| Founded | 1987 |
|---|---|
| Region | England Wales |
| Number of teams | 12 (4 per division) |
| Television broadcasters | Sky Sports |
 2024 English Football League play-offs | |
The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football league system, namely the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two. As of 2022[update], the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, each conducted as a two-legged tie with games played at each side's home ground. The aggregate winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium, where the victorious side is promoted to the league above, and the runners-up remain in the same division. In the event of drawn ties or finals, extra time followed by a penalty shoot-out are employed as necessary.
The play-offs were introduced to the English Football League in 1987 and have been staged at the conclusion of every season since. The first three play-off seasons saw the finals also being conducted over two legs, on a home-and-away basis. Since 1990 the winners of each division's play-off competition have been determined in a one-off final. The venue for the final was the original Wembley Stadium for ten years before being moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, during Wembley's reconstruction, between 2000 and 2006. Since then, the finals have taken place at the renovated Wembley Stadium every year with the exception of 2011 when the third- and fourth-tier finals were hosted at Old Trafford as a result of a clash of fixtures with that year's UEFA Champions League final. The highest attendance for a championship final was in the 2013–14 season that saw QPR beat Derby County 1–0 with a crowd of 87,348 The play-off finals took place behind closed doors in the 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom while a restricted attendance watched the following season's finals.
In 2020, Deloitte reported that the club winning the Championship play-off final could expect a financial bonus of between £135 million and £265 million. This has led to the second-tier play-off final being variously described as "one of the most lucrative games in all of football" and "the richest game in football".