League Two: Dates, teams, venues, history & more

League Two is the fourth and bottom tier of the English Football League where the teams at the top battle it out to try and progress up to League One, while others attempt to avoid dropping down into the non-league set-up.

The old Fourth Division has been known as League Two since the 2004/05 EFL season, when the Football League, the three divisions beneath the Premier League, were rebranded.

Each season, 24 clubs take part with those finishing in the top three places securing automatic promotion up to League One, while the bottom two are relegated to the first rung on the non-league pyramid - the National League. 

The four teams that finish the season between fourth and seventh place then go into the play-offs for the final promotion spot, with the successful two to emerge from the two-legged semi-finals facing off at Wembley with the chance to go up.

League Two dates

The 2024/25 League Two season is set to start on Saturday 10th August 2024, with the regular season concluding on 3rd May, 2025.

The season-ending play-offs will finish at Wembley Stadium and are set to take place in May.

League Two teams

Chesterfield and Bromley both earned promotion from the National League and will be competing in League Two this season, alongside the four relegated teams from League One - Cheltenham Town, Fleetwood Town, Port Vale and Carlisle United.

The Spireites are 13/2 to win the title, ahead of 9/1 Gillingham, 9/1 MK Dons and Bradford, Notts County and Carlisle, who are all priced at 12/1.

Salford City, Doncaster and Port Vale are also expected to challenge for top honours, while AFC Wimbledon, Walsall and Barrow are 20/1 shots to triumph.

Cheltenham, Crewe, Tranmere, Swindon, Fleetwood Town, Accrington Stanley, Grimsby, Colchester, Harrogate Town, Newport County, Bromley and Morecambe make up the division.

League Two how to watch

Sky Sports provides coverage of a number of League Two fixtures across the season, with the broadcaster recently agreeing a new EFL package from 2024/25 to 2028/29.

From 2024/25, Sky will show a minimum of 248 League Two matches and 15 play-off games.

Every League Two team will be featured live on Sky at least 20 times in the 2024/25 campaign, with matches broadcast across existing Sky Sports channels or on the brand new Sky Sports+, which replaces the EFL's domestic streaming option, iFollow, and club streaming services.

Each full weekend of EFL fixtures will see 10 live matches shown, with two League Two matches broadcast live at 12:30 on Saturdays.

On the opening weekend of the 2024/25 season, every games across the Championship, League One and League Two will be streamed live, a first in broadcasting history.

League Two format

League Two is the bottom division of the English Football League, known as the EFL, and the fourth tier overall in the English league system, beneath the Premier League, Championship and League One.

The 24 teams in the division play each other twice, once at home and once away, with a traditional three points awarded for wins, one for a draw and zero for a defeat.

At the end of the campaign, with each team having played a gruelling 46 matches, the final standings determine who goes up to League One (top three automatically promoted), while the bottom two are consigned to the National League.

Four other teams (fourth to seventh place) get the chance to secure promotion via the end-of-season play-offs.

League Two history

League Two came into being in its current guise in 2004 following an EFL rebrand but the fourth tier has long been English football's lowest professional-level division and was known simply as Division Four between 1958 and 1992.

Then, when the Premier League was introduced, it was upgraded to Division Two before getting its League Two title ahead of the 2004/05 season.

Underlining the very competitive nature of the division, there have been 18 different champions of League Two, with only Swindon Town and Chesterfield crowned winners on two occasions. Swindon in 2012 and 2020 and the Spireites in 2011 and 2014. 

League Two previous winners

2004/05	Yeovil
2005/06	Carlisle
2006/07	Walsall
2007/08	MK Dons
2008/09	Brentford
2009/10	Notts County
2010/11	Chesterfield
2011/12	Swindon
2012/13	Gillingham
2013/14	Chesterfield
2014/15	Burton
2015/16	Northampton
2016/17	Portsmouth
2017/18	Accrington
2018/19	Lincoln
2019/20	Swindon
2021/22	Cheltenham
2021/22	Forest Green
2022/23	Leyton Orient
2023/24	Stockport