2023 Football League play-offs

English Football League play-offs 2022–23
Season information
Winners	Championship: Luton Town League One: Sheffield Wednesday League Two: Carlisle United
Season statistics
Matches played	18
Goals scored	32
← 2022	2024 →

The English Football League play-offs for the 2022–23 season (referred to as the Sky Bet Play-Offs for sponsorship reasons) were held in May 2023 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.

Championship

Main article:2022–23 EFL Championship

Championship Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 8 May 2023. Going into the final day, Luton Town and Middlesbrough had already confirmed their places in their play-offs, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Coventry City started and finished the day in 5th with a draw over Middlesbrough being enough to ensure both teams would face each other in the semi-finals. Millwall started the day in 6th, but Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion, and Blackburn Rovers all remained in the hunt for the last spot at the start of play. West Bromwich Albion missed out after a loss against Swansea City. Millwall fell to 8th as they lost against fellow hopefuls Blackburn Rovers who also missed out in 7th on goal difference. Sunderland's win against Preston North End meant that they secured 6th spot and face Luton Town in the semi-finals, giving themselves the chance to be promoted via the play-offs for the second season in a row after they won the 2022 League One play-off Final last season.

Final league position - Championship
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Luton Town	46	21	17	8	57	39	+18	80
4	Middlesbrough	46	22	9	15	84	56	+28	75
5	Coventry City	46	18	16	12	58	46	+12	70
6	Sunderland	46	18	15	13	68	55	+13	69

First leg

13 May 2023 17:30 BST	Sunderland	2–1	Luton Town	Stadium of Light Attendance: 46,060 Referee: Tim Robinson
	Diallo  39' Hume  63'	Report	Adebayo  11'

14 May 2023 12:00 BST	Coventry City	0–0	Middlesbrough	Coventry Building Society Arena Attendance: 28,874 Referee: Bobby Madley
		Report

Second leg

16 May 2023 20:00 BST	Luton Town	2–0	Sunderland	Kenilworth Road Attendance: 10,013 Referee: Simon Hooper
	Osho  10' Lockyer  43'	Report

Luton Town won 3–2 on aggregate.

17 May 2023 20:00	Middlesbrough	0–1	Coventry City	Riverside Stadium Attendance: 32,154 Referee: David Coote
		Report	Hamer  57'

Coventry City won 1–0 on Aggregate.

Championship Final

Main article:2023 EFL Championship play-off Final

Luton Town will be promoted to the Premier League and will play in the 2023–24 Premier League season alongside automatically promoted teams Burnley and Sheffield United.

27 May 2023 (2023-05-27) 16:45 BST	Coventry City	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Luton Town	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 85,711 Referee: Michael Oliver
	Hamer  66'	Report	Clark  23'
		Penalties
	Godden Gyökeres Sheaf Eccles Kelly Dabo	5–6	Morris Taylor Nakamba Clark Berry Potts

League One

Main article:2022–23 EFL League One

League One Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 7 May 2023. Going into the final day, Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley had already guaranteed a place in the play-offs and had cemented their positions at 3rd and 4th respectively. Bolton Wanderers had also guaranteed their place in the play-offs and won their game against Bristol Rovers to finish 5th, ensuring they would play Barnsley in the semi-finals. Derby County were 6th with only a win being able to guarantee a play-off spot with any other result opening the door for Peterborough United, who needed to win. Fortunately for Peterborough United, they won against Barnsley while Derby County lost to Sheffield Wednesday. This meant that Peterborough United would finish 6th and face Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals while Derby County finished 7th.

Final league position – League One
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Sheffield Wednesday	46	28	12	6	81	37	44	96
4	Barnsley	46	26	8	12	80	47	33	86
5	Bolton Wanderers	46	23	12	11	62	36	26	81
6	Peterborough United	46	24	5	17	75	54	21	77

First leg

12 May 2023 20:00 BST	Peterborough United	4–0	Sheffield Wednesday	London Road Stadium Attendance: 12,569 Referee: Anthony Backhouse
	Taylor  20' Ward  36' Poku  50' Clarke-Harris  82'	Report

