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2025 EFL League One play-off final
Wembley Stadium 001
HT:1–0
Report
Date25 May 2025 (2025-05-25)
VenueWembley Stadium, London
RefereeAndrew Kitchen
Attendance76,193
2024
2026

The 2025 EFL League One play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 2025 at Wembley Stadium, London, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from EFL League One, the third tier of English football, to the EFL Championship. The top two teams of the 2024–25 EFL League One, Birmingham City and Wrexham, gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the clubs placed from third to sixth in the table – Stockport County, Charlton Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers and Leyton Orient – took part in the 2025 English Football League play-offs.

Charlton won the play-off final 1-0 against Leyton Orient to gain promotion to the Championship, the first time in this league since their relegation in 2020.

Route to the final[]

Main article: 2025 English Football League play-offs#League One
EFL League One final table, leading positions
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Birmingham City (C, P) 46 34 9 3 84 31 +53 111 Promotion to 2025–26 EFL Championship
2 Wrexham (P) 46 27 11 8 67 34 +33 92
3 Stockport County 46 25 12 9 72 42 +30 87 Eliminated
4 Charlton Athletic 46 25 10 11 67 43 +24 85 Qualified
5 Wycombe Wanderers 46 24 12 10 70 45 +25 84 Eliminated
6 Leyton Orient 46 24 6 16 72 48 +24 78 Qualified
Source: EFL Official Website
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted

Charlton Athletic finished the regular 2024–25 season in fourth place in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system, two places and seven points ahead of Leyton Orient. Both, therefore, missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the EFL Championship and instead took part the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Charlton finished seven points behind Wrexham (who were promoted in second place) and 26 behind league winners Birmingham City. They finished a point a head of Wycombe Wanderers, their opponents in the play-off semi-final. Leyton Orient finished nine points behind Stockport County, their semi-final opponents.

The first leg between Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton took place at Adams Park on 11 May. The finished in a 0–0 draw.

On 10 May, Leyton Orient played Stockport County at Brisbane Road drawing 2–2. Charlie Kelman put Orient ahead in the 30th minute scoring from an Omar Beckles assist and Oliver Norwood then equalised for County in the 60th minute with a penalty kick for a handball by Rarmani Edmonds-Green and Fraser Horsfall then put the visitors ahead in the 65th minute from a Norwood cross. Kelman then equalised for the hosts in the 88th minute with another penalty kick for another handball by Horsfall.

Charlton then played their second leg against Wycombe Wanderers on 15 May at The Valley winning 1–0. Matt Godden scored the sole goal in the 81st minute to give Charlton a 1–0 on the night and a 1–0 victory on aggregate. This sent them to their first play-off final since the 2019 EFL League One play-off Final where they beat Sunderland 2–1.

Leyton Orient played their semi-final second leg at Edgeley Park on 14 May drawing 1–1 after extra time and winning 4-1 on penalties. Ollie O'Neill opened the scoring for Orient in the 3rd minute from an Ethan Galbraith free-kick and Isaac Olaofe then equalised for Stockport in the 74th minute from a Jack Diamond assist. As no further goals were scored in extra time the match went to penalties with only Norwood scoring his spot-kick for County with Diamond and Ryan Rydel missing their penalties. Tom James, Sean Clare, Azeem Abdulai and Galbraith all successfully convertered their spot kicks to send Orient to their first play-off final since the 2014 Football League One play-off Final where they drew 2–2 and lost 4–3 on penalties to Rotherham United.

Match[]

Details[]

25 May 2025 (2025-05-25)
13:01 BST
Charlton Athletic 1–0 Leyton Orient Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 76,193
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Macaulay Gillesphey Goal 31' HT:1–0
Report
Charlton Athletic
Leyton Orient
GK 25 Flag of England Will Mannion
RB 02 Flag of England Kayne Ramsay
CB 05 Flag of England Lloyd Jones Booked in the 90+2th minute 90+2'
CB 03 Flag of England Macaulay Gillesphey
LB 16 Flag of Scotland Josh Edwards
CM 06 Flag of Republic of Ireland Conor Coventry
CM 10 Flag of Scotland Greg Docherty (c)
RW 26 Flag of England Thierry Small Substituted off in the 68th minute 68'
AM 17 Flag of Republic of Ireland Alex Gilbert Substituted off in the 68th minute 68'
LW 07 Flag of England Tyreece Campbell Substituted off in the 81st minute 81'
CF 24 Flag of England Matt Godden Substituted off in the 81st minute 81'
Substitutes:
GK 21 Flag of Australia Ashley Maynard-Brewer
DF 04 Flag of England Alex Mitchell
DF 27 Flag of England Tennai Watson Substituted on in the 68th minute 68'
MF 08 Flag of England Luke Berry
MF 18 Flag of Jamaica Karoy Anderson Substituted on in the 68th minute 68'
FW 22 Flag of England Chuks Aneke Substituted on in the 81st minute 81'
FW 33 Flag of England Micah Mbick Substituted on in the 81st minute 81'
Head Coach:
Flag of Wales Nathan Jones
GK 24 Flag of Republic of Ireland Josh Keeley
RB 22 Flag of Northern Ireland Ethan Galbraith
CB 19 Flag of Grenada Omar Beckles (c) Substituted off in the 82nd minute 82'
CB 45 Flag of England Rarmani Edmonds-Green
LB 12 Flag of England Jack Currie
CM 08 Flag of England Jordan Brown Substituted off in the 74th minute 74'
CM 28 Flag of England Sean Clare Substituted off in the 74th minute 74'
RW 07 Flag of England Dan Agyei Substituted off in the 82nd minute 82'
AM 17 Flag of Northern Ireland Jamie Donley
LW 21 Flag of Republic of Ireland Ollie O'Neill Substituted off in the 82nd minute 82'
CF 23 Flag of United States Charlie Kelman
Substitutes:
GK 26 Flag of England Noah Phillips
DF 02 Flag of Wales Tom James Substituted on in the 74th minute 74'
DF 05 Flag of England Dan Happe Substituted on in the 82nd minute 82'
MF 09 Flag of England Randell Williams Substituted on in the 82nd minute 82'
MF 15 Flag of England Dominic Ball Substituted on in the 74th minute 74'
MF 47 Flag of Scotland Azeem Abdulai Substituted on in the 82nd minute 82'
FW 44 Flag of England Dilan Markanday
Head Coach:
Flag of England Richie Wellens
Statistics
Charlton Athletic Leyton Orient
Possession 37% 63%
Goals scored 1 0
Shots on target 3 1
Shots off target 2 15
Fouls committed 11 9
Corner kicks 2 6
Yellow cards 1 0
Red cards 0 0

See also[]

External links[]

Football League One play-offs
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