2025 EFL League Two play-off final

Walsall finished the regular 2024–25 season in fourth place in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They finished 1 point behind Bradford City (who were promoted in third place), 3 behind second-placed Port Vale and 7 points behind league winners Doncaster Rovers.^[4] Walsall had been top of the division in mid-January, 15 points clear of fourth place, but a poor run of form saw them miss out on the play-offs on the season's final day.^[5][6] They played seventh placed Chesterfield in a two-leg semi-final. The first leg was played at Chesterfield's SMH Group Stadium on 6 May. Walsall won the game 2–0, taking the lead through a Taylor Allen penalty before Alfie Chang added a second goal.^[7] Walsall also won the second leg, recording a 2–1 victory on 16 May at Bescot Stadium. Charlie Lakin and Levi Amantchi scored for Walsall, with Armando Dobra scoring for Chesterfield. Their win meant a 4–1 aggregate win and a place in the play-off final.^[8]

AFC Wimbledon finished in fifth place, 4 points behind Walsall.^[4] Like Wallsall, AFC Wimbledon had been in contention for automatic promotion earlier in the season, having been in third place in late March but then recording only two wins from their last nine games.^[9][10] They played sixth-placed Notts County in the semi-final.^[4] in the first leg, played on 10 May at Notts County's Meadow Lane stadium, AFC Wimbledon won 1–0, Riley Harbottle scoring the game's only goal.^[11] The second leg was played on 17 May at Plough Lane. After only eight minutes, Josh Neufville scored for AFC Wimbledon, with what proved to be the game's only goal. AFC Wimbledon thus won 2–0 on aggregate.^[12]

The two finalists played each other twice during the regular season, with Walsall recording a 1–0 win at Plough Lane in November 2024, followed by a 1–1 draw at the Bescot Stadium in March 2025.^[13] Loan player Nathan Lowe was the highest scorer for Walsall with 15 league goals during the season, although he had departed the club in January, having been recalled by his permanent club Stoke City. Matty Stevens was AFC Wimbledon's top marksman with 17 goals during the league campaign.^[14]

The match was Walsall's second appearance at Wembley, their first being the 2015 Football League Trophy final which they lost to Bristol City.^[15] It was the club's third play-off final, following a 4–0 win in a replay against Bristol City in 1988 and a 3–2 victory over Reading in 2001.^[16] The match was AFC Wimbledon's second appearance at the national stadium and their second play-off final since they were founded in 2002, the other being a 2–0 win against Plymouth Argyle in 2016.^[17][18]

The referee for the match was Will Finnie. The assistant referees were Alistair Nelson and Conor Brown with Matt Sowerby as a reserve; the fourth official was Tom Kirk. James Bell and Marc Perry were named as the video assistant referee (VAR) and assistant video assistant referee respectively.^[19]

The match was televised live by Sky Sports on both its Premier League and Main Event channels and was also available for live streaming on Sky Go and NOW.^[20] BBC Local Radio stations covered the game for each team: BBC Radio WM for Walsall and BBC Radio London for AFC Wimbledon.^[21][22] BBC Radio 5 Live provided national radio commentary.^[20]

The match kicked off at 3 p.m. in front of a crowd of 50,947, of whom more than 28,500 were AFC Wimbledon supporters and over 17,000 for Walsall.^{[20][23][24][25]} AFC Wimbledon were the more threatening side in the opening stages, though there were few clear chances for either side, the best being a shot by AFC Wimbledon's Marcus Browne after 30 minutes, which was saved by Walsall goalkeeper Tommy Simkin. Aside from this, their early efforts consisted mainly of long balls forward, which were handled by the Walsall defence.^[26] AFC Wimbledon had a further promising attack on 40 minutes when Stevens won the ball deep in Walsall territory, but his attempted pass to Alistair Smith was cleared.^[27] AFC Wimbledon took the lead in first-half stoppage time following a corner kick when Myles Hippolyte scored with a low shot into the corner after Browne's volley had been blocked by the Walsall defence. The half ended with Wimbledon ahead 1–0.^[28]

Walsall began to play more positively after the break and they almost equalised when a shot by Jamille Matt cleared off the line by Harbottle on 49 minutes. They brought on veteran player Albert Adomah and Amantchi after 62 minutes, and the latter had a chance to score shortly afterwards, his dinked shot being stopped by AFC Wimbledon goalkeeper Owen Goodman.^[26][27] Simkin then made a good save from Neufville's shot close to the goal.^[26] Further substitutions were made by both sides in an effort to influence the game, but further clear chances were limited. Following six minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game, AFC Wimbledon held on to complete a 1–0 win and earn a place in League One.^[28][27]

AFC Wimbledon

Walsall

GK 1 Owen Goodman CB 26 Riley Harbottle  69' CB 31 Joe Lewis CB 6 Ryan Johnson RWB 7 James Tilley CM 12 Alistair Smith CM 4 Jake Reeves (c) CM 21 Myles Hippolyte 45+2',  90' LWB 11 Josh Neufville CF 18 Marcus Browne  90' CF 14 Matty Stevens  77' Substitutes: GK 22 Lewis Ward DF 33 Isaac Ogundere  69' MF 8 Callum Maycock  90' MF 16 James Ball MF 29 Aron Sasu  90' FW 10 Josh Kelly  77' FW 39 Joe Pigott Head Coach: Johnnie Jackson

GK 1 Tommy Simkin CB 26 David Okagbue CB 24 Harry Williams  34' CB 21 Taylor Allen RM 19 Nathan Asiimwe  74' CM 15 Alfie Chang  74' CM 25 Ryan Stirk LM 3 Liam Gordon RW 22 Jamie Jellis  62' LW 20 George Hall CF 9 Jamille Matt (c)  63' Substitutes: GK 12 Sam Hornby DF 2 Connor Barrett  74' DF 4 Oisin McEntee  34' MF 8 Charlie Lakin  74' MF 14 Brandon Comley FW 11 Levi Amantchi  63' FW 37 Albert Adomah  62' Head Coach: Mat Sadler