (sponsored as the Vertu Trophy). It is a limited company, and the 72 member clubs are its shareholders. The league dates back to 1888, which is a good story to tell if you like sports history.
The league was created after William McGregor, a Scottish director of Aston Villa, proposed it on 22 March 1888 to bring order to a chaotic fixture list. The first meeting was in London the next day, and it was formally created and named in Manchester on 17 April 1888. McGregor suggested 'Association Football Union', but it sounded too close to the Rugby Football Union, so Major William Sudell of Preston proposed 'The Football League', which was quickly adopted. The first season started on 8 September 1888 with twelve clubs, and Preston North End won the title unbeaten and the FA Cup too. The top clubs left in 1992 to form the Premier League, and the name changed to English Football League from the 2016-17 season. We did not find a published mission statement on the page we read, so we have not invented one.
The EFL's operations centre is in Preston, Lancashire, and it has a commercial office in London. Its member clubs are spread across England and Wales, from big cities to smaller towns, so the league's work touches communities in many places. The board has ten directors: six chosen by clubs from the three divisions, two independent non-executive directors, an independent chair and the chief executive. Rick Parry is named as chair and Trevor Birch as chief executive, though that comes from a general reference page and may have changed.
We found very little first-party material on the EFL's day-to-day culture, so we will not describe it. What can be said is that it is an organisation that serves 72 clubs of very different sizes, and that its competitions are shown by Sky Sports with highlights on ITV Sport, according to a reference source. Work like that tends to involve close relationships with clubs, broadcasters and sponsors, and it is a team effort across two offices.
Jobs at a league body like this include competition and fixtures staff, rules and regulatory specialists, commercial and partnership managers, communications and digital teams, finance, legal and club-support roles. It is a good example of how the sports industry employs people with business, law, communications and data skills, not just coaches and players. If you want to work in football but are not drawn to coaching, an organisation like the EFL is a useful one to learn about. Check the EFL website for what is currently advertised.
Website: www.efl.com
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE