Coventry City will return to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years after securing their promotion from the Championship with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers on Friday.
A founding member of Premier League in 1992-93, Coventry have not been back since relegation in 2000-01.
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The West Midlands side will now rejoin the elite after a stunning campaign in the second tier under manager Frank Lampard.
Lampard’s side only needed a point from Friday’s match at Ewood Park to seal promotion but looked like being denied after Ryoya Morishita gave Blackburn the lead, before Bobby Thomas rose highest to head in from a free kick in the 84th minute.
The goal and the final whistle minutes later prompted wild celebrations from the more than 7,000 travelling Coventry supporters packed in to the away end in Lancashire.
The Sky Blues’ lowest ebb came when they dropped into the fourth-tier League Two in 2017 but they have fought their way back and, after losing to Luton in the playoff final in 2023, have stormed the Championship under Lampard this season to secure their Premier League return with three matches to spare.
They will have to wait to secure the title, with second-placed Ipswich now 11 points behind with five matches to play.
It will also be a return to the Premier League for Lampard. The former England international, who won three Premier League titles as a player with Chelsea, spent 18 months as manager at Stamford Bridge followed by a year in charge of Everton.
He last coached in the top flight during nine games as Chelsea interim manager at the end of the 2022-23 season.
Coventry spent 34 straight years in England’s top division and garnered a reputation for a series of dramatic escapes from Premier League relegation before finally succumbing to the drop in 2001. The club won their only major trophy with the FA Cup in 1987.
PA contributed to this report.
