How Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday could make EFL history
Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday could be set to make history in the coming weeks.
The Black Cats will host the Owls in the first leg at home on Friday, before the return leg at Hillsborough three days later.
Sunderland beat Wednesday 5-0 when the teams last met on Wearside in December – although the Owls were recovering from a Covid-19 outbreak – while Darren Moore’s side won 3-0 in November’s reverse fixture.
Tomorrow night’s game is set to be the biggest attendance of the season at the Stadium of Light after the club announced they have so far sold over 40,000 tickets – surpassing the 38,395 at February’s 2-1 defeat to Doncaster Rovers for Jermain Defoe’s second debut..
Sheffield Wednesday are also expecting a big crowd at Hillsborough with around 34,000.
The estimated combined attendance across the two legs looks like it will be in the region of 69,000-75,000.
That would make the tie the best-attended League One play-off semi-final ever, surpassing the clash between Leeds United and Millwall back in 2009, which saw 50,264 fans.
Sunderland’s home leg at the Stadium of Light on Friday is also likely to beat Leeds' record of 37,063 for a play-off game in League One. But Sunderland might not be done yet in terms of records.
Should the game with Sheffield Wednesday live up to attendance expectations, then it could become the bestattended semi-final in EFL history, including Championship, League One and League
Two. That would include the 210 play-off semi-final ties played across the EFL since the format came into being 34 years ago.
The Championship semifinal between Aston Villa and Middlesbrough in 2018 currently holds the all-time record across the EFL for a two-legged semi-final with 69,738.
All this, though, will mean nothing if Sunderland fail to do the business against Sheffield Wednesday and then at Wembley.
Sunderland have sold out their allocation for the second leg at Hillsborough.
The Black Cats were handed 2,000 tickets, the minimum amount the Owls could have provided under EFL rules. Sunderland have also provided 2,000 tickets to Wednesday supporters for the first leg.