2025 EFL League One play-off final
Wembley Stadium in London hosted the final. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Date | 25 May 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Andrew Kitchen | ||||||
| Attendance | 76,193 | ||||||
The 2025 EFL League One play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 2025 at Wembley Stadium, London, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from EFL League One, the third tier of English football, to the EFL Championship. The top two teams of the 2024–25 EFL League One, Birmingham City and Wrexham, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the clubs placed from third to sixth in the table – Stockport County, Charlton Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers and Leyton Orient – took part in the 2025 English Football League play-offs.
Charlton won the play-off final 1-0 against Leyton Orient to gain promotion to the Championship, the first time in this league since their relegation in 2020.[1]
Route to the final
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham City (C, P) | 46 | 34 | 9 | 3 | 84 | 31 | +53 | 111 | Promotion to 2025–26 EFL Championship |
| 2 | Wrexham (P) | 46 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 67 | 34 | +33 | 92 | |
| 3 | Stockport County | 46 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 72 | 42 | +30 | 87 | Eliminated |
| 4 | Charlton Athletic | 46 | 25 | 10 | 11 | 67 | 43 | +24 | 85 | Qualified |
| 5 | Wycombe Wanderers | 46 | 24 | 12 | 10 | 70 | 45 | +25 | 84 | Eliminated |
| 6 | Leyton Orient | 46 | 24 | 6 | 16 | 72 | 48 | +24 | 78 | Qualified |
Charlton Athletic finished the regular 2024–25 season in fourth place in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system, two places and seven points ahead of Leyton Orient. Both, therefore, missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the EFL Championship and instead took part the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Charlton finished seven points behind Wrexham (who were promoted in second place) and 26 behind league winners Birmingham City. They finished a point a head of Wycombe Wanderers, their opponents in the play-off semi-final. Leyton Orient finished nine points behind Stockport County, their semi-final opponents.[2]
The first leg between Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton took place at Adams Park on 11 May. The finished in a 0–0 draw.[3]
On 10 May, Leyton Orient played Stockport County at Brisbane Road drawing 2–2. Charlie Kelman put Orient ahead in the 30th minute scoring from an Omar Beckles assist and Oliver Norwood then equalised for County in the 60th minute with a penalty kick for a handball by Rarmani Edmonds-Green and Fraser Horsfall then put the visitors ahead in the 65th minute from a Norwood cross. Kelman then equalised for the hosts in the 88th minute with another penalty kick for another handball by Horsfall.[4]
Charlton then played their second leg against Wycombe Wanderers on 15 May at The Valley winning 1–0. Matt Godden scored the sole goal in the 81st minute to give Charlton a 1–0 on the night and a 1–0 victory on aggregate. This sent them to their first play-off final since the 2019 EFL League One play-off final where they beat Sunderland 2–1.[5]
Leyton Orient played their semi-final second leg at Edgeley Park on 14 May drawing 1–1 after extra time and winning 4-1 on penalties. Ollie O'Neill opened the scoring for Orient in the 3rd minute from an Ethan Galbraith free-kick and Isaac Olaofe then equalised for Stockport in the 74th minute from a Jack Diamond assist. As no further goals were scored in extra time the match went to penalties with only Norwood scoring his spot-kick for County with Diamond and Ryan Rydel missing their penalties. Tom James, Sean Clare, Azeem Abdulai and Galbraith all successfully convertered their spot kicks to send Orient to their first play-off final since the 2014 Football League One play-off final where they drew 2–2 and lost 4–3 on penalties to Rotherham United.[6]
Match
Details
Charlton Athletic
|
Leyton Orient
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charlton Athletic | Leyton Orient | |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 37% | 63% |
| Goals scored | 1 | 0 |
| Shots on target | 3 | 1 |
| Shots off target | 2 | 15 |
| Fouls committed | 11 | 9 |
| Corner kicks | 2 | 6 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 0 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
References
- ^ Wiseman, Ciaran (25 May 2025). "Charlton finally seal Championship return as Orient's 95-year curse continues". talkSPORT. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
- ^ "Sky Bet League One | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ^ "Wycombe 0–0 Charlton: League One play-off semi-final first leg ends all square". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ^ "Leyton Orient 2–2 Stockport County: League One play-off semi-final first leg ends level". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ^ "Charlton Athletic 1–0 Wycombe Wanderers (1–0 agg): Addicks reach League One play-off final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ^ "Stockport County 1–1 Leyton Orient (1–4 pens): O's beat Hatters to reach play-off final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2025.