In England, the 2010/11 football season kicks off this Saturday with Southampton listed as favourite among many online bookmakers to win the League One title followed by Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town.

League One is the third tier of English professional soccer and comprises 24 clubs from around the country. Each team plays every other in the division twice, home and away, with the division’s top two come May 7 earning a spot in the higher Championship league for next season. Those finishing in third through sixth place at the end of the season then contest a playoff for the single remaining promotion spot.

After playing its football in the top two divisions for 49 years, Southampton was relegated to the third tier of the professional game at the end of the 2008/09 season after its parent company went into administration. The side subsequently finished last term in seventh place and seven points away from the final playoff position but has now secured new investment and is listed at odds of 15/8 by SkyBet.com to win the League One title this season.

Slightly longer, BetDaq.com has the ‘Saints’ at odds of 209/100 to win the title followed by WBX.com with 213/100 and Betfair.com offering 109/50.

Before its recent fall from grace, Southampton was last in the third division of professional English soccer in 1960. However, manager Alan Pardew has assembled a side more than capable of achieving promotion and punters can get odds of 9/4 from BoyleSports.com, Bodog.com, Bet365.com, SportingBet.com, BlueSq.com, 888Sport.com, BetFred.com, Ladbrokes.com, Bwin.com, VictorChandler.com, EuroSportBet.co.uk, WilliamHill.com, Coral.co.uk and StanJames.com on the League One title coming to St Mary’s Stadium while ExtraBet.com, PaddyPower.com and ToteSport.com show 12/5.

Sheffield Wednesday was narrowly relegated from the Championship at the end of last season after losing to Crystal Palace in the final regular season match. But, boss Alan Irvine has re-built the side with the expressed aim of achieving promotion at the first attempt and bettors can get odds of 9/2 from BlueSq.com and 888Sport.com on the South Yorkshire side winning the League One title.

The ‘Owls’ have been in the third-tier before, most recently in the 2004/05 season, and the side finished as high as ninth spot in the Championship’s 2006/07 edition. However, financial concerns stemming from relegation from the English Premier League in 2000 have continued to dog the team and left it unable to invest in quality long-term players.

Despite this, Ladbrokes.com, SkyBet.com, WilliamHill.com and Coral.co.uk list Sheffield Wednesday at odds of 5/1 to win the League One title followed by BetDaq.com showing 51/10 and EuroSportBet.co.uk, BoyleSports.com, BetFred.com, Bodog.com, StanJames.com, PaddyPower.com, SportingBet.com, ToteSport.com and Bet365.com with 11/2.

For its part, WBX.com has the title coming to Hillsborough at the end of the 2010/11 season odds of 29/5 while Betfair.com is going with 59/10 followed by Bwin.com, VictorChandler.com and ExtraBet.com offering 6/1.

Another favourite for the 2010/11 League One title is Huddersfield Town, which was playing in the fourth-tier of English soccer as recently as 2004. The ‘Terriers’ narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship last season after losing to Millwall in the playoffs and manager Lee Clark is determined to go one better this time out and get the West Yorkshire club back in the second-tier for the first time since 2001.

BoyleSports.com has Huddersfield Town at odds of 6/1 to win League One while Betfair.com and WBX.com show 34/5. This is followed by Bodog.com, Skybet.com, WilliamHill.com, ToteSport.com, EuroSportBet.co.uk, BlueSq.com, 888Sport.com and BetFred.com showing 7/1 and BetDaq.com offering 36/5.

At the far end of the spectrum are SportingBet.com, PaddyPower.com and StanJames.com with odds of 15/2 on the three-time champions of England winning the League One title while punters can get 8/1 from VictorChandler.com, ExtraBet.com, Coral.co.uk, Bwin.com and Ladbrokes.com.