Portsmouth won the 2002-03 EFL Championship promotion and relegation race on 98 points, 6 points ahead of Leicester City. It came down to the final days: Portsmouth did not lead for good until April 21, 2003. Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton & Hove Albion and Grimsby Town finished in the relegation places.
Loading season data…
EFL Championship standings, 2002-03
Team
W
D
L
GD
PTS
L10
Streak
Portsmouth (POR)
29
11
6
+52
98
7-1-2
W3
Leicester City (LEI)
26
14
6
+33
92
6-3-1
D2
Sheffield United (SHU)
23
11
12
+20
80
4-3-3
L1
Reading (REA)
25
4
17
+15
79
6-0-4
L1
Wolverhampton Wanderers (WOL)
20
16
10
+37
76
4-5-1
D2
Nottingham Forest (NFO)
20
14
12
+32
74
4-3-3
D2
Ipswich Town (IPS)
19
13
14
+16
70
6-1-3
W1
Norwich City (NOR)
19
12
15
+11
69
5-2-3
W1
Millwall (MIL)
19
9
18
-10
66
6-1-3
W1
Wimbledon (WIM)
18
11
17
+3
65
5-0-5
W3
Gillingham (GIL)
16
14
16
-9
62
3-3-4
W1
Preston North End (PNE)
16
13
17
-2
61
4-2-4
L1
Watford (WAT)
17
9
20
-16
60
4-1-5
W1
Crystal Palace (CRY)
14
17
15
+7
59
3-3-4
L1
Rotherham United (ROT)
15
14
17
0
59
2-5-3
D1
Burnley (BUR)
15
10
21
-24
55
2-1-7
L3
Walsall (WAL)
15
9
22
-12
54
4-2-4
L1
Derby County (DER)
15
7
24
-19
52
3-0-7
L3
Bradford City (BRD)
14
10
22
-22
52
2-1-7
L4
Coventry City (COV)
12
14
20
-16
50
0-3-7
L1
Stoke City (STK)
12
14
20
-24
50
5-3-2
W1
Sheffield Wednesday (SHW)
10
16
20
-17
46
4-4-2
W2
Brighton & Hove Albion (BHA)
11
12
23
-18
45
3-4-3
D1
Grimsby Town (GRI)
9
12
25
-37
39
2-3-5
D1
The three dashed lines are the automatic promotion pace (2nd), the play-off pace (6th), and the relegation line.
Turning points
The lead changed hands 9 times.
Portsmouth trailed by as many as 2 points on August 13, 2002.
Portsmouth took first place for good on April 21, 2003.
Portsmouth won 7 games in a row from August 17, 2002 to September 17, 2002, the longest run of the race.
The top two ended the day within three points of each other on 62 of the 105 days played.
Five teams held first place.
Portsmouth held first place for 229 straight days, the season's longest run.
Portsmouth spent 247 of the season's 268 charted days in first place.