The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by six, four and four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football league system, namely the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two.
The play-offs currently comprise two single-leg "eliminators" (EFL Championship only), two semi-finals, each conducted as a two-legged tie with games played at each side's home ground. The aggregate winners of the semi-finals progress to the final, which is contested at Wembley Stadium; the victorious side is promoted to the league above, and the runners-up remain in the same division. In the event of drawn ties or finals, extra time followed by a penalty shoot-out are d as necessary.
The play-offs were introduced to the English Football League in 1987 and have been staged at the conclusion of every season since. The first three play-off seasons saw the finals also being conducted over two legs, on a home-and-away basis. Since 1990 the winners of each division's play-off competition have been determined in a one-off final. The venue for the final was the original Wembley Stadium for ten years before being moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, during Wembley's reconstruction, between 2000 and 2006. Since then, the finals have taken place at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium every year with the exception of 2011, when the third- and fourth-tier finals were hosted at Old Trafford as a result of a clash of fixtures with the UEFA Champions League final of that same year. The highest attendance for a championship final was in 2014, when QPR beat Derby County 1–0 before a crowd of 87,348. The play-off finals took place behind closed doors in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while a restricted attendance watched the following season's finals.
In 2020, Deloitte reported that the club winning the Championship play-off final could expect a financial bonus of between £135million and £265million. This has led to the second-tier play-off final being variously described as "one of the most lucrative games in all of football" and "the richest game in football".
In 2022, VAR was introduced to all three of the finals at Wembley.
History The mid-1980s saw a decline in attendances at football matches and public disenchantment with English football. A number of instances of violence and tragedy struck the game. In March 1985 at the semi-final of the 1984–85 Football League Cup between Chelsea and Sunderland more than 100 people were arrested after various invasions of the Stamford Bridge pitch and more than 40 people, including 20 policemen, were injured. Nine days later, violence flared at the FA Cup match between Millwall and Luton Town: seats were used as missiles against the police and Luton Town subsequently banned away supporters. On 11May, 56 people were killed and 265 injured in the Bradford City stadium fire and less than three weeks later, 39 supporters died and more than 600 were injured in the Heysel Stadium disaster while Liverpool were playing Juventus in the European Cup final.
In an attempt to persuade fans to return to the stadia, the Football League had rejected a £19million television deal to broadcast matches live on the BBC and ITV before the 1985–86 Football League season, with League president Jack Dunnett suggesting that "football is prepared to have a year or two with no television". In December 1985 a ten-point plan was agreed which aimed to revitalise the financial affairs of the league. This "Heathrow Agreement" included a structural reorganisation of the league, reducing the top tier from 22 clubs to 20, and the introduction of play-offs to facilitate the change. The play-offs were brought in at the end of the 1986–87 Football League season. They were initially introduced for two years, with the provision that if they were successful with the general public they would be retained permanently.
Format History For the first two seasons after the play-offs were inaugurated, the semi-finals were played between the three sides finishing below the automatic promotion places and the team one place above the relegation zone in the division above.
Current
Until 2025, the English Football League play-offs involved the four teams that finish directly below the automatic promotion places in each of the Championship, League One and League Two (the second, third, and fourth tiers of the English football league system). These teams meet in a series of play-off matches to determine the final team that will be promoted. The best-ranked team that fails to get automatically promoted plays the worst team that makes the playoffs while the other two teams play against each other, both in a two-legged tie: these matches are referred to as the "play-off semi-finals". The first leg between two teams in the semi-finals is played at the ground of the lower-position team in the league, while the second leg takes place at the higher-ranking side's ground. According to the EFL, "this is designed to give the highest finishing team an advantage".
The winner of each semi-final is determined by the aggregate score of the two legs. If the two teams are level on goals at the end of the regular 90 minutes of the second leg, the match goes into extra time, two 15-minute halves being played. If the score remains level at the end of extra time, the tie is decided by a penalty shootout. The away goals rule does not apply in the play-off semi-finals. The two semi-final winners then meet at Wembley Stadium, a neutral venue, for a one-off match referred to as the "play-off final". If required, extra time and a penalty shootout can be employed in the same manner as for the semi-finals to determine the winner. The runner-up and losing semi-finalists remain in the same league while the winning side are promoted.
