● Stats correct at time of publication: 25 August 2026
League Two doesn't usually make headlines beyond its own fanbases. Bromley won the title on the final day of the season by a single point, having reached the Football League for the first time in their history barely two years earlier. Notts County spent the campaign chasing a top-three finish, missed it, and won promotion anyway through the play-offs. And at the bottom, Harrogate Town and Barrow's seasons ended in the drop to the National League.
Bromley: from non-league to League One in two seasons
Bromley were founded in 1892. For 131 of the 132 years that followed, they never played in the Football League. That changed in 2023/24, when they won the National League play-offs and reached the EFL for the first time in the club's history. Most clubs treat that kind of promotion as the achievement of a generation and spend a few seasons finding their feet in the division above.
In their second season in League Two, they finished top of the table with 87 points, and their first ever EFL title. It's the kind of rise that's rare in English football's pyramid, where financial gravity usually keeps clubs roughly where they've always been.
The title itself went down to the final day. Bromley beat Walsall 3-1 on 2 May 2026 — goals from Ben Thompson, Mitch Pinnock and Omar Sowumni — to finish the season one point ahead of Milton Keynes Dons. A title race that stayed alive to the last afternoon of the season, won by the smallest possible margin.
Home advantage did the heavy lifting. Bromley went unbeaten at Hayes Lane all season — 14 wins and 9 draws from 23 games, 51 of their 87 points won on their own ground. Away from home they were a more ordinary side, winning 10, drawing 6 and losing 7 of their 23 away games, but it never mattered enough to derail the title. Manager Andy Woodman built the squad shrewdly around that platform: alongside Mason Cheek's goals up front, the promotion push leaned on loan talent pulled in from well above League Two level — Ben Krauhaus from Brentford, Lakyle Samuel from Manchester City, and Damola Ajayi from Tottenham Hotspur all featured — while Kyle Cameron arrived on a free transfer from, fittingly, Notts County.
Hayes Lane, Bromley's home since 1938, had its pitch switch from 3G artificial turf back to real grass in 2024. EFL rules don't permit synthetic surfaces in League Two, and Bromley's first promotion into the Football League forced the change. Two years on, the ground has kept growing alongside the team: a new £2.8m East Stand opened in October 2025, lifting capacity to 5,160. It's still a small ground by League One standards, but, alongside the club, it's a stadium that's been rebuilding for where it's going next.
League Two 2025/26 — Automatic Promotion
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bromley — Champions | 46 | 87 | +25 |
| 2 | Milton Keynes Dons | 46 | 86 | +41 |
| 3 | Cambridge United | 46 | 82 | +33 |
● Stats correct at time of publication. Full season standings via Wikipedia.
Notts County's play-off redemption
Notts County finished 5th in the regular season with 80 points — five points and two places short of automatic promotion, behind Salford City on goal difference for a top-four finish. It didn't matter. County went through the play-offs and beat Salford City 3-0 in the final at Wembley on 25 May, with goals from Alassana Jatta, Lucas Ness and Jodi Jones settling it comfortably.
It's a promotion that means more than the league position it came from. Notts County were relegated out of League One in 2015 — an 11-year absence from the third tier that included spells in the National League while their rivals in this division moved on without them. This result puts them back where a club with their history and support arguably belongs.
The relegation battle
At the other end of the table, League Two's bottom two didn't come close to escaping. Barrow finished bottom on 36 points, winning just 9 of their 46 games. Harrogate Town went down alongside them on 39 points, one place and three points better off but still well adrift of safety. Both drop into the National League for 2026/27 — a tough return for Harrogate in particular, who were only promoted into the Football League in 2020.
Aaron Drinan: 22 goals in a mid-table season
The division's top scorer didn't play for a promoted side. Aaron Drinan scored 22 League Two goals for Swindon Town, who finished a comfortable but unremarkable 9th — nowhere near either the promotion picture or the relegation fight. It's the kind of season that's easy to overlook if you're only following the top and bottom of the table, but 22 goals in a 46-game season is a genuine standout return, and it's Drinan's alone: the next-best Swindon scorer wasn't close.
Among the sides who did go up, Bromley's goals were led by Mason Cheek, who scored 16 as the focal point of the title-winning attack. For creativity, Tom O'Reilly (Crewe) and Louie Mandeville (Chesterfield) shared the division's assist charts with 11 apiece — both at clubs who finished mid-table, further evidence that League Two's best individual performances this season weren't concentrated at the top of the table.
League Two 2025/26 — Relegated
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Harrogate Town | 46 | 39 | -29 |
| 24 | Barrow | 46 | 36 | -33 |
● Both relegated to the National League. Stats correct at time of publication.
What next for 2026/27
Bromley, MK Dons, Cambridge United and Notts County all step up to League One for 2026/27 — meaning League Two's most compelling story this season now becomes a League One story next. Whether a club that only reached the EFL in 2023 can keep climbing at the same rate is the question that follows Bromley into the third tier.
For more details see match-by-match full 2025/26 results.