The Football League Championship play-offs are a series of playoff matches contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the Football League Championship table. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 6th playing 3rd and 5th playing 4th, 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.

There is no single sporting event in the world more valuable to the winners,^[1] who end up approximately £60,000,000 better off than the losers, mainly due to the increased commercial television revenue from being promoted to the Premier League.^[2] 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.^[3]

The most recent final was played on 25 May 2009, with Burnley beating Sheffield United 1–0 at Wembley Stadium.

Ipswich Town have been in the Championship play-offs a record seven times: 1987, 1997–2000 inclusive, 2004, and 2005, making the final only once in 2000 when they won promotion.

Contents 1 Format 2 Results 2.1 1987 2.2 1988 2.3 1989 2.4 1990 2.5 1991 2.6 1992 2.7 1993 2.8 1994 2.9 1995 2.10 1996 2.11 1997 2.12 1998 2.13 1999 2.14 2000 2.15 2001 2.16 2002 2.17 2003 2.18 2004 2.19 2005 2.20 2006 2.21 2007 2.22 2008 2.23 2009 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Format

Name changes
1987–1992	Football League Second Division play-offs
1993–2004	Football League First Division play-offs
2005 - 0000	Football League Championship play-offs

Aside from 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.

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, apart from 1987, when Charlton Athletic and Leeds United could not be separated over two legs and took the tie to a third match at St. Andrews, Birmingham.

[edit] Results

[edit] 1987

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
4th Leeds United*	2–2	Oldham Athletic 3rd	1–0	1–2 aet
5th Ipswich Town	1–2	Charlton Athletic 19th Div 1	0–0	1–2

* Leeds win on away goals

Final

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Charlton Athletic	1–1	Leeds United	1–0	0–1

Replay

	Charlton Athletic	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Leeds United	St. Andrews, Birmingham Attendance: 18,000

[edit] 1988

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
5th Blackburn Rovers	1–6	Chelsea 18th Div 1	0–2	1–4
4th Bradford City	2–3	Middlesbrough 3rd	2–1	0–2

Final

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Middlesbrough	2–1	Chelsea	2–0	0–1

[edit] 1989

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Swindon Town	1–2	Crystal Palace 3rd	1–0	0–2
5th Blackburn Rovers*	1–1	Watford 4th	0–0	1–1

*Blackburn win on away goals.

Final

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Blackburn Rovers	3–4	Crystal Palace	3–1	0–3 aet

[edit] 1990

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Sunderland	2–0	Newcastle United 3rd	0–0	2–0
5th Blackburn Rovers	2–4	Swindon Town 4th	1–2	1–2

Final

1990-05-28	Swindon Town	1 – 0	Sunderland	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 72,873
	McLoughlin

Following successful prosecutions against Swindon Town and the club chairman, Brian Hillier, after they admitted 36 breaches of League rules - 35 of which are related to illegal payments, Swindon remained in the Second Division and Sunderland took their promotion place (see History of Swindon Town F.C.)

[edit] 1991

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Brighton and Hove Albion	6–2	Millwall 5th	4–1	2–1
7th Middlesbrough	1–2	Notts County 4th	1–1	0–1

Final

1991-06-02	Notts County	3 – 1	Brighton and Hove Albion	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 59,940
	Johnson (2) Regis		Wilkins

[edit] 1992

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Blackburn Rovers	5–4	Derby County 3rd	4-2	1–2
5th Cambridge United	1–6	Leicester City 4th	1–1	0–5

Final

1992-05-25	Blackburn Rovers	1 – 0	Leicester City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 68,147 Referee: George Courtney
	Newell (pen)

[edit] 1993

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Leicester City	3–2	Portsmouth 3rd	1–0	2–2
5th Swindon Town	5–4	Tranmere Rovers 4th	3–1	2–3

Final

1993-05-31	Swindon Town	4–3	Leicester City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,802 Referee: David Elleray
	Hoddle  43' Maskell  47' Taylor  54' Bodin  85' (pen.)		Joachim  59' Walsh  69' Thompson  70'

[edit] 1994

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Derby County	5–1	Millwall 3rd	2–0	3–1
5th Tranmere Rovers	1–2	Leicester City 4th	0–0	1–2

Final

1994-05-30	Leicester City	2 – 1	Derby County	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,671
	Walsh (2)		Johnson

[edit] 1995

The play-offs in 1995 featured the teams finishing in positions 2–5; during this season the Premiership was reduced from 22 to 20 clubs, with four relegated to Division 1 and only two promoted, the champions (Middlesbrough) automatically and one other through the play-offs.

