The richest football match in the world is played at Wembley

No matter what level it is, from the top to the bottom of the pyramid, the long English’s football season ends at Wembley. This is the place for the FA Cup final but also for all the playoff’s finals of all the professional leagues under the Premier League. These games are the closest that football can offer like NCAA’s March Madness, a One Shining Moment where even smaller clubs have the chance for a flash of glory. A playoff final is a one-off game that will establish who will forever cherish a moment of joy and who will forever relive the pain for a success imagined, caressed but never taken. To make things more special there’s the magical atmosphere that you can breathe at Wembley on these occasions. The latest example came with Notts County who won the promotion in League Two by beating Chesterfield on penalties in front of more than 38.000 people. It’s passion at the finest level and the pinnacle of it comes on the day of Championship’s playoff final, English’s second division, a game which will see Coventry and Luton Town face off on Saturday in what is arguably the richest game in football. 

It's not a stretch. For how much money is at stake, winning the Championship’s playoff final and get the promotion to the Premier League is worth more than winning the Champions League’s final. As per Deloitte in their latest report for last season, by winning the playoff final a team is guaranteed a minimum increase of at least of 170 million pounds in incomes in the following three seasons. And if that team can avoid relegation in their first season in the Premier League, they can increase their incomes up to 300 million pounds across five years. Big-time money guaranteed by the pharaonic deals for TV rights both for the international and the domestic market. As per The Times, Premier League will cash around 10,5 billions of pounds between 2022 and 2025 for TV rights. And then there’s the return of image that clubs receive by playing in the Premier League, the world’s most famous football league.

But money is not the only thing that makes Championship’s playoff finals so special, an unrepeatable moment. The magic starts on the grounds rather than on the pitch with small choreographic aspects that add excitement and emotions. Wembley on these occasions is perfectly divided, two sides both painted with the colors of the teams playing. Over the years we had Blackpool and Hull City’s fans turning Wembley’s stands into orange walls ready to explode. You had the white and blue mob from Queen’s Park Rangers that erupted in 2014 when Zamora scored the game-winning goal or the bordeaux and light-blue army that escorted West Ham’s promotion back to the Premier League in 2012. In other words, a playoff final at Wembley is a turning point in a club’s history and for their fans, a chance to live a unique moment sharing joy or pain depending on what happens on the pitch.

On Saturday afternoon Coventry and Luton Town will be fighting for a place in the Premier League, two clubs well acquainted with the long, arduous and arduous roads through the lower leagues. Indeed, Coventry have been relegated to League Two after a decade in the Premier League due to financial problems and changing ownership, while Luton Town, who play their home games at the iconic Kenilworth Road, have been promoted from the Non-League where they played in 2013. Now it is just one game away from the Premier League, which it has never experienced before, and a financial windfall that could change the club's history.