English football's First Division was the top league for a century, then wasn't
From 1888 to 1992, winning the First Division meant being champions of England. Then its 22 clubs walked out to form the Premier League, and the Football League simply handed the old name to its former Second Division. For twelve confusing seasons, the First Division was the country's second tier.
The league began with a single table. William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa, founded the Football League in 1888 with twelve clubs, among them Preston North End, Everton and Villa themselves, all from the Midlands and the North. In 1892 it took in clubs from a rival competition, the Football Alliance, and split into two divisions, which is when the name First Division came into use for the upper one. Over its life the top division held anywhere from 12 to 24 teams, each playing the others home and away.
Rules shifted over time. A win earned two points until 1981, when it went up to three to reward attacking play. The trophy itself was first handed over in 1891 and presented until 1992, apart from three seasons from 1983 to 1986 when the sponsor, Canon, substituted a cup of its own. Players also had to earn their medals: by the mid-1970s a squad member needed 14 league appearances in a title-winning season to qualify.
Liverpool were its most successful club while it was the top flight, finishing first 18 times.
The 1992 breakaway reshuffled everything beneath it. The Second, Third and Fourth Divisions were each promoted one name, so the new First Division's champions went up to the Premier League rather than lifting the old trophy. That arrangement lasted until 2004, when a league-wide rebrand turned the division into the Football League Championship, and since 2016 it has been called the EFL Championship.
Source: Football League First Division
