Unforgettable EFL Championship Moments Through the Years

England's second tier of football is known for its tension, passion and drama.

Every season, teams fighting for promotion and to remain in the division switch around, creating an entertaining spectacle that no one can ever seem to predict.

To add to the mystery, the play-off format brings another perspective not seen in the top flight, which is usually where the most chaos happens as the four teams go hell-for-leather for the final Premier League spot.

Here's our list of the most unforgettable moments throughout the years, from both the league and the play-offs, that are sure to leave you with goosebumps on your arms....

Zamora Steals Promotion at the Death

Back in 2014, Queens Park Rangers were aiming to bounce back to the big time having been relegated a year prior.

After initially missing out on automatic promotion to Leicester and Burnley, the team from Shepherds Bush faced Wigan Athletic over two-legs in the play-off semi-finals.

Following a 0-0 draw in the first clash, QPR eventually booked their date at Wembley with a 2-1 victory after extra-time at Loftus Road.

In the final, they met Derby County, who had finished just ahead of them in the table in third spot.

With another round of extra-time looming as the score remained goalless, veteran striker Bobby Zamora had the decisive say as he punished two defensive mistakes to send The Hoops' supporters into raptures.

One for you, @QPR fans!

Is this one of the best ends to a Play-Off Final this decade?#EFL | #EFL2010s pic.twitter.com/ahTjqJYWza
— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) December 30, 2019

Spygate Saga

Both Leeds United and Derby County were pushing for promotion during the 2018/19 season, with Leeds having beat The Rams 4-1 earlier on in the season and sat top of the tree ahead of the second encounter on 11 January 2019.

The build-up all week was focused on the stakes involved to both side's hopes of a Premier League return, however this all changed as soon as matchday came around - the big breaking news was that Leeds had sent a member of staff to secretly spy on Derby's training session a day earlier, which manager Marcelo Bielsa surprisingly admitted in his pre-match interview.

"There's a guy in the bushes spying on us!"

Curtis Davies recalls 'spygate', when Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa was caught sending a spy to Derby County's training ground in 2019 🕵️‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/VGNCuHIgky
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 7, 2024

The match ended up as a 2-0 victory to Leeds as they extended their lead at the top to five points, and a £200,000 fine came their way, which was later followed by an enormous trip-up in form that saw them crash out of the automatic places and into the play-offs.

As fate would have it, the two were pitted against each other once more in even greater circumstances, although Leeds' 1-0 win at Pride Park looked to have eased them into the final with clear superiority over their new rivals.

No side had ever won the first-leg of a play-off away from home and not go on to make the final, but this would soon change with the most remarkable of results from Frank Lampard's men.

Derby found themselves 3-1 up on the night, and crucially 3-2 ahead on aggregate, thanks to goals either side of half-time.

Yet, more twists to the tale were still to come; Stuart Dallas levelled the aggregate score at 3-3 just four minutes after the visitors had taken the advantage and the hosts then were reduced to 10-men to see out the final 10 minutes.

With just five and a bit minutes left on the clock, substitute Jack Marriot ran through on goal and poked the ball over the diving Kiko Casilla to send Derby County to the final and have the last laugh of an epic series.

S C E N E S 🔥🔥

Today's #MomentOfTheDay🌟 couldn't have been anything else. 😍

It's @JackMarriott94's winner against Leeds United 12 months ago... 🙌

📲 @BavariaUK pic.twitter.com/BFTeZm5Nxq
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) May 15, 2020

I won't ask how the final went, eh?

Sunderland's Late Shows

Not much of a throwback, given it happened less than three months ago, but Sunderland's heroics in added-on time in the play-off semis and final are well deserving of their place on this list.

The Black Cats had beaten Lampard's Coventry City 2-1 away from home, but Ephron Mason-Clarke's goal in the second-leg forced extra-time at the Stadium of Light.

With seconds of stoppage time left and Sunderland with a last-gasp corner, Dan Ballard rose highest to head the hosts to the final, with the ball crashing in off the underside of the crossbar.

THESE ARE THE BEST LIMBS IVE EVER SEEN

DAN BALLARD HAS SCORED A LAST SECOND GOAL TO SEND SUNDERLAND TO WEMBLEY 😂 pic.twitter.com/iL5uQdbSwQ
— Benny’s Football Tips (@BennyBoyTips) May 13, 2025

At Wembley, Sheffield United had taken the lead before an Eliezer Mayenda goal in the 76th minute looked to be taking the tie to another 30 minute period.

In the 90+5th minute, Tommy Watson - on his last Sunderland appearance before joining Brighton - curled a low effort into the corner of the goal from the edge of the box that signalled an end to the Black Cats' eight-year hiatus from the Premier League.

Tom Watson has put Sunderland in the lead in the 95th minute of the Play-off Final 💥😱 pic.twitter.com/E7gm18kknC
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 24, 2025

Sinclair's Solo

Swansea City hosted Nottingham Forest in March 2011, with both teams vying for automatic promotion spots.

Scott Sinclair had once been one of England's future stars, with Chelsea buying the player from Bristol Rovers when he was 15 - however, limited game time and several loan spells later, he permanently signed for the Welsh club.

The Englishman picked the ball up on the halfway line and ran through two challenges before shimmying and finally picking his spot to slot past the 'keeper.

The 3-2 win for Swansea had huge ramifications, putting them just one point outside of the top-two and above fierce rivals Cardiff, whilst leaving Forest fighting for their lives to remain in the play-off places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1XfpERJtE8

Fair play Fury

Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds were just box office, weren't they?

Aston Villa visited Elland Road at the end of April 2019 with just two games left of the season, and both teams were sat in the play-offs after Leeds' aforementioned collapse and Villa's sensational 10-game winning streak that cancelled out their run of one win in 10 just before.

With under 20 minutes left of a tight affair, Villa's Jonathan Kodjia fell to the floor after a slight tangle with Liam Cooper.

Most of the players stopped as they assumed Leeds would knock the ball out of play so Kodjia could receive treatment - as is the unwritten rule in football - yet the hosts carried on playing as Mateusz Klich curled a corker into the bottom corner.

Huge confrontations followed, both on the pitch and the touchline, with Anwar El Ghazi shown a red card for his clash with Patrick Bamford, that ruled him out of both play-off semi-finals.

Bielsa then ordered his team to give Villa a free goal in return, which 10 of the Leeds players followed, since Pontus Jansson tried to tackle Albert Adomah as he raced through to score into an open net.

6 years ago.

Absolute chaos at Elland Road between Leeds & Aston Villa.

pic.twitter.com/263hYyBmR5
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) April 3, 2025

At least El Ghazi was the man to score the only goal in the eventual play-off final that took Aston Villa to the Prem, whilst Leeds were condemned to another season in the Championship.

Deeneyyyyyyyyy

Whilst it may not have been enough for Watford to get promoted in 2013, their semi-final second-leg drama goes down as the best moment in EFL Championship history.

With Watford and Leicester drawn at 2-2 and into stoppage time, The Foxes were awarded a dubious penalty decision after Anthony Knockaert fell to the floor under pressure from Marco Cassetti.

The Frenchman then took the penalty that he won, which was well-saved by Manuel Almunia who then saved Knockaert's rebound shot, as The Hornets cleared the ball to safety with extra-time looking a certainty.

From the clearance, Watford broke down the other end and created a chance for themselves to win it, as Fernando Forestieri put a cross into the box that was chested down by Jonathan Hogg into the path of Troy Deeney..... and the rest, they say, is history.