Hull City Secure Playoff Spot as Wrexham Miss Out in Dramatic EFL Championship Finale
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The final matchday of the EFL Championship has concluded with some unexpected results as Wrexham have failed to qualify for the Premier League playoffs that culminate with the final scheduled on Saturday, May 23 at Wembley. After Coventry won the league, Ipswich Town have also been promoted to the English Premier League, while four teams will battle for the playoffs this year: Millwall, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull City, with Derby County and Wrexham eliminated on the final day.
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BBC Sport14:30: Hull City, a side that had failed to win in six games leading up to their final match of the season, held on for victory and booked a play-off date with Millwall. They end up two points clear of Wrexham in seventh. Derby's defeat consigned them to an eighth-placed finish.
ESPNIt was an captivating match, with both teams having chances to win. According to Opta, Middlesbrough had a 2% chance of securing automatic promotion to the Premier League when this helter-skelter of a final day in the Championship kicked off. They finish in fifth and will play Southampton in the playoff semifinals. After taking sixth spot thanks to their win over Norwich City, Hull City will play Millwall in their bid to join Coventry City and Ipswich Town in the top flight next season.
Yahoo SportsAs the second half went on, Wrexham found itself bouncing in and out of a playoff place with Hull and Derby remaining in the mix. Once Derby fell behind, it was up to Hull, which were boosted by an Oliver McBurnie 67th-minute penalty kick to lift it ahead of Wrexham in the table.
Reuters SportsIpswich promoted to the Premier League, Wrexham miss playoffs Reuters
The Guardian SportIt’s a big day in the north, and south. The east, too. It all comes down to this. It’s been a vintage Championship season, and though the bottom three has been decided – farewell, Sheff Wed, Leicester and Oxford – there’s automatic promotion and playoffs to be decided. Make no mistake: this is massive.
Sky SportsWrexham's hopes of a historic fourth consecutive promotion were ended with a 2-2 Sky Bet Championship draw against Middlesbrough at the SToK Cae Ras.
NDTV SportsFile image of Ryan Reynolds
SMH SportEd Sheeran joins Ipswich players in the changing rooms after it was confirmed the side had been promoted to the Premier League.
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"I am completely gutted by today's result but incredibly proud of our season," Reynolds wrote on X.
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BBC SportCo-chairman Ryan Reynolds's summary was apt. "I am completely gutted by today's result but incredibly proud of our season," he wrote on social media.
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"I think this squad together, as it stands, with a pre-season together will be even stronger next year.
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ESPN"Of course we'll always look to add to that to try and give ourselves an even better chance ... we know where we'd like to strengthen and what we need to improve on. We'll do that and we'll make this squad as strong as we possibly can to mount a challenge next year." The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The Tractor Boys return to the top flight after just one season in the Championship following relegation in 2025/26, joining champions Coventry.
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BBC SportIt means the club have returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking following their relegation.
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Spoiler alert: Hull City were the one to get over the line with their victory against Norwich.
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Yahoo SportsHull City was in a tough spot in their match early on Saturday, as well, falling behind Norwich City in the 26th minute.
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Derby were in control at the break through Sam Szmodics early goal but the visitors came back strongly to dash the home side's dream of a top-six finish.
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BBC SportAnd below is a snapshot of how the Tigers came out on top at the end of a day that started with Hollywood-backed Wrexham in sixth and saw Derby threatening to gatecrash the play-offs when leading Sheffield United at half-time.
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"Of course we'll always look to try and add to that to give ourselves an even better chance, but we'll have a break now and we'll come back and go again."
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"The progression we have made this season has been outstanding. Over the course of the season, were we good enough to get into the top six? Maybe, maybe not. We have come up just short, but what an unbelievable effort. Every single one of the players has been outstanding."
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Sky Sports"We've steadily improved over the course of the year. "We don't start thinking about the Premier League today. We are going to enjoy this one."
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Others may feel that shrugging off the disappointment of last season's top-flight relegation and getting the club back on the right track is an even greater endorsement of Kieran McKenna's coaching skills.
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Sky SportsIt is also a third promotion in four seasons on McKenna's managerial CV, but the first in which he has had to pick a team up from setbacks while rebuilding a squad's personnel and playing style.
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There would also be a controversial and unexpected addition at the back end of the window. Marcelino Nunez became the first player in almost 25 years to move from East Anglian rivals Norwich City to add more fuel to the rivalry.
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BBC SportThere was a radical change of personnel at Portman Road last summer when 11 new players were signed, with the help of Premier League parachute money, including Chilean playmaker Marcelino Nunez from regional rivals Norwich for a reported £10m.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and West Bromwich Albion at Hillsborough on Saturday;
5 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 BBC Sport Published In the end, it wasn't to be for Wrexham. And perhaps a quartet of consecutive promotions was asking too much for even a club touched by Hollywood.
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02 ESPN However, the short-term pain was acute, and Wrexham's players sat on the ground and looked disconsolate after the final whistle -- even though the Hull-Norwich match hadn't finished.
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03 Sky Sports They went into Saturday's home game needing to match fellow challengers Millwall's result at home to Oxford and the victory over Rangers has seen Kieran McKenna mastermind a second Championship promotion in three years.
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04 CBS Sports Blackburn 0, Leicester 1 Bristol City 2, Stoke 0 Derby 1, Sheffield United 2 Hull City 2, Norwich 1 Ipswich 3, QPR 0 Millwall 2, Oxford 0 Portsmouth 1, Birmingham 1 Preston 1, Southampton 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2, WBA 1 Swansea 3, Charlton 1 Watford 0, Coventry 4 Wrexham 2, Middlesbrough 2
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05 The Guardian Sport The feverish atmosphere had been apparent around the stadium all morning, with flags flying and supporters singing themselves hoarse long before the players emerged on to the playing field. IThis was the third time in four full seasons under McKenna that the fans had arrived expectantly with promotion at stake and tens of thousands filled the streets with a fog of blue flares to greet the arrival of the players’ coach.
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