The EFL season has come to an end for the majority of clubs, however 12 teams across the Championship, League One and League Two will take part in the play-offs for a place in a showpiece final at Wembley, with promotion up for grabs.
Championship play-offs
Semi-final ties
Bristol City vs Sheffield United
First leg: 08/05/25
Coventry City vs Sunderland
First leg: 09/05/25
Second leg: 13/05/25
Bristol City vs Sheffield United
Notable points
- Sheffield United are unbeaten against Bristol City this season, with one win and a draw.
- The Blades accrued 24 more points in the regular season than The Robins, this is the biggest ever gap between a team finishing in third in the Championship and a team finishing in sixth.
- Bristol City have made the play-offs for the first time in 17 years, whilst Sheffield United are aiming to make it two promotions in just three seasons.
Three key players
Bristol City
- Nakhi Wells
Sheffield United
- Harrison Burrow
The EFL playoffs get underway in Bristol this Thursday night when Sheffield United take on Bristol City in what is a battle of third against sixth.
In the regular season, one of the games between the sides ended in a 1-2 win for Sheffield United at Ashton Gate in which Bristol City actually took the lead but it was Harrison Burrows who won it late on for the Blades.
At Bramble Lane back in March, the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw where it was the Robins who were the team to score a late goal, this was very richly deserved in what was possibly one of their most impressive displays of the season.
Just over a month ago Sheffield United went to Oxford in a game in which they were sitting pretty at the top of the championship before a whilst was blown, fast forward almost five weeks weeks and they have finished in third, missing out on automatic promotion by a whole ten points.
You have to recognise a massive slump when the heat was on, Chris Wilder's men lost to Oxford United, Millwall & Plymouth Argyle in three consecutive losses. They then won a game and headed to Turf Moor to play automatic promotion rivals Burnley on Easter Monday in a match they had to win in order to maintain any hope of finishing in the top two come the end of the season, and they lost it.
However, had they hosted Blackburn Rovers on the final day with an opportunity to finish in the automatic promotion spots and then squandered that then you'd have right to be really concerned about how they may or may not bounce back from that. Nevertheless, in reality, The Blades pretty much knew the play-offs would have to be their route to promotion even before they headed to Turf Moor.
You'd think by now the dust will have settled on the disappointment of missing out on a heavily contested automatic race all season between themselves, Leeds and Burnley and that Chris Wilder can showcase how dominate his side have been in picking up results in the regular season in comparison to the other three sides in this play-off picture and come out victorious in London come the 24th May.
It's felt like The Robins were always going to be a championship middle table team until they no longer were, this, their first appearance in the play-offs since 2008 in which they lost in the final to Hull City that day.
The work Liam Manning has done in the West Country in nothing short of exceptional, which now means that his side are now potentially just three football matches away from reaching the glamour and riches of the Premier League.
On Christmas Day, Bristol City sat in 12th a total of eight points off the play-offs. Since then, they've achieved 41 points from 24 games and were helped by both West Brom and Middlesbrough falling away and ultimately The Robins capitalised on it.
It's difficult to say anybody comes into these Championship play-offs as the 'in-form side' and The Robins have just one win in their last five games. This run included a loss to Luton Town, a heavy loss at Leeds and then drawing with relegation threatened Preston North End on the final day who they were 2-0 down to on the hour mark.
Prediction
First leg: Bristol City 1-2 Sheffield United
Second leg: Sheffield United 2-0 Bristol City
To reach the final: Sheffield United
Coventry vs Sunderland
Notable points
- Coventry City have lost just once in their last eight games at home.
- The Sky Blues are unbeaten against Sunderland this season, with one win and a draw.
- The Black Cats have lost five straight games and have won just twice in their last ten games.
- The last time Frank Lampard managed a team in the play-offs, he took his Derby County side all the way to Wembley, losing narrowly to Aston Villa.
- The last time Coventry were in a play-off campaign, they lost in the final on penalties to Luton Town.
