The Richest Game

The EFL Championship Play-Off Final is reportedly the most valuable single match in world sport, valued at up to £160 million for the winner!

The Football League play-off system began in fairly humble circumstances in the late-1980s when the game in England was in a major slump. The short-term aim was to allow restructuring of the League's four divisions, with a longer term goal of keeping excitement alive for longer as clubs in mid-table would potentially have something to play for through to the final few matches of the season. Nowadays, the match has all the razmataz of a big final as the teams battle it out for a place in the promised land of the Premier League.

It is interesting to note the Northern Ireland players who have featured in the match, some sneaking into the Premier League via the "back-door" and others who have suffered the heartbreak of missing out on satisfying a life-time ambition of playing in one of the world's elite stages...

Year	Winners			Losers			Notes
Football League Second Division
1988	-	-	-	Chelsea	Kevin Wilson	-	2 legs
1992	-	-	-	Leicester	Colin Hill	-	-
Football League First Division
1993	-	-	-	Leicester	Colin Hill	-	-
1995	-	-	-	Reading	Jimmy Quinn	sub/①	also p-m
1996	Leicester	Neil Lennon	-	-	-	-	-
-	-	Colin Hill	sub	-	-	-	-
1999	Watford	Peter Kennedy	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Ipswich	Jim Magilton	-	-	-	-	-
2001	-	-	-	Preston	Colin Murdock	-	-
-	-	-	-	-	David Healy	-	-
2002	Birmingham	Damien Johnson	u/sub	Norwich	Phil Mulryne	-	-
-	-	-	-	-	Paul McVeigh	-	-
2004	-	-	-	West Ham	Steve Lomas	-	-
Football League Championship
2006	-	-	-	Leeds	David Healy	sub	-
2007	Derby Co	Lee Camp	u/sub	-	-	-	-
2008	-	-	-	Bristol C.	Ivan Sproule	sub	-
2009	Burnley	Michael Duff	-	Sheff Utd	Jamie Ward	sub ●	-
-	-	Martin Paterson	-	-	-	-	-
2010	-	-	-	Cardiff	Tony Capaldi	u/sub	-
2012	West Ham	George McCartney	sub	Blackpool	Craig Cathcart	u/sub	-
2014	QPR	Aaron Hughes	u/sub	Derby Co	Jamie Ward	-	-
EFL Championship
2016	Hull City	Alex Bruce	u/sub	-	-	-	-
2018	Fulham	Ollie Norwood	sub	-	-	-	-

Managers:

Iain Dowie (won 2004)

Martin O'Neill (won 1996)

Jimmy Quinn (lost 1995 [joint-player-manager])

Brendan Rodgers (won 2011)

Nigel Worthington (lost 2002)

THIRD TIER

Football League Third Division

1987 Swindon Town - Jimmy Quinn (1L) (won)

1990 Tranmere Rovers - Jim Harvey (lost)

1991 Tranmere Rovers - Jim Harvey (sub) (won)

Football League Second Division

1993 West Brom - Bernard McNally (won)

1997 Crewe - Dele Adebola (won)

1998 Grimsby - Aidan Davision, Kingsley Black (sub) (won); Northampton - Colin Hill (lost)

1999 Man City - Kevin Horlock, Jeff Whitley (won - pens)

2000 Wigan - Pat McGibbon, Roy Carroll (u/sub) (won)

2001 Reading - Barry Hunter (sub) (lost)

2004 Bristol City - Tommy Doherty; Danny Wilson (manager) (lost)

Football League One

2005 Sheff Wed - Alex Bruce, Chris Brunt, James Quinn (won)

2009 Scunthorpe - Grant McCann (won)

2011 Peterborough - Grant McCann (won)

2012 Sheff Utd - Danny Wilson (manager) (lost - pens)

2014 Rotherham - Michael O'Connor (u/sub) (won - pens)

EFL League One

2016 Millwall - Shane Ferguson (lost)

2017 Millwall - Shane Ferguson (sub) (won); Bradford - Rory McArdle (lost)

2018 Rotherham - Caolan Lavery (sub) (won)

2019 Charlton - Ben Reeves (u/sub) (won); Sunderland - Tom Flanagan, Will Grigg (sub) (lost)

2020 Oxford - Mark Sykes (lost)

2021 Blackpool - Daniel Ballard (won)

2022 Sunderland - Corry Evans (capt) (won)

FOURTH TIER

Football League Fourth Division

1987 Wolves - Robbie Dennison (2L) (lost)

Football League Third Division

1993 York City - Jon McCarthy (won - pens); Crewe - Neil Lennon (lost - pens)

1994 Wycombe - Martin O'Neill (manager) (won)

1996 Darlington - Jim Platt (manager) (lost)

2002 Cheltenham - Michael Duff (won); Rushden & Diamonds - Barry Hunter (u/sub) (lost)

Football League Two

2005 Lincoln - Gareth McAuley (lost)

2006 Cheltenham - Shane Duff, Grant McCann (won); Grimsby Town - Ciaran Toner (u/sub) (lost)

2008 Rochdale - Rory McArdle (lost)

2009 Gillingham - Alan Julian (u/sub) (won)

2011 Torquay - Billy Kee, Eunan O'Kane (lost)

2013 Bradford - Rory McArdle (won)

2014 Fleetwood - Conor McLaughlin (won); Burton - Robbie Weir, Adam McGurk, Billy Kee (lost)

2017 Blackpool - Kyle Vassell (won); Exeter - Liam McAlinden (lost)

2021 Morecambe - Brad Lyons (sub) (won)

FIFTH TIER (play-offs introduced 2003)

Football Conference

2004 Shrewsbury - Jimmy Quinn (manager) (won)

Conference National

2005 Stevenage - Alan Julian (won)

2007 Morecambe - Sammy McIlroy (manager) (won); Exeter - Wayne Carlisle (lost)

Conference Premier

2008 Exeter - Wayne Carlisle (u/sub) (won); Cambridge - Lee McEvilly (lost)

2009 Torquay - Wayne Carlisle (won)

2010 Oxford - Adam Chapman (MotM) (won); York - Michael Ingham (capt) (lost)

2012 York - Michael Ingham (won)

2013 Newport - Alan Julian (u/sub) (won); Wrexham - Dele Adebola (lost)

2014 Gateshead - Carl Magnay (lost)

2015 Bristol Rovers - Mark McChrystal (capt) (won); Grimsby - Carl Magnay (lost)

National League

2017 Tranmere - Jeff Hughes (lost)

2018 Tranmere - Jeff Hughes (won)

Summary by Player/Manager:

Barclay's First Division Play-Off winner's trophy, 1993