A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Season | 2003–04 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Norwich City |
| Promoted | Norwich City West Bromwich Albion Crystal Palace |
| Relegated | Carlisle United York City |
| New Clubs in League | Yeovil Town Doncaster Rovers |
← 2002–03 2004–05 → | |
The 2003–04 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 105th completed season of The Football League.
This was the last season of the Football League with the Nationwide Building Society as title sponsor, and the last in which the divisions were known as the First, Second and Third Divisions: from the following season they would be known as the Championship, League One and League Two respectively.
Norwich City won the First Division, thus returning to the Premier League for the first time since 1994–95. Also promoted to the top flight were West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace. Plymouth Argyle won the Second Division, while Doncaster Rovers won the Third.
Final league tables and results
The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,[1] with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.
First Division
| Season | 2003–04 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Norwich City |
| Promoted | Norwich City West Bromwich Albion Crystal Palace |
| Relegated | Walsall Bradford City Wimbledon |
| UEFA Cup | Millwall |
| Matches played | 552 |
| Goals scored | 1,435 (2.6 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Andrew Johnson (27 goals)[2] |
← 2002–03 2004–05 (Championship) → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwich City (C, P) | 46 | 28 | 10 | 8 | 79 | 39 | +40 | 94 | Promotion to the FA Premier League |
| 2 | West Bromwich Albion (P) | 46 | 25 | 11 | 10 | 64 | 42 | +22 | 86 | |
| 3 | Sunderland | 46 | 22 | 13 | 11 | 62 | 45 | +17 | 79 | Qualification for the First Division play-offs |
| 4 | West Ham United | 46 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 67 | 45 | +22 | 74 | |
| 5 | Ipswich Town | 46 | 21 | 10 | 15 | 84 | 72 | +12 | 73 | |
| 6 | Crystal Palace (O, P) | 46 | 21 | 10 | 15 | 72 | 61 | +11 | 73 | |
| 7 | Wigan Athletic | 46 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 60 | 45 | +15 | 71 | |
| 8 | Sheffield United | 46 | 20 | 11 | 15 | 65 | 56 | +9 | 71 | |
| 9 | Reading | 46 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 55 | 57 | −2 | 70 | |
| 10 | Millwall | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 55 | 48 | +7 | 69 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[a] |
| 11 | Stoke City | 46 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 58 | 55 | +3 | 66 | |
| 12 | Coventry City | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 67 | 54 | +13 | 65 | |
| 13 | Cardiff City | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 68 | 58 | +10 | 65 | |
| 14 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 61 | 58 | +3 | 60 | |
| 15 | Preston North End | 46 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 69 | 71 | −2 | 59 | |
| 16 | Watford | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 54 | 68 | −14 | 57 | |
| 17 | Rotherham United | 46 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 53 | 61 | −8 | 54 | |
| 18 | Crewe Alexandra | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 57 | 66 | −9 | 53 | |
| 19 | Burnley | 46 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 60 | 77 | −17 | 53 | |
| 20 | Derby County | 46 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 53 | 67 | −14 | 52 | |
| 21 | Gillingham | 46 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 48 | 67 | −19 | 51 | |
| 22 | Walsall (R) | 46 | 13 | 12 | 21 | 45 | 65 | −20 | 51 | Relegation to Football League One |
| 23 | Bradford City (R) | 46 | 10 | 6 | 30 | 38 | 69 | −31 | 36 | |
| 24 | Wimbledon (R) | 46 | 8 | 5 | 33 | 41 | 89 | −48 | 29 | Renamed Milton Keynes Dons in Football League One |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- ^ Since the FA Cup winners Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup went to Millwall, who were the FA Cup runners-up.
Play-offs
| Semi-finals 1st leg – 14/15 May; 2nd leg – 17/18 May 2004 | Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 29 May 2004 | ||||||||||
| 3rd | Sunderland | 2 | 2 | 4 (4) | |||||||
| 6th | Crystal Palace (pens.) | 3 | 1 | 4 (5) | |||||||
| 6th | Crystal Palace | 1 | |||||||||
| 4th | West Ham United | 0 | |||||||||
| 4th | West Ham United | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| 5th | Ipswich Town | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
Maps
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | League |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Andrew Johnson |
Crystal Palace | 28 |
| 2 | Marlon Harewood |
West Ham United / Nottingham Forest |
25 |
| 3 |  Robert Earnshaw |
Cardiff City | 21 |
| 4 | Dean Ashton |
Crewe Alexandra | 19 |
| = | Robbie Blake |
Burnley | 19 |
| 6 | Nathan Ellington |
Wigan Athletic | 18 |
| 7 | Darren Bent |
Ipswich Town | 17 |
| = |  Ricardo Fuller |
Preston North End | 17 |
| 9 | Marcus Stewart |
Sunderland | 16 |
| 10 |  David Healy |
Preston North End | 15 |
| = | Martin Butler |
Rotherham United | 15 |
| = | Steve Jones |
Crewe Alexandra | 15 |
Second Division
| Season | 2003–04 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Plymouth Argyle (2nd third tier title) |
| Direct promotion | Plymouth Argyle, Queens Park Rangers |
| Promoted through play-offs | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Relegated | Grimsby Town, Notts County, Rushden & Diamonds, Wycombe Wanderers |
| Matches played | 552 |
| Goals scored | 1,460 (2.64 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Leon Knight (Brighton & Hove Albion), 25 Stephen McPhee (Port Vale), 25 [2] |
← 2002–03 2004–05 → | |