page_title: 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final
section_title: Pre-match
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final / Match / Pre-match
caption_attribution_description: 22/05/10 Cardiff V Blackpool, Championship Final, Wembley, England
context_page_description: The 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final was an association football match played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 22 May 2010 between Blackpool and Cardiff City. The match was to determine the third and final team to win promotion from the Championship, the second tier of English football, to the Premier League for the 2010–11 season. The culmination of the 2010 Football League Championship play-offs, the match saw Blackpool beat Cardiff City to earn promotion alongside the Championship winners Newcastle United and runners-up West Bromwich Albion. The match, and subsequent promotion, was estimated to be worth around £90 million to the winning team.
  Blackpool entered the play-offs having finished sixth in the 2009–10 Football League Championship, securing the last of the play-off places on the final day of the regular season, while Cardiff finished two places above in fourth. Blackpool reached the play-off final after a 6–4 aggregate semi-final victory over third-place finishers Nottingham Forest. In their semi-final, Cardiff beat fifth-placed Leicester City by virtue of a penalty shoot-out following a 3–3 aggregate draw over two legs.
context_section_description: The two teams were competing for promotion to the Premier League, the first tier of the English football league system. The play-off final was held at Wembley Stadium in London. Blackpool had played once before at the redeveloped Wembley, defeating Yeovil Town 2–0 in the 2007 Football League One play-off Final. Cardiff had played at the redeveloped stadium on two occasions in 2008, in the semi-final and final of the 2007–08 FA Cup. Neither side had played in the Premier League since the league's decision to break away from the Football League in 1992 and Cardiff would have become the first non-English team to play in the league had they won. The Championship play-off finals are considered one of the most financially lucrative matches in football, with the winners of the 2010 final believed to receive around £90 million for winning the match and the subsequent promotion to the Premier League. The Football League announced that the English national anthem "God Save the Queen", traditionally played before play-off finals, would not be played before the match owing to concerns it could upset Cardiff's fans. This decision would later become Football League policy in subsequent matches at Wembley between Welsh and English clubs. This was due to the 2008 FA Cup Final between Portsmouth and Cardiff, where both "God Save the Queen" and the Welsh anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" were played and both sets of supporters jeered the opposing anthems.
  Blackpool president Valērijs Belokoņs had promised the club's players a £5 million reward fund at the start of the 2009–10 season if they achieved promotion to the Premier League, set to be shared among the players dependent on appearances made over the course of the season. Club captain Ian Evatt stated that the potential bonus had spurred the team on during the season, commenting "if anyone deserves it, it is this group of players". Holloway had previously met Cardiff in the 2003 Football League Second Division play-off Final  seven years previously, when his Queens Park Rangers side lost in extra-time. Holloway made no changes to Blackpool's matchday squad, naming the same starting line-up and substitutes used in their play-off semi-final second leg.
  Cardiff kept their team hotel location secret in order to avoid any attempts of a retaliation attempt by fans of Queens Park Rangers following an incident prior to the 2003 play-off final when the two sides met in which a Cardiff fan was arrested after triggering a false fire alarm call at the Rangers' team hotel during the night prior to the match. Rangers' internet message boards had seen fans threaten a possible "revenge attack" but Cardiff manager Dave Jones stated that the club had taken extra precautions, but that "they will probably find out where we are staying. If it goes off, it goes off; but I think there is enough security there". The Cardiff squad would receive a £1.6 million bonus to be shared among the players if they achieved promotion.
  Jones made no changes to the side that had started the second leg of the club's play-off semi-final against Leicester City, striker Jay Bothroyd overcoming doubts over a grade two hamstring strain injury to be named in the starting line-up. The only change to the matchday squad was Gerrard being selected on the bench in place of Gábor Gyepes.
caption: Cardiff City fans (blue) and Blackpool fans (tangerine) make their way to the stadium along Wembley Way
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