 The match was played at Wembley Stadium. | |||||||
| Event | 2017–18 EFL Championship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 26 May 2018 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Tom Cairney (Fulham) | ||||||
| Referee | Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 85,243 | ||||||
| Weather | Warm | ||||||
The 2018 EFL Championship play-off final was an association football match which was played on 26 May 2018 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Aston Villa and Fulham. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, to the Premier League. The top two teams of the 2017–18 EFL 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; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2018–19 season in the Premier League; Fulham ended the season in third place while Aston Villa finished fourth. Winning the game was estimated to be worth £160 million to the successful team.
The 2018 final, refereed by Anthony Taylor, was watched by a crowd of more than 85,000 people in very warm conditions. Fulham won 1–0, the only goal of the game being scored by the man of the match Tom Cairney in the 23rd minute. It was their first game at Wembley for 43 years since losing the 1975 FA Cup Final and marked their return to the Premier League for the first time since their relegation in the 2013–14 season.
Fulham ended the next season in 19th place and were relegated back to the Championship, despite finishing ten points ahead of bottom club Huddersfield Town. Aston Villa finished fifth in the 2018–19 EFL Championship and secured a 2–1 victory in the play-off final which saw them promoted to the Premier League for the 2019–20 season.