2022 Football League play-offs

English Football League play-offs 2021–22
Season information
Winners	Championship: Nottingham Forest League One: Sunderland League Two: Port Vale
Season statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	26
← 2021	2023 →

The English Football League play-offs for the 2021–22 season (referred to as the Sky Bet Play-Offs for sponsorship reasons) were held in May 2022 with all finals being staged at Wembley Stadium in Wembley.

The play-offs begin in each league with two semi-finals which are played over two legs. The teams who finished in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place in the Championship and League One and the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th-placed teams in League Two compete. The winners of the semi-finals advance to the finals, with the winners gaining promotion for the following season.

Background

The English Football League play-offs have been held every year since 1987. They take place for each division following the conclusion of the regular season and are contested by the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places. The fixtures are determined by final league position – in the Championship and League One this is 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th, while in League Two it is 4th v 7th and 5th v 6th.

Television

All English Football League play-off games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. It will be simulcast on the ESPN+ streaming platform in the United States.

Championship

Main article:2021–22 EFL Championship

Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 7 May 2022, due to Bournemouth beating Nottingham Forest on 3 May 2022, it meant that Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town were guaranteed to finish either 3rd or 4th and in the play-offs. Sheffield United and Luton Town won their games against Fulham and Reading respectively, because of this, Middlesbrough and Millwall were unable to qualify for the play-offs regardless of their results. It means that Luton Town will play Huddersfield Town, and Sheffield United would play Nottingham Forest in the 1st legs, and vice versa in the 2nd legs.

Final league position - Championship
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Huddersfield Town	46	23	13	10	64	47	17	82
4	Nottingham Forest	46	23	11	12	73	40	33	80
5	Sheffield United	46	21	12	13	63	45	18	75
6	Luton Town	46	21	12	13	63	55	8	75

First leg

13 May 2022 19:45 BST	Luton Town	1–1	Huddersfield Town	Kenilworth Road Attendance: 10,005 Referee: Robert Jones
	Bradley  30'	Report	Sinani  12'

14 May 2022 15:00 BST	Sheffield United	1–2	Nottingham Forest	Bramall Lane Attendance: 30,225 Referee: Andre Marriner
	Berge  90+1'	Report	Colback  10' Johnson  71'

Second leg

16 May 2022 19:45 BST	Huddersfield Town	1–0	Luton Town	John Smith's Stadium Referee: Peter Bankes
	Rhodes  82'	Report

Huddersfield Town won 2–1 on aggregate.

17 May 2022 19:45 BST	Nottingham Forest	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Sheffield United	City Ground Attendance: 29,015 Referee: Michael Oliver
	Johnson  19'	Report	Gibbs-White  47' Fleck  75'
		Penalties
	Johnson Cafú Cook Lolley	3–2	Norwood Hourihane Berge Ndiaye Gibbs-White

3–3 on aggregate. Nottingham Forest won 3–2 on penalties.

Championship Final

Main article:2022 EFL Championship play-off Final

The winner of this match will be promoted to the Premier League and will play in the 2022–23 Premier League season.

29 May 2022 16:30 BST	Huddersfield Town	0–1	Nottingham Forest	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 80,019 Referee: Jonathan Moss
		Report	Colwill  43' (o.g.)

League One

Main article:2021–22 EFL League One

League One Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 30 April 2022, Milton Keynes Dons had already guaranteed a place in the Play-Offs and would have been promoted if they had a better result than Rotherham United. Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland won their games against Portsmouth and Morecambe respectively to finish 4th and 5th. Wycombe Wanderers beat Burton Albion and due to Plymouth Argyle losing to Milton Keynes Dons, Wycombe Wanderers finished 6th and Plymouth Argyle finished 7th. It meant that Wycombe Wanderers would play Milton Keynes Dons and Sunderland would play Sheffield Wednesday in the 1st legs, and vice versa in the 2nd legs.