Three key players
Coventry
Sunderland
- Eliezer Mayenda
- Chris Rigg
A lot of neutral fans won't realise that this match-up has a sense of real rivalry to it, a rivalry that goes back a long time and also has a lot of relevance in recent years.
This second Championship semi-final really has the potential to be electric, with two teams who at their best can and have been very exciting from an attacking point of view.
Coventry and Sunderland battle it out at the Coventry Building Society Arena for the first leg of their Championship playoff semi-final on Friday night, with the prize being a trip to Wembley.
Frank Lampard's men secured a victory over playoff-chasing Middlesbrough last time out, whilst the Black Cats' struggles continued in the North-East versus Queens Park Rangers.
Now, the question with Regis Le Bris' Black Cats is, can a team who earlier in the season were so impressive with such a young side ultimately turn the tap back on? They won nine of their first 12 games this season but have now spent the last few months waiting for the play-offs to begin after they faulted in the race for an automatic promotion spot.
The standout games are the two games Sunderland played against the two automatically promoted sides, they drew 0-0 with Burnley at the start of the year, they were far the better team and somehow didn't score when Wilson Isidor missed two penalties against Burnley's James Trafford. Isidor also scored to put Sunderland 1-0 up against Leeds however later lost the game late on.
The run of form is incredibly worrying for Sunderland, the final quarter of this season makes for bad reading with four wins two draws and seven defeats. The Black Cats have scored just nine times in their last fourteen games.
Prediction
First leg: Coventry 2-1 Sunderland
Second leg: Sunderland 2-2 Coventry
To reach the final: Coventry
League One play-offs
Semi final ties
Leyton Orient vs Stockport County
First leg: 10/05/25
Second leg: 14/05/25
Wycombe Wanderers vs Charlton Athletic
First leg: 11/05/25
Second leg: 15/05/25
Leyton Orient vs Stockport
Notable points
- Stockport have the best defensive record out of all four play-off teams, conceding just 42 times in 46 games.
- Leyton Orient and Stockport both scored 72 goals in the regular season.
- When both teams played each other in the regular season, Orient beat Stockport 1-4 at their ground and Stockport returned the favour beating the O's 0-1 at Brisbane Road.
- Leyton Orient's Charlie Kelman leads the League One golden boot race with 21 goals scored.
Three key players
- Daniel Agyei
A fixture in which the regular season saw them trade away wins, with Leyton Orient running riot at Edgeley Park with a 1-4 win. Dave Challinor's men then avenged the loss in February with a 0-1 win.
Leyton Orient & Stockport are the joint second top scorers in League one this season, scoring a total of 72 goals after 46 league matches.
Three years and two months ago Leyton Orient appointed Richie Wellens, so far totalling 174 games, 86 wins, 32 draws and 56 defeats.
Orient were at one point 20th in League Two under his management, the season after that they managed to win the title in League Two. They made a good fist of it last season in what was their first season back in League one and then now have made the Top six, it's remarkable what Wellens has achieved.
Orient finished the campaign with six wins in a row, they've been an incredibly streaky hot and cold side this season however, with an earlier run in the season achieving five wins in a row but also had a streak of five, four and three straight defeats across the 46 game season.
There is no doubt that when they are high of confidence they play well and they are not short at all of that right now heading into this play-off semi-final.
Dave Challinor's side started the season brilliantly, they had the stand-out player in the entire league at the time, Louie Barry on loan from Aston Villa. Barry was later recalled in January by his parent club after scoring 15 goals in 23 league appearances.
Given Stockport lost their first game against Mansfield Town after the departure of Barry, fans were immediately worried about the impact his absence would ultimately have on the remainder of their season. However, since that loss, County have won 49 points from 21 games, they've won 15 times in the 21 games, they've been dominate in almost each and everyone of these games and are so easy on the eye.
One negative to highlight from recent County performances and results is the defence, which is looking leaky with failure to keep a clean sheet in any of their last five games.
A trend of resilience in recent weeks in a very positive sign going into a high pressure environment like the League One play-offs.
