The 2023 EFL Championship play-off final was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match which was played on 27 May 2023 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, to determine the third and final team to gain

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

from the EFL Championship, the second tier of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

, to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. The top two teams of the

2022–23 EFL Championship The 2022–23 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the 19th season of the Football League Championship under its current title and the 31st season under its current league division format. The seaso ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth in the table took part in 2023 English Football League play-offs. Success in the final has been estimated, by the accountancy company

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

, to be worth £170 million to the winning team over the next three seasons. The final was contested by

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, who finished third and fifth respectively in the league season. The match was notable for the rapid ascent of both sides through the English league system, as both teams had played in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

in the 2017–18 season. With the score 1–1 after extra time with goals from Jordan Clark and Gustavo Hamer, Luton won the final on penalties to secure a return to the top flight after 31 seasons, and for the first time in the Premier League era, having been relegated the season prior to its formation.

Route to the final

finished the regular 2022–23 season in third place in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, two places and 10 points ahead of

. They both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the

and instead took part in the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to determine the third and final promoted team. Luton finished 11 points behind

(who were promoted in second place) and 21 points behind league winners

. In their play-off semi-final, Luton faced sixth-placed Sunderland with the first match of the

two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...

taking place at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on 13 May 2023. Luton took the lead in the 11th minute after Sunderland had failed to clear a corner and

Elijah Adebayo Elijah Anuoluwapo Oluwaferanmi Oluwatomi Oluwalana Ayomikulehin Adebayo (born 7 January 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Luton Town. Career Adebayo joined Fulham at under-9 level, and s ...

scored from a rebounded shot after Alfie Doughty’s close range strike was saved by

Anthony Patterson Anthony Patterson (born 10 May 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Sunderland. He represents England U21 internationally. Playing career Patterson sat on the bench during the 2018–19 season and wa ...

. Sunderland gained possession of midfield and Luton’s Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu fouled

Patrick Roberts Patrick John Joseph Roberts (born 5 February 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for EFL Championship, Championship club Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland. Club career Fulham ...

resulting in a free-kick. Alex Pritchard touched the ball to Amad who curled the ball into the top corner of the net beyond Luton goalkeeper, Ethan Horvath who did not move, making the score 1–1 in the 39th minute. No further goals were scored in the first-half. Sunderland maintained their momentum in the second-half and in the 63rd minute, Trai Hume scored with a header from a Jack Clarke cross. Luton rallied towards the end of the second-half but were unable to score an equaliser and the game finished 2–1. The second leg took place at Luton’s

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, including the second ...

on 16 May with both clubs fielding the same starting elevens. Luton scored in the 10th minute when

Tom Lockyer Thomas Alun Lockyer (born 3 December 1994) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Luton Town and the Wales national team. Club career Bristol Rovers Lockyer was born and raised in Cardiff. He joined Cardiff ...

won the ball from a corner and the ball fell to Gabriel Osho who reacted quickly to score. Luton added a second in the 43rd minute when an inswinging cross by Alfie Doughty was met by Lockyer to head home and make the score 2–0. Luton’s tactic of putting high balls into the Sunderland penalty box continued to cause the Sunderland defence problems while Sunderland rarely troubled the Luton defence. No further goals were scored and Luton won 3–2 on aggregate winning a place in the final and a chance to return to the top tier of English football for the first time since 1992. In the other play-off semi-final, on 14 May, Coventry City played

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in the first leg at the CBS Arena in Coventry. In a match described as both "poor and tense", Coventry failed to have a single shot on target. Middlesbrough managed only two shots on target but also failed to score as the match ended 0–0. The second leg was played at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since it opened in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although there is provisional planning permission in place t ...

on 17 May. The only goal of the game came in the 57th minute when Middlesbrough lost possession on the half-way line. Coventry’s Viktor Gyökeres played the ball into space past Middlesbrough goalkeeper,

Zack Steffen Zackary Thomas Steffen (born April 2, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship club Middlesbrough, on loan from Premier League club Manchester City, and the United States national team. Ste ...

. Gustavo Hamer took control of the ball and hit a precise shot into the roof of the net. Middlesbrough pressed for an equaliser and they had the ball in the net with two minutes to go only for it to be ruled out for offside. Eight minutes of added time were played but Middlesbrough could not find a way past the Coventry defence and the game ended 1–0 to Coventry, the same aggregate scoreline which sent them through to the Wembley final against Luton Town. Coventry manager,

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

described the final as "one for the romantics" due to the rise of both teams from the lower tiers of English football, both clubs having been in

as recently as the 2017–18 season.

Match

Background

Summary

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:EFL Championship play-off final 2023

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2023 English Football League play-offs May 2023 sports events in the United Kingdom 2023 sports events in London Play-off Final 2023 Play-off Final 2023 Events at Wembley Stadium