2002 Football League play-offs#Third Division

{{Infobox football league season

| competition=Football League play-offs

| season=2001–02

| winners=Birmingham City
(First Division)
Stoke City
(Second Division)
Cheltenham Town
(Third Division)

| biggest home win=Norwich 3–1 Wolves
(First Division)

| biggest away win=Cardiff 0–2 Stoke
(Second Division)

| highest scoring=Norwich 3–1 Wolves
Rushden & Diamonds 2–2 Rochdale
Cheltenham 3–1 Rushden & Diamonds
(4 goals)

| matches=15

| total goals=35

| highest attendance=71,597 – Birmingham v Norwich
(First Division final)

| lowest attendance=6,015 – Rushden & Diamonds v Rochdale
(Third Division semi-final)

| average attendance=21,859

| prevseason=2001

| nextseason=2003

}}

The Football League play-offs for the 2001–02 season were held in May 2002, with the finals taking place at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The play-off semi-finals will be played over two legs and will be contested by the teams who finish in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place in the Football League First Division and Football League Second Division and the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th placed teams in the Football League Third Division table. The winners of the semi-finals will go through to the finals, with the winner of the matches gaining promotion for the following season.

Background

The Football League play-offs have been held every year since 1987. They take place for each division following the conclusion of the regular season and are contested by the four clubs finishing below the automatic promotion places.

In the First Division, Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were aiming to return to the top flight after nearly 20 years, finished 3 points behind their Black Country rivals West Bromwich Albion, who finished second and thus gained automatic promotion. Albion ended the season 10 points behind champions Manchester City, who returned to the Premier League after being relegated the previous season.

Millwall who were aiming for a place in the top flight for the first time since 1990, finished in fourth place in the table.

Birmingham City, who were aiming to return to the top flight for the first time since 1986, finished in fifth place.

Norwich City finished 1 point behind Birmingham City and were looking for a place back in the Premiership for the first time since 1995.

First Division

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pos \| Position}} !width="175"\|Team !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pld \| Played}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| W \| Won}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| D \| Drawn}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| L \| Lost}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GF \| Goals for}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GA \| Goals against}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GD \| Goal difference}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pts \| Points}}
3	align=left\|Wolverhampton Wanderers \|46	25	11	10	76	43	+33	86
4	align=left\|Millwall \|46	22	11	13	69	48	+21	77
bgcolor=#ADDFAD \|5	align=left\|Birmingham City \|46	21	13	12	70	49	+21	76
6	align=left\|Norwich City \|46	22	9	15	60	51	{{0}}+9	75

=Semi-finals=

;First leg

{{football box

|date=28 April 2002

|time=12:00

|team1=Birmingham City

|score=1–1

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1951115.stm Report]

|team2=Millwall

|goals1=Hughes {{goal|56}}

|goals2=Dublin {{goal|80}}

|stadium=St Andrew's, Birmingham

|attendance=28,282

|referee=Anthony Bates

}}

----

{{football box

|date=28 April 2002

|time=14:30

|team1=Norwich City

|score=3–1

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1951114.stm Report]

|team2=Wolverhampton Wanderers

|goals1=Rivers {{goal|56}}
McVeigh {{goal|73}}
Mackay {{goal|90}}

|goals2=Sturridge {{goal|22}}

|stadium=Carrow Road, Norwich

|attendance=20,127

|referee=Roger Furnandiz

}}

;Second leg

{{football box

|date=1 May 2002

|time=19:45

|team1=Wolverhampton Wanderers

|score=1–0

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1959203.stm Report]

|team2=Norwich City

|goals1=Cooper {{goal|77}}

|stadium=Molineux, Wolverhampton

|attendance=27,418

|referee=Tony Leake

}}

Norwich City won 3–2 on aggregate.

----

{{football box

|date=2 May 2002

|time=19:45

|team1=Millwall

|score=0–1

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1962328.stm Report]

|team2=Birmingham City

|goals2=John {{goal|90}}

|stadium=The New Den, London

|attendance=16,391

|referee=Graham Laws

}}

Birmingham City won 2–1 on aggregate.