Prediction
Wycombe Wanderers vs Charlton Athletic
Notable points
- After the runaway league winners (Birmingham City), Wycombe were the second best team away from home in League One this season, accruing 42 points from 23 of their games on the road.
- Charlton have lost just once in their last eight league games.
- Charlton haven't lost at home in the league since the 10th December 2024.
- The Addicks did the double over Wycombe this season, beating them 2-1 a home and then an emphatic 0-4 win at Adams Park just a couple of weeks ago.
Three key players
Wycombe Wanderers
- Richard Kone
- Matt Golden
- Tyreece Campbell
- Conor Coventry
Fourth plays fifth in what is the second edition of this seasons League One Play-Off semi finals, Charlton snuck into fourth on the final day of the season which rewarded them with a home clash in the second leg of this tie.
The Addicks clearly have Wycombe's number this season, thrashing them 0-4 at Adams Park as recently as last month. However, as has been the case of the years for many teams and matchups, form and recent history goes out the window.
After 46 games in the regular League One season, this is show time now for both clubs and the pressure is on both teams because all their hard work this season is on the line.
A key component to Charlton and the way they play is Thierry Small who is currently still out injured and is said to be a doubt still, Small has been nursing a minor injury which has left him side-lined for the last two league fixtures , Jones hopes he will return to the squad as quickly as Sunday for the first leg fixture.
After wrestling Wrexham for what seemed the entirety of the League One season for second place, Wycombe Wanderers ultimately ended up finishing the season in fifth, trading places with their play-off opponents Charlton after The Chairboys fell to defeat at home to Stockport.
The Chairboys have been sliding down the league table towards the tail-end of the regular season, Mike Dodds took charge of the team replacing Matt Bloomfield after his departure to Luton Town a few months ago.
Confidentially, Wycombe's last three games have been the very three teams that will feature in the play-offs alongside them, Dodd's team lost 0-4 to Charlton, they lost 1-0 away at Orient and then lost another home game, this time 1-3 to Stockport on the final day of the regular season, this meaning they've shipped eight goals and scored just the one goal against teams around them.
This type of form is far from ideal preparation heading into the play-offs and with their top scorer who was in red-hot form earlier in the season not having scored a goal since the 18th March, it just adds insult to injury.
This has been Charlton's sixth year in League One, and it appears the appointment of manager Nathan Jones has been a very smart one from the owners, he joined the club at a time where his stock had fallen a lot after a torrid time in the Premier League with Southampton.
It's the back end of this League One campaign where Jones and his side have shown a real killer instinct, they picked up 34 points in the first half of the campaign and 51 points in the second half.
Jones has them playing excellently well out of possession maintaining a great shape alongside high intensity and ability to defend their box consistently, they've conceded just two goals in their final five league matches, one of which was a penalty.
Form is no worry for Charlton heading into the play-offs, they've lost just three times in their last twenty-two games and have scored in every single one of their last eleven home matches.
Prediction
League Two play-offs
Semi-final ties
Notts County vs AFC Wimbledon
First leg: 10/05/25
Second leg: 17/05/25
Chesterfield vs Walsall
First leg: 11/05/25
Second leg: 16/05/25
League Two, well where do we start? What a season it's been at the top of the table with the champions, automatic promotion spots and the final play-off picture only being fully wrapped up on the final day.
It wouldn't be outlandish to say after this incredibly unpredictable yet fascinating to watch unfold League Two season, that three out of these four League Two teams' fanbases will favour a manager change if they are not to win promotion (the exception being Chesterfield).
Notts County vs AFC Wimbledon
Notable points
- Notts County are blessed with not one but two potent strikers in David McGoldrick and Alassana Jatta, scoring 36 goals between them.
- AFC Wimbledon have the best defensive record in League Two this season, conceding just 35 goals in 46 league games.
- In the regular season Notts County beat AFC Wimbledon 1-0 at Meadow Lane, with the Dons returning the favour and beating County 2-0 in March.
Three key players
Notts County
- Alassana Jatta
- George Abbott
AFC Wimbledon
- Alistair Smith
- Josh Neufville
