Why Is the Championship Playoff Final Kicking Off at 3:01pm?

Sheffield United and Sunderland face off in football’s "richest game" on Saturday afternoon, and the Championship playoff final is scheduled to kick off a minute later than you might’ve expected.

A duel boasting such remarkable tension rarely makes for a grand spectacle, as defeat can render a season’s work irrelevant. So much is at stake. While Sunderland are aiming to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017, Sheffield United are plotting their comeback at the first time of asking.

However, they‘ll have to overcome a Wembley hoodoo to down the team that finished 14 points worse off in the final Championship table but seemingly have the superior momentum despite the Blades’ comfortable semifinal triumph.

It’s a fixture which means so much, but the game’s subtly delayed kick-off time aims to remind supporters of a cause boasting even greater significance.

Why The Championship Playoff Final is Kicking Off a Minute Late

Luton Town’s Tom Lockyer believes the playoff finals are “incredible platform” for the campaign | IMAGO/PRiME Media Images

Saturday’s Championship playoff final will kick-off a minute late at 3:01 p.m. to highlight the fact that ’Every Minute Matters’.

The aforementioned campaign hopes to inspire supporters to learn the potentially life-saving skill of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

'Every Minute Matters', launched by the English Football League last season, is supported by the Red Sky Foundation, a heart health charity who have supplied defibrillators at the stadiums of both playoff finalists.

The EFL say they’ve already surpassed the initial target of encouraging 270,000 people to learn CPR, and are now aiming to get “360,000 people to use the British Heart Foundation’s online RevivR tool and to start learning the life-saving technique”.

Red Sky Foundation CEO Sergio Petrucci hopes the campaign "raise awareness of CPR across the country" and emphasised that "every minute does count" in the bid to save someone’s life.

As many as 90,000 could be in attendance for the playoff final, while hundreds of thousands are projected to watch on TV. The League One and League Two finals, kicking off on May 25 and 26 respectively, will also start a minute late.

Leyton Orient vs Charlton Athletic thus gets underway at 1:01 p.m. on Sunday, while Walsall vs AFC Wimbledon will now kick off at 3:01 p.m. the following afternoon.

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