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.

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.

Football League Two clubs 2009–10

Club	Finishing position last season
Accrington Stanley	16th
Aldershot Town	15th
Barnet	17th
Bournemouth	21st
Bradford City	9th
Burton Albion	1st in Conference National
Bury	4th
Cheltenham Town	23rd in League One
Chesterfield	10th
Crewe Alexandra	22nd in League One
Dagenham & Redbridge	8th
Darlington	12th
Grimsby Town	22nd
Hereford United	24th in League One
Lincoln City	13th
Macclesfield Town	20th
Morecambe	11th
Northampton Town	21st in League One
Notts County	19th
Port Vale	18th
Rochdale	6th
Rotherham United	14th
Shrewsbury Town	7th
Torquay United	4th in Conference National (play-off winner)

Winners of Football League Two

Season	Winner	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Promoted Play-Off Winner
2004–05	Yeovil Town	Scunthorpe United	Swansea City	Southend United
2005–06	Carlisle United	Northampton Town	Leyton Orient	Cheltenham Town
2006–07	Walsall	Hartlepool United	Swindon Town	Bristol Rovers
2007–08	Milton Keynes Dons	Peterborough United	Hereford United	Stockport County
2008–09	Brentford	Exeter City	Wycombe Wanderers	Gillingham

Play-off results

Season	Semifinal (1st Leg)	Semifinal (2nd Leg)	Final
2004–05	Lincoln City 1–0 Macclesfield Town Northampton Town 0–0 Southend United	Macclesfield Town 1–1 Lincoln City Southend United 1–0 Northampton Town	Lincoln City 0–2 Southend United
2005–06	Lincoln City 0–1 Grimsby Town Wycombe Wanderers 1–2 Cheltenham Town	Grimsby Town 2–1 Lincoln City Cheltenham Town 0–0 Wycombe Wanderers	Grimsby Town 0–1 Cheltenham Town
2006–07	Bristol Rovers 2–1 Lincoln City Shrewsbury Town 0–0 Milton Keynes Dons	Lincoln City 3–5 Bristol Rovers Milton Keynes Dons 1–2 Shrewsbury Town	Bristol Rovers 3–1 Shrewsbury Town
2007–08	Darlington 2–1 Rochdale Wycombe Wanderers 1–1 Stockport County	Rochdale 2–1 Darlington (Rochdale won 5-4 on penalties, AET) Stockport County 1–0 Wycombe Wanderers	Rochdale 2–3 Stockport County
2008–09	Shrewsbury Town 0–1 Bury Rochdale 0–0 Gillingham	Bury 0–1 Shrewsbury Town (Shrewsbury won 4 - 3 on penalties, AET) Gillingham 2–1 Rochdale	Gillingham 1–0 Shrewsbury Town

Relegated teams

Season	Clubs
2004–05	Kidderminster Harriers, Cambridge United
2005–06	Oxford United, Rushden & Diamonds
2006–07	Boston United, Torquay United
2007–08	Mansfield Town, Wrexham
2008–09	Chester City, Luton Town*

• *30 point deduction

Top scorers

Season	Top scorer	Club	Goals
2004–05	Phil Jevons	Yeovil Town	27
2005–06	Karl Hawley	Carlisle United	23
2006–07	Richard Barker	Hartlepool United	21
	Izale McLeod	Milton Keynes Dons
2007–08	Aaron McLean	Peterborough United	29
2008–09	Grant Holt	Shrewsbury Town	20
	Jack Lester	Chesterfield

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

• *ground contains terracing

See also

• Football League Fourth Division (1958–59 – 1991–92)
• Football League Third Division (1992–93 – 2003–04)

External links

• Football League Two official site
• Football League Two clubs' locations
• League Two blogs by League Two fans