Black Cats will Leeds and Burnley in top flight next season
Live Reporting
Glenn Speller
Black Cats make their own luckpublished at 18:30
18:30
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Image source, Rex Features
So there we are.
For those of a superstitious nature it is said to be bad luck if a black cat crosses your path and so it has proved for Sheffield United, who, despite finishing 14 points above Sunderland fail to end their 100 year wait for a win at Wembley.
For Sunderland the story is the late, late show - head coach Regis Le Bris wasn't appointed until 22 June and has seen his side score in the last minutes of their semi-final and final to return to the Premier League after eight years away.
You can read a match report and all the reaction by clicking on the tab above and we will see you tomorrow for Charlton v Leyton Orient.
'VAR decision gave them belief' - Wilderpublished at 18:29
18:29
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Sheffield United
More from Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder speaking to Sky Sports:
"They've taken their opportunities. The goals are disappointing from our point of view. The manner of the goals, the shape of the team from that point of view - we can do so much better.
"I never felt we were under major threat. I thought we started off the game ever so well. I know there is going to be a subjective decision regarding the VAR.
"One thing I will say - I don't think that having played 46 league games and two play-off games it all of sudden comes into play and I think their manager said that before the game but there we are, big moments.
"I think if we go 2-0 up we win the game comfortably, I think that really punctures them but I thought that gave them belief, that gave their ers the belief and from that moment the last sort of 10 minutes of the first half and maybe the first 10 minutes of the second half gave them some energy.
"But I thought we got over that. Disappointed in of we never got control of the game and found those moments to go 2-0 or 3-0 up but never really felt in danger.
"There it is, you get punished for your mistakes with the ball and without the ball and we have done."
'They found their moments and we haven't' - Wilderpublished at 18:24 British Summer Time 24 May
18:24 BST 24 May
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Sheffield United
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder speaking to Sky Sports:
"It's going to take quite a while to get over, for the players, the staff and most importantly the ers.
"Congratulations to Sunderland, the manager and the players for the achievements this season and going into the Premier League.
"It's a tough one to take from our point of view. Defining moments in the game I get. We never really felt in danger even sort of second half. Of course they've got to open up and try and get back into the game we just needed to be better on that turnover.
"I think the biggest thing for us was we were too loose second half. We have that ability to sit in. They're piling people forward and then we go and kill them on the counter attack and we never found that moment, we were loose.
"It was disappointing to concede the second goal in the 97th minute, I know we were down to 10-men but it goes up to the centre-forward and it's loose again and they find the two moments.
"Everyone talks about stats, I think we had the biggest chances but stats doesn't win you the game. They found their moments and we haven't found our moments. They find themselves in the Premier League and we've got to go again."
"It means everything to everyone here for all the staff, for everyone involved. It’s all the club
have been aiming to achieve for eight years.
"Every single player has spoken
about it when they have come here to get this club back to the Premier League and so many have failed but I take a lot of pride in saying that I am one of the
players who has helped this great club get back to where it belongs.
"I always believed, you have to believe, when you have ers
like this and a group of lads like this, you have to believe."
Jobe popped back at criticism about Sunderland's five-match losing streak to end the season, saying:
"I know people doubted us, it was understandable, we lost
a few games, people talk about momentum, but I think we did enough and showed enough in the season for people to give us some credit going into the play-offs.
"People say we are inexperienced but you get experience by failing and we have failed together so many times and in the end we've come good.
"Every single player has made a name for themselves here. Really proud."
Get Involvedpublished at 18:11 British Summer Time 24 May
18:11 BST 24 May
#bbcefl, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply)
I hope young Tom Watson is afforded the freedom of Sunderland for his goal, he's copped a lot of stick for leaving.
Kev
Chris Wilder has got this massively wrong. Arrogance cost us promotion and a bizarre game plan has backfired.
RB Blade
Congratulations Sunderland! I can't wait to see the Tyne-Wear Derby back in the Premier League!
Tom, Spurs fan
Well done Sunderland. Back to where they belong. Looking forward to see them in the Premier League again next season. I think a huge majority of football fans wanted them up today.
'The boys stuck in right until the end' - Pattersonpublished at 18:07 British Summer Time 24 May
18:07 BST 24 May
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Sunderland
Sunderland goalkeeper and player of the match Anthony Patterson told Sky Sports:
"Honestly it's in incredible, I don't think I can put it into words, so proud of the boys, they stuck in right until the end and we got our rewards. I'm so happy."