13 May 2023 15:00 BST	Bolton Wanderers	1–1	Barnsley	University of Bolton Stadium Attendance: 23,450 Referee: Andrew Kitchen
	Charles  67'	Report	Cadden  63'

Second leg

18 May 2023 20:00 BST	Sheffield Wednesday	5–1 (a.e.t.)	Peterborough United	Hillsborough Stadium Attendance: 31,835 Referee: David Webb
	Smith  9' (pen.) Gregory  25' James  71' Palmer  90+8' Paterson  112'	Report	Gregory  105' (o.g.)
		Penalties
	Smith Vaulks Bannan Windass Hunt	5–3	Clarke-Harris Butler Norburn Tshimanga

5–5 on aggregate. Sheffield Wednesday won 5–3 on penalties.

19 May 2023 20:00 BST	Barnsley	1–0	Bolton Wanderers	Oakwell Attendance: 16,274 Referee: Michael Salisbury
	Kitching  24'	Report

League One Final

Main article:2023 EFL League One play-off Final

Sheffield Wednesday will join Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town in being promoted to the EFL Championship and will play in the 2023–24 EFL Championship season.

29 May 2023 (2023-05-29) 15:00 BST	Barnsley	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Sheffield Wednesday	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 72,492 Referee: Tim Robinson
	Phillips  49'	Report	Windass  120+3'

League Two

Main article:2022–23 EFL League Two

League Two Semi-Finals

The final table was confirmed after the final matchday on 8 May 2023. Going into the final day, Stockport County had already secured a play-off place and could still have finished 3rd if they had won and Northampton Town failed to win in the last game of the season, due to Stockport County's superior goal difference. However, Stockport drew with already relegated Hartlepool United on the final day while Northampton Town won against Tranmere Rovers, consigning Stockport County to 4th. Carlisle United, Salford City and Bradford City all had 75 points on the final day with Mansfield Town still in with a chance of displacing any of them on the final day of the season should they win and one of the other 3 teams lose in enough of a goal swing. Carlisle United and Bradford City managed to secure draws with Sutton United and champions Leyton Orient respectively to secure their places. Carlisle United finished 5th due to their superior goal difference over Bradford City in 6th. However, Salford City lost 1-0 to Gillingham but just managed to secure 7th as Mansfield Town only won 2-0 against Colchester United and needed to score 1 more goal to surpass Salford City. The results ensured that Stockport County would play Salford City and Carlisle United would play Bradford City over 2 legs respectively.

Final league position - League Two
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
4	Stockport County	46	22	13	11	65	37	28	79
5	Carlisle United	46	20	16	10	66	43	23	76
6	Bradford City	46	20	16	10	61	43	18	76
7	Salford City	46	22	9	15	72	54	18	75

First leg

13 May 2023 19:45 BST	Salford City	1–0	Stockport County	Moor Lane Attendance: 3,923 Referee: Tom Nield
	Smith  17'	Report

14 May 2023 14:00 BST	Bradford City	1–0	Carlisle United	Valley Parade Attendance: 20,575 Referee: Ross Joyce
	Walker  18'	Report

Second leg

20 May 2023 12:30 BST	Stockport County	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Salford City	Edgeley Park Attendance: 10,023 Referee: Ben Toner
	Olaofe  68' Stretton  115'	Report	Mallan  112'
		Penalties
	Madden Croasdale Collar Sarcevic	3–1	Lund Mariappa Barry Mallen

20 May 2023 15:00 BST	Carlisle United	3–1	Bradford City	Brunton Park Attendance: 15,401 Referee: Simon Mather
	Halliday  21' (o.g.) Guy  98' Barclay  112'	Report	Derbyshire  106'

League Two Final

Main article:2023 EFL League Two play-off Final

Carlisle United are promoted to EFL League One and will play in the 2023–24 EFL League One season with promoted Leyton Orient, Stevenage and Northampton Town.

28 May 2023 13:30 BST	Stockport County	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Carlisle United	Wembley Stadium Attendance: 34,004 Referee: Tom Nield
	Mellish  34' (o.g.)	Report	Patrick  84'
		Penalties
	Lemonheigh-Evans Rydel Hippolyte Stretton Collar	4–5	Dennis Mellish Edmondson Moxon Charters