The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of playoff matches contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the EFL Championship table. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 3rd playing 6th and 4th playing 5th, with the return fixtures following. The final is played at Wembley Stadium, although from 2001 to 2006, it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Wembley was being rebuilt.
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The first playoffs at this level were contested in 1987, when it was the Football League Second Division. From 1993 to 2004, following the creation of the FA Premier League as a breakaway from the Football League, it became the Division One playoffs, and since 2005 has taken its current name as the Championship playoffs following a rebranding of the remaining three divisions of the Football League.
There is no single sporting event in the world more valuable to the winners, who end up approximately £60m better off than the losers, mainly due to the increased commercial television revenue from being promoted to the Premier League. However, by convention the two finalists agree that the loser will keep all the gate receipts from the game, so as to slightly soften the financial blow of missing out.
The most recent final was between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday on 28 May 2016, with the score ending 1–0 to Hull City.
Ipswich town have been in the Championship play-offs a record eight times: 1987, 1997–2000 inclusive, 2004, 2005 and 2015, making the final only once in 2000 (when they won promotion). Leicester City have reached the Championship play-off final four times (in the space of five seasons), losing two in 1992 and 1993 and winning two in 1994 and 1996. Crystal Palace have also appeared in the final five times, losing in 1996 and winning in 1989, 1997, 2004 and 2013.
The team finishing highest in the league (third) has succeeded in winning promotion nine times out of twenty five seasons up to 2011, with 4th managing four promotions, 5th six and 6th five.
The play-off winners have managed to finish above the Championship winners and runners-up in the subsequent Premier League season on seven occasions: Blackburn Rovers in 1992–93, Leicester City in 1996–97, Ipswich Town in 2000–01, West Ham United in 2005–06 and 2012–13, Swansea City in 2011–12, and Crystal Palace in 2013–14.
Format
At the end of each Season, the top two teams in the Football League Championship gain automatic promotion to the Premier League. The next four teams (that finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the League) enter the play-off competition.
The semi-final matches are played over two legs. In the first leg, the two teams who finished in third and fourth place in The League play away from home - the third placed team against the sixth, and the fourth placed team against the fifth. The second leg is a return match of the same pairs - this time the two teams who finished in third and fourth place in The League playing at home. The winner of each semi-final (based on the aggregate score of the first and second legs) goes forward into the play-off final.
In the second leg, if the aggregate scores are level at the end of ninety minutes, extra time is played. If the scores remain level at the end of extra time the tie is determined by the taking of kicks from the penalty mark.
The play-off final is normally played at Wembley Stadium. In the final, if the score is level at the end of ninety minutes, extra time will be played, followed if necessary by kicks from the penalty mark. The winning team is promoted to the Premier League.
History
In addition to the branding changes which affected English football in 1992 and 2004, the Championship play-offs have also changed in format.
When they were introduced for the 1986–87 season, the play-offs originally featured a top-flight team as well as the three second-tier clubs. This format was continued for the 1987–88, but discontinued afterwards to include only the four teams who finished behind the team or teams winning automatic promotion. As before, the semi-final and final were both two-legged and held at the home grounds of the two teams involved, apart from 1987, when Charlton Athletic and Leeds United could not be separated over two legs with the tie settled at a third match at St. Andrews, Birmingham. Charlton won the game to retain their First Division status, while Leeds remained in the Second Division. A year later, however, Middlesbrough won the playoffs to win promotion to the First Division with their opponents Chelsea being relegated.
The first winners of the promotion-only playoffs at this level were Crystal Palace, who beat Blackburn Rovers over two legs at the end of the 1988-89 season.
Since 1989–90, the final has been a single game (contested between the winners of the semi-finals, which remain two-legged) has been held either at Wembley or the Millennium Stadium. The first winners of the one-match playoff final were Swindon Town, who beat Sunderland 1-0 in 1990 but were later denied promotion due to financial irregularities, with Sunderland being promoted instead.
Birmingham City have reached the Championship Play-Offs four times consecutively from 1999-2002, losing the first three attempts before, in 2002, reaching the Play-Off Final at the Millennium Stadium, finally winning promotion to the Premier League after extra time and then penalties. They suffered an additional playoff failure in 2012. Their local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers were beaten three times in the playoffs between 1995 and 2002 before finally winning at the fourth attempt in 2003. They suffered a further playoff failure in 2007.
Ipswich Town were actually the first team to qualify for the playoffs four times consecutively, finally winning promotion in 2000 after being defeated in the semi-finals during the three preceding seasons. They had also been losing semi-finalists in the inaugural Second Division playoffs in 1987, and were also on the losing side in the Championship semi-finals of 2004, 2005 and 2015.
Leicester City (Division One playoff winners in 1994 and 1996) were the first team to win the playoffs twice as this level, their 1994 triumph being the first time in seven attempts that they had won a match at Wembley Stadium, having lost the previous two playoff finals there, as well as four FA Cups between 1949 and 1969. Crystal Palace's Championship playoff triumph in 2013 made them the first team to reach the top flight of English football as playoff winners on four occasions.
West Ham United, Watford, Bolton Wanderers and Swindon Town have also won the second tier playoffs on two occasions, although Swindon have only won promotion once, as promotion was withdrawn following the first playoff victory due to financial irregularities.
As well as enabling lower placed teams to gain promotion which would not have been achieved under the format of only having automatic promotion places, many third placed teams who missed out on going up automatically have missed out on promotion after being beaten in the playoffs. In 1995, a reorganisation of the league meant that only the champions went up automatically, and the second-placed team had to navigate the playoffs for a chance of a Premier League placed. The affected team, Reading, missed out on promotion in dramatic fashion - they were leading Bolton Wanderers 2-0 in the playoff final after more than 70 minutes, but two Bolton goals forced extra time and they ended up losing the game 4-3, and having to wait 11 more years before winning promotion to the Premier League. Portsmouth, who only missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference in 1993, were beaten in the playoffs and had to wait 10 years before winning promotion. Millwall finished third a year later and lost in the playoffs, and more than 20 years on they have still yet to reach the Premier League.
Past winners
1: Due to financial irregularities, Swindon Town were prevented from taking their place in the top division, which was instead awarded to the losing finalists, Sunderland.