Final league position - League One
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Milton Keynes Dons	46	26	11	9	78	44	34	89
4	Sheffield Wednesday	46	24	13	9	78	50	28	85
5	Sunderland	46	24	12	10	79	53	26	84
6	Wycombe Wanderers	46	23	14	9	75	51	24	83

First leg

5 May 2022 19:45 BST	Wycombe Wanderers	2–0	Milton Keynes Dons	Adams Park Attendance: 8,987 Referee: Darren Bond
	Tafazolli  38' Vokes  82'	Report	McEachran  69'

6 May 2022 19:45 BST	Sunderland	1–0	Sheffield Wednesday	Stadium of Light Attendance: 44,742 Referee: Matthew Donohue
	Stewart  45+1'	Report

Second leg

8 May 2022 18:30 BST	Milton Keynes Dons	1-0	Wycombe Wanderers	Stadium MK Attendance: 13,012 Referee: Thomas Bramall
	Parrott  26'	Report

Wycombe Wanderers won 2–1 on aggregate.

9 May 2022 19:45 BST	Sheffield Wednesday	1–1	Sunderland	Hillsborough Stadium Attendance: 32,978 Referee: James Linington
	Gregory  74'	Report	Roberts  90+3'

Sunderland won 2–1 on aggregate.

League One Final

Main article:2022 EFL League One play-off Final

The winner of this match will join Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United in being promoted to the EFL Championship and will play in the 2022–23 EFL Championship season.

21 May 2022 15:00 BST	Sunderland	2–0	Wycombe Wanderers	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 72,332 Referee: Simon Hooper
	Embleton  12' Stewart  79'	Report

League Two

Main article:2021–22 EFL League Two

Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 7 May 2022, Bristol Rovers had already secured a play-off place and could still have finished 3rd and gained automatic promotion if they bettered Northampton Town's result in the last game of the season. Northampton Town and Bristol Rovers both won their games, which would have put both of them on 80 points with Northampton Town going up on goal difference, but due to Bristol Rovers winning their game 7-0, it put them both on a 22 goal difference, but Bristol Rovers had scored more goals than Northampton Town. This meant that against all the odds at the time, Bristol Rovers were going up and Northampton Town were condemned to the play-offs. Swindon Town beat Walsall in their game, and Mansfield Town drew to champions Forest Green Rovers, which was enough to qualify for the play-offs. It meant that Mansfield Town would play Northampton Town and Swindon Town would play Port Vale in the 1st legs, and vice versa in the 2nd legs.

Final league position - League Two
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
4	Northampton Town	46	23	11	12	60	38	22	80
5	Port Vale	46	22	12	12	67	46	21	78
6	Swindon Town	46	22	11	13	77	54	23	77
7	Mansfield Town	46	22	11	13	67	52	15	77

First leg

14 May 2022 19:45 BST	Mansfield Town	2–1	Northampton Town	Field Mill Attendance: 7,469 Referee: Anthony Backhouse
	Oates  13' Bowery  32'	Report	Koiki  61'

15 May 2022 12:00 BST	Swindon Town	2–1	Port Vale	County Ground Attendance: 14,086 Referee: Ross Joyce
	McKirdy  26'  68'	Report	Wilson  83'

Second leg

18 May 2022 19:45 BST	Northampton Town	0–1	Mansfield Town	Sixfields Stadium Attendance: 7,619 Referee: Ben Toner
		Report	McLaughlin  32'

Mansfield Town won 3–1 on aggregate.

19 May 2022 19:45 BST	Port Vale	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Swindon Town	Vale Park Attendance: 11,669 Referee: Seb Stockbridge
	Wilson  8'	Report
		Penalties
	Wilson Worrall Edmondson Charsley Pett Garrity Gibbons Benning	6–5	Payne Gladwin McKirdy Reed Davison Conroy Egbo Iandolo

2–2 on aggregate. Port Vale won 6–5 on penalties.

League Two Final

Main article:2022 EFL League Two play-off Final

The winner of this match will be promoted to EFL League One and will play in the 2022–23 EFL League One season.

28 May 2022 16:00 BST	Mansfield Town	0–3	Port Vale	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 37,303 Referee: Jarred Gillett
		Report	Harratt  20' Wilson  24' Benning  85'