Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Coca-Cola Football League 2 for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system.
Football League Two was introduced for the 2004–05 season. It was previously known as the Football League Third Division. Prior to the advent of the Premiership, the fourth-highest division was known as the Football League Fourth Division. It is the most profitable fourth-tier football league in the world.
[edit] Structure
There are 24 clubs in Football League Two. Each club plays each of the other clubs twice (once at home, once away) and are awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. From these points a league table is constructed.
At the end of each season the top three teams, together with the winner of the play-offs between the teams which finished in 4th–7th position, are promoted to Football League One and are replaced by the four teams that finished at the bottom of that division.
Similarly the two teams that finished at the bottom of Football League Two are relegated to the Conference National and are replaced by the team that finished 1st and the team that won the 2nd–5th place play-off in that division. (Promotion from the Conference National has slightly stricter criteria; if Conference candidate team(s) do not fulfill stadium and other criteria, the League Two team(s) is/are reprieved).
Final League position is determined, in this order, by points obtained, goal difference, goals scored, a mini-league of the results between two or more teams ranked using the previous three criteria and finally a series of one or more play off matches.
There is a mandatory wage cap in this division that limits spending on players' wages to 60% of club turnover.
[edit] Play-off results
[edit] Relegated teams
[edit] Top scorers
[edit] League Two stadiums 2009–10
| Home Club | Stadium Name | Capacity |
| Darlington | The Darlington Arena | 25,294 |
| Bradford City | Valley Parade | 25,136 |
| Rotherham United | Don Valley Stadium | 25,000 |
| Notts County | Meadow Lane | 20,300 |
| Port Vale | Vale Park | 18,900 |
| Bury | Gigg Lane | 11,669 |
| Rochdale | Spotland* | 10,249 |
| Lincoln City | Sincil Bank | 10,127 |
| Crewe Alexandra | Alexandra Stadium | 10,118 |
| Shrewsbury Town | Prostar Stadium | 10,000 |
| Grimsby Town | Blundell Park | 9,546 |
| AFC Bournemouth | Dean Court | 9,287 |
| Chesterfield | Saltergate* | 8,504 |
| Northampton Town | Sixfields Stadium | 7,653 |
| Aldershot Town | Recreation Ground* | 7,100 |
| Cheltenham Town | Whaddon Road* | 7,066 |
| Burton Albion | Pirelli Stadium* | 6,912 |
| Morecambe | Christie Park* | 6,400 |
| Macclesfield Town | Moss Rose* | 6,335 |
| Torquay United | Plainmoor* | 6,104 |
| Dagenham & Redbridge | Victoria Road* | 6,000 |
| Barnet | Underhill Stadium* | 5,568 |
| Hereford United | Edgar Street* | 5,300 |
| Accrington Stanley | Crown Ground* | 2,000 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
