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The Football League One Play-offs are a series of play-off matches, contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the NPower Football League One table to determine the third spot for promotion to the second tier of English football, the Championship.

The latest final was played on 19 May 2013, with Yeovil Town beating Brentford 2-1. As a result, Yeovil Town will compete in the second tier of English football for the first time in their history, in the 2013/14 season.

The record attendance for a League One Play-off final at Wembley was the 1999 final, when Manchester City played Gillingham and the attendance stood at 76,935.

Format[]

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

The current system of the League One play-offs uses two semi-finals played over two legs, with 6th playing 3rd and 5th playing 4th, with the return fixtures following. For the two-legged semi-finals, there is no away goals advantage such as those in the knock-out rounds of European competition. The Final is played at Wembley, although from 2001 to 2006, it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Wembley was being rebuilt.

Aside from the branding changes which affected English football in 1992 and 2004, the League One play-offs have also changed in format. The last alteration occurred in 1995, when the restructuring of the league meant 2nd to 5th contested the play-offs.

When they started in 1987, the play-offs originally featured a second-tier team and three third-tier clubs. This format was continued for 1988, but discontinued afterwards. The first winners of the playoffs at this level were Swindon Town, who were promoted to the Second Division in 1987 at the expense of Gillingham F.C. A year later, Walsall were promoted in similar fashion at the expense of Sheffield United.

The final was originally held over two legs, but both the 1987 and 1988 finals went to a third match at Selhurst Park and Fellows Park respectively. In 1989, the playoffs were two-legged affairs featuring the third, fourth, fifth and sixth place teams, with Port Vale being the successful side on this occasion.

From 1990, the final has been a single-match affair, being held at Wembley, or the Millennium Stadium between 2001 and 2006, apart from the 2011 final, which was moved to Old Trafford as Wembley was in use for the Champions League Final. The first winners of the one-match final were Notts County, who went on to win the Second Division playoff final a year later.

Past winners[]

Year Winners Finalists Semi-finalists
1987 Swindon Town Gillingham Sunderland, Wigan Athletic
1988 Walsall Bristol City Sheffield United, Notts County
1989 Port Vale Bristol Rovers Fulham, Preston North End
1990 Notts County Tranmere Rovers Bury, Bolton Wanderers
1991 Tranmere Rovers Bolton Wanderers Brentford, Bury
1992 Peterborough United Stockport County Huddersfield Town, Stoke City
1993 West Bromwich Albion Port Vale Swansea City, Stockport County
1994 Burnley Stockport County Plymouth Argyle, York City
1995 Huddersfield Town Bristol Rovers Brentford, Crewe Alexandra
1996 Bradford City Notts County Blackpool, Crewe Alexandra
1997 Crewe Alexandra Brentford Luton Town, Bristol City
1998 Grimsby Town Northampton Town Bristol Rovers, Fulham
1999 Manchester City Gillingham Preston North End, Wigan Athletic
2000 Gillingham Wigan Athletic Millwall, Stoke City
2001 Walsall Reading Stoke City, Wigan Athletic
2002 Stoke City Brentford Cardiff City, Huddersfield Town
2003 Cardiff City Queens Park Rangers Bristol City, Oldham Athletic
2004 Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol City Swindon Town, Hartlepool United
2005 Sheffield Wednesday Hartlepool United Tranmere Rovers, Brentford
2006 Barnsley Swansea City Brentford, Huddersfield Town
2007 Blackpool Yeovil Town Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic
2008 Doncaster Rovers Leeds United Carlisle United, Southend United
2009 Scunthorpe United Millwall Milton Keynes Dons, Leeds United
2010 Millwall Swindon Town Charlton Athletic, Huddersfield Town
2011 Peterborough United Huddersfield Town Milton Keynes Dons, Bournemouth
2012 Huddersfield Town Sheffield United Milton Keynes Dons, Stevenage
2013 Yeovil Town Brentford Sheffield United, Swindon Town
2014 Rotherham United Leyton Orient Preston North End, Peterborough United
2015 Preston North End Swindon Town Sheffield United, Chesterfield
2016 Barnsley Millwall Walsall, Bradford City
2017

Records[]

Note: These are only for play-offs at League One level, for overall records in the Football League play-offs see here.

External links[]

Football League One play-offs
Play-offs

1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 ·

Finals

1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 ·

Football League play-offs

Championship  · League One  · League Two

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