The 2009 Football League Championship play-off final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 2009 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Burnley and Sheffield United. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to the Premier League. The top two teams of the 2008–09 Football League Championship season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place in the table partook in play-off semi-finals; Sheffield United ended the season in third position while Burnley finished fifth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2009–10 season in the Premier League.
The 2009 final, refereed by Mike Dean, was watched by a crowd of more than 80,000 people. Burnley won 1–0, with the only goal of the game coming from Wade Elliott in the first half. Substitute Jamie Ward was sent off in the second half following two deliberate handballs, while his teammate Lee Hendrie was also dismissed after the final whistle. Victory for Burnley meant they returned to top flight football for the first time in 33 years.
Burnley ended the next season in 18th place in the Premier League and were relegated back to the Championship. Sheffield United finished the following season in 8th place, five points outside the play-offs.
Route to the final
Sheffield United finished the regular 2008–09 season in third place in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, two places and four points ahead of Burnley. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premier League and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Sheffield United finished three points behind Birmingham City (who were promoted in second place) and ten behind league winners Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Burnley faced Reading in their play-off semi-final, the first leg of which took place at Turf Moor. Reading dominated the match, but Kevin Doyle's shot was blocked on the line; he was later substituted having suffered an Achilles tendon injury. The game was decided late in the second half when Graham Alexander scored for Burnley from the penalty spot after a foul Steven Thompson by Reading's defender André Bikey. Late into injury time, Bikey was sent off for stamping on Burnley's Robbie Blake, and the match ended 1–0. The second leg, at the Madejski Stadium, was played three days later. Goalless at half time, with Reading limited to few chances, a 51st minute strike from by Martin Paterson put Burnley 1–0 up in the game and 2–0 ahead on aggregate. Seven minutes later, Thompson with a looping volley from outside the left-hand corner of the penalty box doubled Burnley's lead but despite further chances for them, no more goals were scored and the semi-final ended 3–0 on aggregate to Burnley.
In the other play-off semi-final, Sheffield United's opponents were Preston North End, with the first leg being played at Deepdale. The home team took the lead in the first half after Sean St Ledger scored, but the tie was level soon into the second half, with a volley from Brian Howard 21 seconds after kick-off. No further goals were scored and the match ended as a 1–1 draw. The return leg at Bramall Lane was decided by a single goal: Greg Halford's 59th minute header secured a 1–0 win for United on the night, and a 2–1 aggregate victory.
Match
Background
This was Burnley's first Championship play-off final, although they had won the third-tier 1994 Football League Second Division play-off final 2–1 against Stockport County the old Wembley Stadium. Sheffield United had lost both the 1997 and 2003 Football League Second Division play-off finals. During the regular season, Burnley had won both matches, 3–2 away in December 2008 and 1–0 at home the following April. It had been 33 years since Burnley last played top-flight football in the 1975–76 Football League First Division, while Sheffield United had been most recently relegated from the highest tier in the 2006–07 FA Premier League. Paterson was Burnley's top scorer with twelve goals in the regular season, followed by Alexander with nine, while Craig Beattie led the scoring charts for Sheffield United with twelve. This was Burnley's 61st competitive match of their season, and Paterson was ever present throughout.