English League Two Guide and Betting Tips

English League Two

The English League Two is the fourth tier of English football, and the third and lowest league in the English Football League. As it is above the National League, the top non-league (leagues that are not considered to be the top in the country) the English League Two can be very unpredictable. This is due to many teams coming and going to a higher league or lower one and many teams facing new opponents and players.

Coming down from the upper division this season are Swindon Town, Northampton Town, Bristol Rovers and Rochdale. The newcomers to the league are Sutton United and Hartlepool United.

Structure of the English League Two

The League consists of 24 teams, each team plays 46 matches in a season, playing all the other teams in the league twice, once home and once away. At the end of the season, the top three teams are promoted to the League One. The teams who placed 4th to 7th then have a playoff series for the fourth promotion place. The playoffs are played in two rounds, the first with two legs, home and away. The final round is played between the two teams who won the first round, and is played at the Wembley Stadium.

At the end of the season, the two teams at the bottom of the table are relegated. As four teams go to a higher division, and two fall into a lower one, they are replaced with four teams that are relegated from the higher league, and two teams from the lower division.

Which Teams To Bet On

Forest Green Rovers

The Gloucestershire team was founded in 1869, making it amongst the oldest clubs in English football. They played in local and county leagues, and moved up to the 9th tier Hellenic League in 1975. In 2015, they finally reached the National League and finished second but lost the playoffs, but the following year they reached third place and won the playoffs to be promoted to the English League Two. They almost jumped up to the Third division last year after finishing sixth but lost in the playoffs.

Apart from a history of climbing up the long ladder of English league football, the club has received recognition from the UN as being the “greenest team in the world”, being the first carbon neutral club in the world. Chairman Dale Vice helped make the team the first vegan team in the world, and introduced other environmentally friendly innovations to the club.

In the league they are also doing well, starting the season with four straight wins, they have managed to hold off the other teams with more history in the league, and look to challenge for promotion again this year.

Port Vale

The Stoke based club holds the record for having the most appearances in the English football league (110) and in the second tier (41), without breaking into the top league. The team was formed in 1876, and played in the second division of English football. In the 50s they fell into the third division, and stayed there until the 90’s when they enjoyed two brief runs in the second division. At the start of the millennium, the club was hit with financial problems, and almost went into administration twice. Over the last twenty years the club has dropped to the (Fourth division) EFL League Two, and have been yo-yoing up and down between League One and League Two.

After an inconsistent start which saw Port Vale win and lose in consecutive games, followed by a handful of draws, the club has started to find its feet and climb the table.

Northampton Town

Based in Northampton, this team was formed in 1897. They were playing in the third tier of English football, until 1959, when they fell into the fourth division. Between 1960 and 1965 they set a record of being promoted three times to reach the First division of English football. Sadly, they only spent a year playing amongst the best, and were relegated to the Second division, from which they were relegated the following year. Since 1967, the team has only competed in the third and fourth divisions. In 1992 tragedy struck when the team went into administration with debts of £1.6 million, but with some restructuring, they got within touching distance of the Second division in 1998, where they lost in the playoffs.

Swindon Town

Swindon is the only club on this list that has played in the Premier League. They had one season playing in the top flight of football in 1993, a year after the creation of the Premier League. Since then Swindon has been going up and down between the second and third tiers of English football, before 2005 when they were relegated to the fourth tier. Since then, they have been competing in the English League One and Two. They have won the English League Two twice, in 2012 and 2019. They were relegated in 2020, and hope to replicate their 2019 season with talisman Brett Pitman, who is Swindon's current goalscorer.

Exeter City

Exeter look to break their tenure in the League Two, where they have been since 2012. The team has a rich history, they were the first team to play against the Brazilian National team in 1914. In their 1914 tour of South America, they also played against Racing Club and Argentina, in 11 friendlies. With a penchant for travelling, they have also toured the Netherlands twice.

In the domestic leagues, Exeter reached the second tier of English football for two seasons from 1992-94. They have since played in the third and fourth tiers of the English game. Since 2012 they have been playing in the League Two, and have reached the playoffs three times, most recently in 2018, but have lost all three, failing to achieve promotion. This year they aim to reach the playoffs and finally re-enter the English League One.

Leyton Orient

The London based team has played in five different tiers of football since it began playing in the English Football Leagues. Formed in 1881, they are the second oldest team to play in a professional league. They had their only flight in the First division in 1962, but afterwards spent the next thirty years competing in the second and third divisions. They dropped to the fourth division in 1985, and despite returning to the third division twice, they fell into the National League (the fifth division) in 2017. After winning the National League in 2019, they have been competing in the English League Two.

How to Bet On the English League Two

If you feel like you do not know enough information to bet on individual matches, a great place to start is in our Outright markets. There you can bet on which team will win the league, which will achieve automatic promotion (top 3 finish) and which will reach the playoffs (top 7 finish), as well as which teams will be relegated. The odds on each team are updated after each game, so that they reflect the team’s form, position in the table and the level of difficulty of their remaining matches. It is important to find good odds while the league is still in its early phase, when the competition is still open.

If you feel more confident, there are a variety of markets for individual matches. These include the Periods, Halves, Goals and Specials, where you will find many specific bets. It is important to structure your bets when trying specialized bets, as you may find you have more success in certain areas over others.