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
5th Tranmere Rovers	1–3	Reading 2nd	1–3	0–0
4th Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–3	Bolton Wanderers 3rd	2–1	0–2

Final

29 May1995	Bolton Wanderers	4 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Reading	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 64,107 Referee: Peter Foakes
	Coyle  75' de Freitas  86'  118' Paatelainen  105'	(Details)	Nogan  4' Williams  12' Quinn  119'

[edit] 1996

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Charlton Athletic	1–3	Crystal Palace 3rd	1–2	0–1
5th Leicester City	1–0	Stoke City 4th	0–0	1–0

Final

1996-05-27	Leicester City	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Crystal Palace	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,573 Referee: David Allison
	Parker  76' (pen.) Claridge  120'	(Details)	Roberts  14'

[edit] 1997

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Crystal Palace	4–3	Wolverhampton Wanderers 3rd	3–1	1–2
5th Sheffield United*	3–3	Ipswich Town 4th	1–1	2–2

*Sheffield United win on away goals

Final

1997-05-26	Crystal Palace	1 – 0	Sheffield United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 64,383 Referee: Neale Barry
	Hopkin  90'	(Details)

[edit] 1998

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Sheffield United	2–3	Sunderland 3rd	2–1	0–2
5th Ipswich Town	0–2	Charlton Athletic 4th	0–1	0–1

Final

25 May1998	Charlton Athletic	4 – 4 (a.e.t.) (7 – 6 pen.)	Sunderland	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 77,739 Referee: Eddie Wolstenholme
	Mendonca  23'  71'  103' Rufus  85'	(Details)	Quinn  50'  73' Phillips  58' Summerbee  99'

[edit] 1999

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Bolton Wanderers*	4–4	Ipswich Town 3rd	1–0	3–4 aet
5th Watford	1–1 (7–6 pen)	Birmingham City 4th	1–0	0–1 aet

* Bolton win on away goals

Final

1999-05-31	Bolton Wanderers	0 – 2	Watford	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 70,343 Referee: Terry Heilbron
		(Details)	Wright  38' Smart  89'

[edit] 2000

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Bolton Wanderers	5–7	Ipswich Town 3rd	2–2	3–5 aet
5th Birmingham City	2–5	Barnsley 4th	0–4	2–1

Final

2000-05-29	Barnsley	2 – 4	Ipswich Town	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,427 Referee: Terry Heilbron
	Wright  6' (o.g.) Hignett  78' (pen.)	(Details)	Mowbray  28' Naylor  52' Stewart  58' Reuser  90'

[edit] 2001

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th West Bromwich Albion	2–5	Bolton Wanderers 3rd	2–2	0–3
5th Birmingham City	2–2 (2–4 pens)	Preston North End 4th	1–0	1–2 aet

Final

2001-05-28	Bolton Wanderers	3 – 0	Preston North End	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 54,328 Referee: Uriah Rennie
	Farrelly  17' Ricketts  89' Gardner  90'	(Details)

[edit] 2002

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Norwich City	3–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers 3rd	3–1	0–1
5th Birmingham City	2–1	Millwall 4th	1–1	1–0

Final

2002-05-12	Birmingham City	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) (4 – 2 pen.)	Norwich City	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 71,597 Referee: Graham Barber
	Horsfield  102'	(Details)	Roberts  91'

[edit] 2003

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Nottingham Forest	4–5	Sheffield United 3rd	1–1	3–4
5th Wolverhampton Wanderers	3–1	Reading 4th	2–1	1–0

Final

2003-05-26	Sheffield United	0 – 3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 69,473 Referee: Steve Bennett
		(Details)	Kennedy  6' Blake  22' Miller  45'

[edit] 2004

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Crystal Palace	4–4 (5–4 pens)	Sunderland 3rd	3–2	1–2 aet
5th Ipswich Town	1–2	West Ham United 4th	1–0	0–2

Final

2004-05-29	Crystal Palace	1 – 0	West Ham United	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 72,523 Referee: Graham Poll
	Shipperley  62'	(Details)

[edit] 2005

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th West Ham United	4–2	Ipswich Town 3rd	2–2	2–0
5th Preston North End	2–0	Derby County 4th	2–0	0–0

2005-05-30	West Ham United	1 – 0	Preston North End	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 70,275 Referee: Mike Riley
	Zamora  57'	(Details)

[edit] 2006

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Crystal Palace	0–3	Watford 3rd	0–3	0–0
5th Leeds United	3–1	Preston North End 4th	1–1	2–0

Final

2006-05-21	Leeds United	0 – 3	Watford	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 64,736 Referee: Mike Dean
		(Details)	DeMerit  25' Sullivan  57' (o.g.) Henderson  84' (pen.)

[edit] 2007

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Southampton	4–4 (3–4 pens)	Derby County 3rd	1–2	3–2 aet
5th Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–4	West Bromwich Albion 4th	2–3	0–1

Final

2007-05-28	Derby County	1 – 0	West Bromwich Albion	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 74,993 Referee: Graham Poll
	Pearson  61'	(Details)

[edit] 2008

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Watford	1–6	Hull City 3rd	0–2	1–4
5th Crystal Palace	2–4	Bristol City 4th	1–2	1–2 aet

Final

2008-05-24	Bristol City	0 – 1	Hull City	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 86,703 Referee: Alan Wiley
			Windass  38'

[edit] 2009

Semi-finals

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
6th Preston North End	1 – 2	Sheffield United 3rd	1–1	0–1
5th Burnley	3 – 0	Reading 4th	1–0	2–0

Final

2009-05-25	Burnley	1 – 0	Sheffield United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 80,518 Referee: Mike Dean
	Elliott  13'	(Details)

[edit] See also

• League One play-offs
• League Two play-offs

[edit] References

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