2000 Football League Second Division play-off Final
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| Date | 28 May 2000 | ||||||
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| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Rob Styles (Hampshire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 53,764 | ||||||
The 2000 Football League Second Division play-off final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 28 May 2000, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Second Division to the First Division of The Football League in the 1999–2000 season. Gillingham faced Wigan Athletic in one of the last competitive fixtures to be played at the original Wembley Stadium.
The match was Gillingham's second consecutive appearance in the Second Division play-off final after a defeat to Manchester City in a penalty shoot out the previous season. Wigan had been defeated in the semi-finals the previous season and had never previously reached a play-off final. The teams reached the final by defeating Stoke City and Millwall respectively in the semi-finals.
Gillingham took the lead in the first half of the final, but Wigan equalised to send the game into extra time. During the extra period Wigan took a 2–1 lead, but Gillingham scored two goals in the last six minutes through substitutes Steve Butler and Andy Thomson to win 3–2. Gillingham thus gained promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in the club's 107-year history, in what proved to be manager Peter Taylor's final match in charge.
Gillingham had finished the 1999–2000 Football League season in third place in Division Two, one place ahead of Wigan. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic promotion places and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. On the final day of the league season Gillingham had the opportunity to finish in second place in the table and thereby clinch an automatic promotion place, but a 1–0 defeat away to Wrexham meant that Burnley were able to overtake them thanks to their 2–1 win over Scunthorpe United. Wigan had looked on course for an automatic promotion place in the first half of the season but the team's form fell away dramatically after Christmas. Both teams were appearing in the play-offs for a second consecutive season. In the 1998–99 season both Wigan and Gillingham had qualified for the play-offs but been defeated in the semi-finals and final respectively by eventual winners Manchester City.
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