Playoffs: When Did They Begin?

Demarco Parisian
2025-06-05 15:22:26
Count answers: 5
Since they were introduced back in 1987, the EFL playoffs have delivered some of the most enthralling, drama-filled games filled with last-minute winners, penalty shootouts and stunning strikes over the years.

Rylan Hettinger
2025-06-01 07:17:18
Count answers: 2
In American football, play-offs have been a tradition since 1919 but in football play-offs are a more recent addition, introduced in some leagues a few decades ago. The use of football play-offs to decide promotion was introduced to England in 1986 and has been around ever since. The play-off system was introduced in the 2005–2006 season in Netherlands. In 2007/08, the Superleague Greece introduced football play-offs system to determine all of its places in the European competition for the following season. The Royal Belgian Football Association took inspiration from their neighbors and introduced their own version of the play-offs in 2009/10. Bulgaria instituted a very specific football play-offs system for its first division clubs in the 2016–17 season.

Tevin Boyle
2025-05-21 12:21:44
Count answers: 4
The 2023 play-offs were the 37th time the end-of-season fixtures have been played since the system was (re)introduced in 1987.
2023 had the highest average attendance since the play-offs began in 1987 – 29,557 – in contrast to the average of 12,994 registered in 1989 (before the introduction of Wembley finals).
Tony Cascarino was the first player to score a hat-trick in the play-offs (for Gillingham in the 1987 semi-final against Sunderland), while David Kelly scored a treble in the replayed final of 1988 for Walsall at home to Bristol City.
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