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Football League Two play-offs


The English Football League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches, contested by the teams finishing from 4th to 7th in the EFL League Two table to determine the fourth promotion place to the third tier of English football, League One. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 7th playing 4th and 6th playing 5th, with the return fixtures following. The final is played at Wembley Stadium, although from 2001 to 2006 the final was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Wembley was being rebuilt. Due to a clash with the Champions League final, the 2011 play-off final was again in a new location, this time at Old Trafford.

The first ever play-off final was contested in 1987 between Aldershot and Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Aldershot ending up as winners over two legs. The last team to win the League Two play-offs was AFC Wimbledon after beating Plymouth Argyle 2-0in the 2015-16 season.

Aside from the branding changes which affected English football in 1992 and 2004, the League Two Play–offs have also changed in format.

When they were introduced for the 1986–87 season, the play-offs originally featured a third-tier club as well as the three fourth-tier clubs. The first winners were Aldershot, who won promotion in impressive style by beating their illustrious opponents Bolton Wanderers in the semi-finals (condemning the four-times FA Cup winners to relegation) and then defeated a Wolverhampton Wanderers side with nine major trophies to their name in the two-legged final. A year later, Swansea City won promotion at the expense of Rotherham United.


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