On his save after 70 seconds into the game and one made with his legs just before Sunderland's equaliser :
"Obviously it's great to make saves and help the team in that way but I'm just delighted that we've won the game."
On playing for the club in League One and taking them into the Premier League:
"Honestly I've not even thought about it, it's not even sunk in what's happening but I'm gonna enjoy every moment now."
Enzo-n a highpublished at 18:01 British Summer Time 24 May
18:01 BST 24 May
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Image source, Opta
Different options, Regis?
half-time? Seems a life time ago.
Enzo Le Fee had 16 touches in open play at the interval but was shifted inside from the left in the second 45 minutes and boy, has it paid dividends.
The Frenchman's influence on the game grew as his side began to get a grip and he has done what he was signed to do in January - helped guide the Black Cats back to the big time.
'We tried different options and found the solution'published at 17:59 British Summer Time 24 May
17:59 BST 24 May
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Sunderland
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris speaking to Sky Sports:
"It was a weird game, we didn't start well I think, maybe a bit nervous. We knew before that they could be clinical and they were.
After that I think this game represents the way that we play this season - with resilience, with discipline to get back into the game and we have talented players so we can score.
"We needed to change something in the game so we were lucky because we have many options on the bench and we tried different options in the second half and finally we found the solution, the players found the solution because it's always like that.
"We tried different options because we have the players to do that."
'We're going to have a heck of a party'published at 17:49 British Summer Time 24 May
17:49 BST 24 May
FT: Sheff Utd 1-2 Sunderland
Sunderland
Image source, Getty Images
Sunderland captain Dan Neil is a lifelong Black Cats er and has been speaking to Sky Sports:
"This whole city has come together in the last two weeks.
"That's what Sunderland football club is - it resonates with all the people and when it comes together it's a powerful thing.
"For it to end with a last minute winner in the semi-final and then today it's not even what dreams are made of because you wouldn't dream of something like that.
"It's been a massive team effort and that's our biggest strength - the team.
"I don't know when it will sink in but we're going to have a heck of a party because it's been a season of ups and downs and this game sums it up, going 1-0 down, keep fighting and we got there in the end"
Sunderland return to the Premier League after an eight-year absence
Adam Lanigan
BBC Sport England at Wembley
Teenager Tommy Watson scored a 95th-minute winner to send Sunderland up to the Premier League and deny Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
The 19-year-old, who is ing Brighton and Hove Albion next season, curled a low effort past Michael Cooper to secure the Black Cats' return to the top flight for the first time in eight years.
It was an incredible end to a match in which they had been second best for large parts.
Tyrese Campbell had given the Blades a deserved first-half lead and Harrison Burrows would have had a second but for a video assistant referee (VAR) call for offside.
Somehow the Wearside club hung in there and equalised through Eliezer Mayenda's fine goal on 76 minutes.
Then with United down to 10 men temporarily having used all five substitutes after defender Anel Ahmedhodzic went off with a head injury, Watson took advantage of the extra space in the most dramatic way possible.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tom Watson's winning goal was only his third for Sunderland
Being promoted caps a gloriously unexpected rise from where Sunderland were 12 months ago.
From finishing 16th to appointing an unknown French head coach in Regis Le Bris, predicting promotion to the Premier League would have been unthinkable.
But from winning all four league games in August, they have never looked back and were never lower than fourth at any point.
Automatic promotion hopes may have fallen away in the spring as their form dipped with a play-off spot all but guaranteed, but they wrestled back momentum to get past Coventry City in the semi-finals, even if it took a last-gasp Dan Ballard goal in extra time to do it.
And they have done it with a young, inexperienced team. Of the starting XI here at Wembley, captain Luke O'Nien was the only player over 25, with Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg still in their teens.
While there was not a single Premier League appearance amongst them compared to 294 in the Blades side.
But Le Bris and his players have made a mockery of those factors to put the Wearside club back among the elite of English football.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tyrese Campbell gave Sheffield United the lead in the first half
Blades' Wembley hoodoo remains
As Sunderland celebrated, Sheffield United could only one reflect on taking one blow too many in a season full of adversity.
They were relegated from the Premier League last season, battered and bruised by a campaign in which they finished bottom with only three wins and more than 100 goals conceded.
It was left to manager Chris Wilder to pick them up by the boot straps and he had done exactly that, reaching 90 points despite starting with a deduction of two points for financial irregularities during their previous promotion season two years ago.
