EFL Championship play-offs
Year Winners ( number of wins ) Runners-up Semi-finalists
1987 Charlton Athletic ( 1 ) Leeds United Oldham Athletic , Ipswich Town
1988 Middlesbrough ( 1 ) Chelsea Bradford City , Blackburn Rovers
1989 Crystal Palace ( 1 ) Blackburn Rovers Watford , Swindon Town
1990 Swindon Town ( 1 ) Sunderland Newcastle United , Blackburn Rovers
1991 Notts County ( 1 ) Brighton & Hove Albion Millwall , Middlesbrough
1992 Blackburn Rovers ( 1 ) Leicester City Derby County , Cambridge United
1993 Swindon Town ( 2 ) Leicester City Portsmouth , Tranmere Rovers
1994 Leicester City ( 1 ) Derby County Millwall , Tranmere Rovers
1995 Bolton Wanderers ( 1 ) Reading Wolverhampton Wanderers , Tranmere Rovers
1996 Leicester City ( 2 ) Crystal Palace Stoke City , Charlton Athletic
1997 Crystal Palace ( 2 ) Sheffield United Wolverhampton Wanderers , Ipswich Town
1998 Charlton Athletic ( 2 ) Sunderland Ipswich Town , Sheffield United
1999 Watford ( 1 ) Bolton Wanderers Ipswich Town , Birmingham City
2000 Ipswich Town ( 1 ) Barnsley Birmingham City , Bolton Wanderers
2001 Bolton Wanderers ( 2 ) Preston North End Birmingham City , West Bromwich Albion
2002 Birmingham City ( 1 ) Norwich City Wolverhampton Wanderers , Millwall
2003 Wolverhampton Wanderers ( 1 ) Sheffield United Reading , Nottingham Forest
2004 Crystal Palace ( 3 ) West Ham United Sunderland , Ipswich Town
2005 West Ham United ( 1 ) Preston North End Ipswich Town , Derby County
2006 Watford ( 2 ) Leeds United Preston North End , Crystal Palace
Past winners
The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the EFL Championship table. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 3rd playing 6th and 4th playing 5th, with the return fixtures following. The final is played at Wembley Stadium, although from 2001 to 2006, it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Wembley was being rebuilt. The first play-offs at this level were contested in 1987, when it was the Football League Second Division. From 1993 to 2004, following the creation of the FA Premier League as a breakaway from the Football League, it became the Division One play-offs, and since 2005 has taken its current name as the Championship play-offs following a rebranding of the remaining three divisions of the Football League. There is no single sporting event in the world more valuable to the winners, who end up approximately £170m better off than the losers, mainly due to the increased commercial television revenue from being promoted to the Premier League. However, by convention the two finalists agree that the loser will keep all the gate receipts from the game, so as to slightly soften the financial blow of missing out. The most recent final was between Aston Villa and Derby County on 27 May 2019, with Aston Villa being promoted to the Premier League after a 2-1 victory. Ipswich Town have been in the Championship play-offs a joint record eight times: 1987, 1997-2000 inclusive, 2004, 2005 and 2015, making the final only once in 2000 (when they won promotion). Derby County have also made the playoffs 8 times, with their only success coming in 2007. Leicester City have reached the Championship play-off final four times (in the space of five seasons), losing two in 1992 and 1993 and winning two in 1994 and 1996. Crystal Palace have also appeared in the final five times, losing in 1996 and winning in 1989, 1997, 2004 and 2013, the most wins by any club.