=Final=

{{football box

|date=12 May 2002

|time=15:30

|team1=Birmingham City

|team2=Norwich City

|score=1–1

|aet=yes

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1979806.stm Report]

|goals1=Horsfield {{goal|102}}

|goals2=Roberts {{goal|91}}

|stadium=Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

|attendance=71,597

|referee=Graham Barber

|penalties1=John {{pengoal}}
Devlin {{pengoal}}
Lazaridis {{pengoal}}
Carter {{pengoal}}

|penaltyscore=4–2

|penalties2={{pengoal}} Roberts
{{penmiss}} Mulryne
{{penmiss}} Sutch
{{pengoal}} Easton

}}

Second Division

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pos \| Position}} !width="175"\|Team !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pld \| Played}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| W \| Won}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| D \| Drawn}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| L \| Lost}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GF \| Goals for}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GA \| Goals against}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GD \| Goal difference}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pts \| Points}}
3	align=left\|Brentford \|46	24	11	11	77	43	+34	83
4	align=left\|Cardiff City \|46	23	14	9	75	50	+25	83
bgcolor=#ADDFAD \|5	align=left\|Stoke City \|46	23	11	12	67	40	+27	80
6	align=left\|Huddersfield Town \|46	21	15	10	65	47	+18	78

=Semi-finals=

;First leg

{{football box

|date=28 April 2002

|time=14:00

|team1=Stoke City

|score=1–2

|report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1951111.stm Report]

|team2=Cardiff City

|goals1=Burton {{goal|84}}

|goals2=Earnshaw {{goal|12}}
Fortune-West {{goal|59}}

|stadium=Britannia Stadium, Stoke

|attendance=21,245

|referee=Tony Leake

}}

----

{{football box

|date=28 April 2002

|time=15:00

|team1=Huddersfield Town

|score=0–0

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1951112.stm Report]

|team2=Brentford

|stadium=Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield

|attendance=16,523

|referee=Graham Laws

}}

;Second leg

{{football box

|date=1 May 2002

|time=19:45

|team1=Brentford

|score=2–1

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1959569.stm Report]

|team2=Huddersfield Town

|goals1=Powell {{goal|14}}
Owusu {{goal|46}}

|goals2=Booth {{goal|2}}

|stadium=Griffin Park, Brentford

|attendance=11,191

|referee=Graham Barber

}}

Brentford won 2–1 on aggregate.

----

{{football box

|date=1 May 2002

|time=19:45

|team1=Cardiff City

|score=0–2

|aet=yes

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1959318.stm Report]

|team2=Stoke City

|goals2=O'Connor {{goal|90}}
Oularé {{goal|115}}

|stadium=Ninian Park, Cardiff

|attendance=19,367

|referee=Mike Dean

}}

Stoke City won 3–2 on aggregate.

=Final=

{{football box

|date=11 May 2002

|time=13:30

|team1=Brentford

|score=0–2

|report=[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/1979286.stm Report]

|team2=Stoke City

|goals2=Burton {{goal|16}}
Burgess {{goal|45|o.g.}}

|stadium=Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

|attendance=42,523

|referee=Graham Laws

}}

Third Division

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pos \| Position}} !width="175"\|Team !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pld \| Played}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| W \| Won}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| D \| Drawn}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| L \| Lost}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GF \| Goals for}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GA \| Goals against}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| GD \| Goal difference}} !width="30"\|{{Tooltip\| Pts \| Points}}
bgcolor=#ADDFAD \|4	align=left\|Cheltenham Town \|46	21	15	10	66	49	+17	78
5	align=left\|Rochdale \|46	21	15	10	65	52	+13	78
6	align=left\|Rushden & Diamonds \|46	20	13	13	69	53	+16	73
7	align=left\|Hartlepool United \|46	20	11	15	74	48	+26	71