Football in England

Season	1956–57
Men's football
First Division	Manchester United
Second Division	Leicester City
FA Cup	Aston Villa
← 1955–56 1957–58 →

The 1956–57 season was the 77th season of competitive football in England.

Manchester United won the First Division to become English football champions for the fifth time. Tottenham Hotspur were runners-up. In the Second Division it was Leicester City who finished in top spot, ahead of East Midlands rivals, Nottingham Forest. Hartlepools United finished as runners-up to Derby County in Third Division North, while in the Third Division South, Ipswich Town won the title ahead of Torquay United.

Aston Villa won a record seventh FA Cup, beating Manchester United in the final and denying their opponents the chance of being the first double winners of the 20th century. The Charity Shield featured a Manchester derby, with United defeating City in the match.

The England national team won the British Home Championship, with Scotland the runners-up.

Honours

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

Awards

Football Writers' Association

• Footballer of the Year – Tom Finney (Preston North End)

Top goalscorer

• John Charles (Leeds United), 38

FA Cup

Aston Villa won the FA Cup for a then record seventh time.

Football League

First Division

Manchester United's young team dominated the English game once again, retaining the First Division title and also becoming England's first representatives in the European Cup, reaching the semi-finals, and also finishing runners-up in the FA Cup to an Aston Villa side who won the trophy for a record seventh time. Tottenham Hotspur finished runners-up, while Tom Finney's influence at Preston helped the Deepdale side finish third, while another veteran winger, Stanley Matthews, helped his own side finish fourth. Leeds United enjoyed possibly their best season to date by finishing eighth, but their hopes of further achievements in the immediate future were then hit by the news that star striker John Charles would be on his way to Juventus of Italy in a transfer worth £65,000.^{[citation needed]}

Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City went down to the Second Division.^{[citation needed]}

Second Division

It was an East Midlands promotion double in the Second Division as Leicester City won the title by a comfortable margin, and were joined on the way upwards by runners-up and local rivals Nottingham Forest. Liverpool missed out on promotion by a single point under the management of their former player Phil Taylor, while Blackburn Rovers fell two points short of promotion.

Bury and Port Vale went down from the Second Division.