Wembley Stadium hosted a gigantic football match on May 24, 2025.

Indeed, Sheffield United and Sunderland locked horns in the Championship playoff final to determine the third and final team to earn promotion to the Premier League for the 2025-26 campaign.

Leeds United and Burnley gained automatic promotion to England's top flight, and the duo will be joined by Sunderland, who posted a 2-1 success over Sheffield United in the showpiece event in the English capital.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the final of the Championship playoffs, including how much it is worth to the victorious side and previous winners of the fixture.

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Who faced off in 2025 Championship playoff final?

The contest pitted Sheffield United and Sunderland against each other in a one-off final.

Sheffield United finished third in the 2024-25 Championship table, boasting a record of 28 wins, eight draws and 10 defeats from their 46 matches to claim 90 points, which left them 10 points off second-placed Burnley.

The Blades finished 14 points ahead of fourth-placed Sunderland, who finished their league season with a record of 21 wins, 13 draws and 12 defeats to collect 76 points, seven points ahead of fifth-placed Coventry City.

Sheffield United were dominant against Bristol City in the semi-finals of the playoffs, winning 3-0 away before triumphing 3-0 at Bramall Lane, running out 6-0 aggregate winners to comfortably progress to the final.

Sunderland, meanwhile, were involved in a tight two-legged contest with Coventry; the first leg finished 2-1 to Regis Le Bris' side, before the Black Cats scored a last-gasp leveller in the second leg to make it 3-2 on aggregate and eliminate Frank Lampard's side in dramatic circumstances.

Sheffield United took a 1-0 lead in the final of the Championship playoffs, with Tyrese Campbell on the scoresheet, but Eliezer Mayenda made it 1-1 in the 76th minute before Tom Watson won it for Sunderland in the 95th minute.

Sheffield United have faced Sunderland on 148 occasions throughout history, and it is the latter that lead the head-to-head record, recording 68 wins to Sheffield United's 54, drawing 26 times in the process.

Sunderland recorded a 2-1 victory when the pair met at the Stadium of Light in January 2025, while it was 1-0 to Sheffield United in their contest at Bramall Lane in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign, before the Black Cats triumphed in the English capital.

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How much is promotion to the Premier League worth?

Sunderland will allegedly receive a minimum £220m in extra income.

The victorious team will receive a share of the new domestic television deal, which is worth close to £7bn over four seasons, while they will also receive centralised commercial fees, facility fees and merit payments.

The Black Cats will also be entitled to potential parachute payments if they are relegated back to the Championship, while both will receive extra income from the gate receipts from the final, which is worth in the region of £2m.

According to BBC Sport, the 2024 Championship playoff final was worth £140m, showing the huge increase this season, which made it an even more important match for Sheffield United and Sunderland.

Often branded 'the richest game in football', next season's final is expected to be worth even more, and second-tier clubs will already be thinking about securing a lucrative promotion to the top flight for the 2026-27 campaign.

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Championship playoff winners

1987 – Charlton Athletic

1988 – Middlesbrough

1989 – Crystal Palace

1990 – Swindon Town

1991 – Notts County

1992 – Blackburn Rovers

1993 – Swindon Town

1994 – Leicester City

1995 – Bolton Wanderers

1996 – Leicester City

1997 – Crystal Palace

1998 – Charlton Athletic

1999 – Watford

2000 – Ipswich Town

2001 – Bolton Wanderers

2002 – Birmingham City

2003 – Wolverhampton Wanderers

2004 – Crystal Palace

2005 – West Ham Unoited

2006 – Watford

2007 – Derby County

2008 – Hull City

2009 – Burnley

2010 – Blackpool

2011 – Swansea City

2012 – West Ham United

2013 – Crystal Palace

2014 – Queens Park Rangers

2015 – Norwich City

2016 – Hull City

2017 – Huddersfield Town

2018 – Fulham

2019 – Aston Villa

2020 – Fulham

2021 – Brentford

2022 – Nottingham Forest

2023 – Luton Town

2024 - Southampton

2025: Sunderland

Crystal Palace are the most successful team in Championship playoff finals, having triumphed on four occasions, while no other club has posted more than two victories in the showpiece event.

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When were Sunderland last in the Premier League?

Sunderland have been absent from the Premier League since the 2016-17 season, when they finished 20th in the division to drop back into the Championship.

Incredibly, the team played in League One for four straight seasons before returning to the Championship in 2022-23, and after finishing 16th in 2023-24, fourth this term allowed them to qualify for the playoffs and ultimately secure promotion.

Sunderland have played 87 seasons in the top flight of English football throughout their history.

Written by
Matt Law