2017 EFL Championship play-off Final

2017 EFL Championship play-off final

Reading Huddersfield Town 0 0
Huddersfield Town won 4–3 on penalties
Event	2016–17 EFL Championship
Date	29 May 2017
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 EFL Championship play-off final was hosted on 29 May 2017 at Wembley Stadium, London. The winner gains promotion to the 2017–18 Premier League season. The top two teams of the 2016–17 EFL Championship season gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, whilst the teams placed between third and sixth place in the league table play two initial matches in a series of play-offs, and the top two teams of the play-offs play for the final place for the 2017–18 season in the Premier League. Huddersfield Town won on penalties against Reading in the final, ending many years of waiting for a return to the top flight.

Teams

Club	Previous appearances
Reading	1995, 2011
Huddersfield Town	None

Route to final

Main article:2016–17 EFL Championship

Reading				Round	Huddersfield Town
Final league position Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 3 Reading 46 26 7 13 68 64 +4 85 4 Sheffield Wednesday 46 24 9 13 60 45 +15 81 5 Huddersfield Town 46 25 6 15 56 58 −2 81 6 Fulham 46 22 14 10 85 57 +28 80
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-offs	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Fulham	2–1	1–1 (A)	1–0 (H)	Semi-finals	Sheffield Wednesday	1–1	0–0 (H)	1–1 aet (A) 4–3 on pens

Reading qualified for the play-offs following a 1–0 victory over Wigan Athletic at the Madejski Stadium on 29 April 2017. On 16 May, Reading reached the final after beating Fulham 1–0 at the Madejski Stadium with a penalty scored by Yann Kermorgant after Tomas Kalas had handled the ball. This gave them a 2–1 aggregate victory, the first leg having finished 1–1 at Craven Cottage with goals from Jordan Obita for Reading and Tom Cairney for Fulham. The game is Reading's first appearance in the final since 2011 when they were beaten 4–2 by Swansea City. Reading have never won a play-off competition, having previously lost to Bolton Wanderers in the 1995 First Division play-off final and to Walsall in the 2001 Second Division play-off final, while losing in the second tier play-off semi-finals in 2003 and 2009.

Huddersfield Town qualified for the play-offs on 25 April 2017 following a 1–0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers. In the first leg of the semi-final, on 14 May 2017, they drew 0–0 at the John Smith's Stadium against Sheffield Wednesday. The second-leg, on 18 May 2017, finished 1–1 at the end of extra-time. Sheffield Wednesday scored first through Steven Fletcher only for Tom Lees to score an own goal to equalize for Huddersfield Town. The resulting penalty shootout finished 4–3 in Huddersfield's favour with their goalkeeper, Danny Ward saving two Wednesday penalties, from Sam Hutchinson and Fernando Forestieri.

Match overview

Build up

The final took place on 29 May 2017. Winning the game is estimated to be worth at least £170m to the winning team.

Reading were allocated 38,342 tickets for the final in the eastern half of Wembley Stadium, with their opponents being allocated the western half of the ground. Ticket prices range from £36 to £98 for adults, with concessions being half price

Reading went without captain Paul McShane, who was shown a straight red in their play-off semi-final first leg game at Fulham. He will, additionally, be suspended for the first game of next season.

Match

29 May 2017 15:00	Huddersfield Town	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Reading	Wembley Stadium, London Referee: Neil Swarbrick
		Report
		Penalties
	Löwe Hefele Wells Mooy Schindler	4–3	Kermorgant Williams Kelly Moore Obita

Huddersfield Town

Reading

GK 1 Danny Ward RB 2 Tommy Smith 75' 88' CB 44 Michael Hefele CB 26 Christopher Schindler LB 15 Chris Löwe DM 6 Jonathan Hogg 29' DM 10 Aaron Mooy RM 9 Elias Kachunga 61' 66' AM 37 Isaiah Brown 98' LM 17 Rajiv van La Parra CF 21 Nahki Wells Substitutes: GK 13 Joel Coleman DF 5 Mark Hudson DF 12 Tareiq Holmes-Dennis DF 14 Martin Cranie 88' MF 4 Dean Whitehead MF 45 Kasey Palmer 98' FW 23 Collin Quaner 66' Manager: David Wagner

GK 26 Ali Al-Habsi CB 20 Tiago Ilori CB 16 Liam Moore CB 4 Joey van den Berg 17' 64' RM 2 Chris Gunter CM 6 George Evans CM 23 Danny Williams LM 24 Tyler Blackett AM 8 John Swift 100' RS 18 Yann Kermorgant 19' LS 50 Lewis Grabban 74' Substitutes: GK 31 Anssi Jaakkola DF 11 Jordan Obita 105' 64' DF 25 Adrian Popa MF 7 Roy Beerens MF 12 Garath McCleary 74' MF 38 Liam Kelly 100' FW 9 Joseph Mendes Manager: Jaap Stam