Hull City and Middlesbrough meet at Wembley Stadium on Saturday for the EFL Championship playoff final, with the winners earning a place in the 2026-27 Premier League. Both clubs last played in the top flight following their 2016-17 relegations. Southampton were expelled from the playoffs after being found to have spied on Middlesbrough in the semifinals, with Middlesbrough taking their place; Hull reached the final by beating Millwall 2-0 in their semi.
Kick-off is scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at 3:30 p.m. BST (10:30 a.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. IST, 12:30 a.m. AEST on Sunday). Jarred Gillett will referee the match, with Stuart Attwell on VAR duty.
The game will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football in the U.K., Paramount+ in the U.S., FanCode in India and beIN Sports 2 in Australia. ESPN will provide live updates, according to ESPN.
Injury and team news list Hull midfielder Eliot Matazo (knee) and defender Cody Drameh (muscle) as out. Middlesbrough have a fully fit squad to choose from.
This will be the third meeting between the sides this season. Middlesbrough won 4-1 at Hull in early December and Hull won 1-0 at the Riverside later that month. Middlesbrough finished seven points above Hull in the regular season but have taken only four wins from their last 17 matches since mid-February. Hull have won six of their last 17 matches over the same period. Hull also faced a disrupted buildup, having trained for different scenarios while the disciplinary case involving Southampton was ongoing.
