2013 Football League Championship play-off final

The 2013 Football League Championship play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 27 May 2013 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Crystal Palace and Watford. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to the Premier League. The top two teams of the 2012–13 Football League Championship season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table partook in play-off semi-finals; Watford ended the season in third position while Crystal Palace finished fifth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2013–14 season in the Premier League. Winning the game was estimated to be worth up to £120 million to the successful team.

2013 Football League Championship play-off Final
The match was played at Wembley Stadium.
Event2012–13 Football League Championship
After extra time
Date27 May 2013
VenueWembley Stadium, London
Man of the MatchWilfried Zaha
RefereeMartin Atkinson
Attendance82,025

The 2013 final, refereed by Martin Atkinson, was watched by a crowd of more than 82,000 people. The game ended goalless in regular time, and proceeded into extra time. Crystal Palace won 1–0, with the only goal of the game coming from Kevin Phillips in the last minute of the first half of extra time from the penalty spot. It was Palace's fourth win in five play-off finals. Wilfried Zaha was named man of the match.

Both teams finished mid-table in their respective leagues the following season. Crystal Palace ended the next season in 11th place in the Premier League, while Watford finished their following campaign in the Championship 13th place.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.