Neither side had featured in a play-off final although Swindon Town had lost in the semi-finals during the 1989 Football League play-offs. Swindon Town's last visit to Wembley Stadium was 21 years prior when they beat Arsenal 3–1 in the 1969 Football League Cup Final. This was Sunderland's fourth competitive trip to Wembley, the last time ending in a 1–0 defeat to Norwich City in the 1985 Football League Cup Final. They had also participated in the Football League Centenary Tournament, a friendly competition hosted at Wembley across two days in 1988, where they were knocked out in the first round on penalties by Wigan Athletic. They had last featured in the First Division in the 1984–85 season when they were relegated in 21st place. Swindon had never played at the top tier of English football but had been twice in four seasons, winning the Fourth Division in the 1985–86 season and the 1987 Football League Third Division play-off Final. It was expected that around 40,000 Sunderland fans would make the tip to Wembley, and both clubs confirmed that they had sold their original allocation of 30,000 tickets. There was speculation in the media that the match would be a sell-out, with around 80,000 fans expected to attend. A Wembley official stated that both clubs had requested more than their official allocation of tickets and they were "staggered" by the interest in the match. This was the first play-off final to take place in a single match at Wembley Stadium: the previous three seasons had seen the play-off winners being determined after two legs, one match being played at the home ground of each finalist.