Then in October they were hit by the tragic death of popular former player George Baldock, who had only left the club last summer to move to Greek side Panathinaikos.
Paying tribute to his memory has been a driving force for the Blades throughout the season.
They were neck and neck with Leeds United and Burnley for much of the season, but a nightmare eight days in April put paid to their automatic hopes with losses to Oxford United, Millwall and Plymouth Argyle.
They shrugged off that disappointment with a ruthless display over two legs to hammer Bristol City in the semi-finals and gave themselves a chance to end their play-off and Wembley hoodoo.
But it is now 10 play-off failures and still no wins at the national stadium since 1925 - mental baggage that proved too difficult to overcome.
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Eliezer Mayenda equalises for Sunderland with an emphatic finish
It had all looked so different early on as Anthony Patterson produced an outstanding save to keep out Kieffer Moore's header from a pinpoint cross from Gustavo Hamer.
It came at great cost to Black Cats defender O'Nien, the veteran of over 300 games for the club, who had to be helped from the field with a dislocated shoulder after colliding with Moore.
The Blades were the better team, though, and that told in the opening goal as they broke decisively from a Sunderland corner.
Gustavo Hamer, the Championship's player of the year, led the charge and played a perfect to take out three defenders for Campbell to advance and lift the ball expertly over Patterson.
The Blades thought they had doubled their lead before half-time, as Burrows' first-time shot after Hamer's corner kick was cleared to him on the edge of the box found its way into the net.
But Sunderland were relieved when VAR, in place for the final, ruled that Patterson's view of Burrows' effort was impeded by Vinicius Souza, who was in an offside position.
Substitute Andre Brooks should have finished it for the Blades after 69 minutes when he broke inside the box following a mistake by Dennis Cirkin, but Patterson made a superb block.
Then, with the influential Hamer having limped off, Sunderland produced their first moment of real quality to strike back through a super finish from Mayenda after a clever ball from substitute Patrick Roberts.
Suddenly, the game was in the balance and after centre-back Ahmedhodzic needed treatment for a clash of heads, Sunderland and Watson sensed their moment as the winger picked up Moore's misplaced and, from just outside the box, curled a low shot into the bottom corner to confirm a dream top-flight return.
This is Sunderland’s third second tier play-off final – they lost 1-0 to Swindon in 1989-90 (though still ended up being promoted due to Swindon’s demotion) and lost on penalties to Charlton in 1997-98 after a 4-4 draw.
This will be Sheffield United’s fifth Football League play-off final and first since losing 7-6 on penalties to Huddersfield Town in League One in May 2012. Overall, the Blades have failed to earn promotion in any of their four previous finals, no side has appeared in more without ever earning promotion (4 also for Leeds United and Reading).
Sheffield United finished 14 points ahead of Sunderland in the regular Championship season – it’s the biggest points difference between two Football League play-off finalists in the current format (since 1988-89).
The only previous meeting between Sunderland and Sheffield United in the play-offs came in the 1997-98 semi-final, with the Black Cats winning 3-2 on aggregate (1-2 away, 2-0 home) before losing the final on penalties to Charlton.
Sheffield United have won five of their last seven meetings with Sunderland in all competitions (L2), though did lose the most recent fixture 2-1 in January.
Having failed to win any of their seven competitive matches at Wembley Stadium between 1985 and 2019, Sunderland have won their last two at the ground – 1-0 against Tranmere in the 2021 Football League Trophy final and 2-0 against Wycombe in the 2021-22 League One play-off final.
Sheffield United haven’t won any of their last seven matches at Wembley Stadium (D1 L6), with their last win coming 100 years ago against Cardiff City in the 1925 FA Cup final.
Sheffield United won both of their semi-final legs 3-0 against Bristol City, the only previous sides to score 3+ goals in three games of a Football League play-off campaign are Walsall in 1987-88 and Barnsley in 2015-16.
Eliezer Mayenda has been involved in nine goals in his 13 starts for Sunderland in all competitions so far in 2025 (7 goals, 2 assists), including a goal and assist in the Black Cats’ 2-1 win over Sheffield United on New Year’s Day.
Callum O’Hare scored in both legs of Sheffield United’s 6-0 aggregate victory over Bristol City in the semi-final. The last player to score in both semi-final legs and the final in a Championship play-off campaign was Bobby Zamora for West Ham in 2004-05.