+ Play-off nomenclature Years Second tier Third tier Fourth tier 1987–1992 Football League Second Division play-offs Football League Third Division play-offs Football League Fourth Division play-offs 1993–2004 Football League First Division play-offs Football League Second Division play-offs Football League Third Division play-offs 2005–2015 Football League Championship play-offs Football League One play-offs Football League Two play-offs 2016–present EFL Championship play-offs EFL League One play-offs EFL League Two play-offs
Changes to format During the first two stagings of the play-offs in 1987 and 1988, the four teams involved were the three clubs that finished directly below the automatic promotions positions, plus the club which finished directly above the automatic relegation places in the division above, similar to the Football League test matches of the 1890s. These play-offs were part of the league's two-season-long restructuring to reduce the number of teams in the top tier from 22 to 20 while increasing the number in the lower divisions to create three divisions of 24 clubs. During these seasons, only one club that entered the play-offs in a relegation place managed to win the play-offs and thereby retain their divisional status, Charlton Athletic in 1987.
In the seasons prior to the 1990 play-offs, the finals were two-legged ties with both teams hosting the other once. If the two teams could not be separated, a tie-breaker was then staged at a neutral venue. This was used on three occasions: the 1987 Second Division final was played at Birmingham City's St. Andrews; the 1987 Third Division final was played at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park; and the 1988 Third Division final was played at Walsall's Fellows Park (though this was not a neutral venue, as Walsall was one of the clubs involved).
Before the 1999–2000 season away goals were used as a tie-breaker after extra time had been played, but this was abolished following a club initiative launched by then-Ipswich Town chairman David Sheepshanks, after his club had twice lost on away goals in 1997 and 1999. Since then away goals have played no part in the play-off system.
On 5 March 2026, the EFL approved the expansion of the Championship play-offs from 4 to 6 teams with the teams ranked 3rd and 4th advancing directly to two-legged semi-finals with 5th-8th contesting single-leg "eliminator" games. There will be reseeding before the semifinals so that the 3rd place plays the lowest-seeded eliminator round winner and 4th place plays the highest-seeded eliminator round winner. Any changes to the League One and League Two play-off formats have been ruled out.
Proposed changes In 2003 Crystal Palace chief executive Phil Alexander proposed a change to the format of the play-offs. Alexander recommended expanding the number of teams in each play-off series from four to six, providing more clubs with a chance at promotion. Additionally, the two-legged semi-finals would have been replaced by one-off quarter-final and semi-final games, both of which would give home advantage to the team that finished higher during the league season. The two highest placed clubs in the play-off series would advance directly to the semi-final, while the other four clubs would contest the quarter-final. The proposed changes were narrowly approved by Football League chairmen and were set to be voted upon at the league's annual general meeting. However, the motion was withdrawn because of objections from the Premier League and the Football Association.
Venues +Play-off final venues Years Venue 1987–1989 Home and away 1990–2000 Wembley Stadium (former) 2001–2006 Millennium Stadium 2007–2010 Wembley Stadium 2011 Wembley Stadium/Old Trafford 2012–Present Wembley Stadium Throughout the history of the English Football League play-offs, the semi-finals have been conducted as two-legged matches played at the two stadia of the competing teams, less than a week apart. Between the 1987 and 1989 play-offs, the finals were also played on a home-and-away basis over two matches, occasionally with a replay being required: in the 1988 Football League Third Division play-off final, the aggregate score after the two legs between Walsall and Bristol City was 3–3, so a penalty shoot-out was used to determine which side would host the replay. Walsall won 4–2 and earned the right to play the deciding match at their home ground, Fellows Park, where they triumphed 4–0.
From the 1990 play-offs, each play-off final was a single match, which was hosted at the original Wembley Stadium. Typically, the finals of the three divisions took place, one match per day, across the second bank holiday weekend in May. During that first "Wembley Weekend" in 1990, spectators totalled almost 130,000, including nearly 73,000 for the Second Division final between Swindon Town and Sunderland. This was markedly greater than the largest crowd during the 1989–90 First Division season, around 47,000, at Old Trafford to watch Manchester United against Arsenal, and roughly the same as the attendance at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final. All of the second tier play-off finals played between 1990 and 1999 attracted crowds in excess of 55,000, with half of them seeing more than 70,000 in attendance. During that period, the record attendance for the third-tier decider came at the 1999 Second Division play-off final, when 76,935 people watched Manchester City beat Gillingham in a penalty shoot-out after scoring twice in the final two minutes to force the match into extra time. The former Wembley Stadium record for attendance in the fourth tier play-off final came in 1997 when a crowd of 46,804 witnessed Northampton Town's John Frain score in the last minute of the match to beat Swansea City 1–0.