Every Premier League club handed huge blow after Sunderland win promotion back to the Premier League

All 19 other Premier League clubs have been handed a huge blow following Sunderland's promotion to the top flight.

The Black Cats defeated Sheffield United 2-1 in Saturday's Championship play-off final at Wembley to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2017.

Regis Le Bris' side went 1-0 down in the first half through Tyrese Campbell, but goals from Eliezer Mayenda and Tommy Watson - who netted in the 95th minute - secured a memorable comeback.

For Sheffield United, their first attempt to return to the top flight after relegation under Chris Wilder has ended in failure.

The Blades will continue to receive parachute payments from the Premier League, which will give them a major advantage over most other Championship clubs before a ball is even kicked next season.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire revealed on Saturday that United will receive a sum of £39 million for their second season back in the Championship.

Had they earned promotion back to the Premier League, those payments would have stopped, and they would have instead received around £90 million in domestic and international TV rights for the 2025/26 season.

In that scenario, the parachute payment money would have been kept by the Premier League and distributed among its clubs.

Therefore, each club would have received an additional sum of around £1.95 million.

They will receive that sum anyway due to Burnley's promotion to the top flight, with the Clarets in the same position as Sheffield United having been relegated last term.

And champions Leeds would have earned around £17 million in parachute payments had they stayed down for their third season in the Championship, adding an extra £900,000 to the pot for Premier League clubs.

It won’t just be the fans of Sunderland and Sheffield United with an interest in the Championship Playoff final today, Premier League clubs have a vested interest too.

Under Premier League rules, clubs are entitled to three years of Parachute Payments when they are relegated to…

— Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) May 24, 2025

But Sunderland's promotion means that clubs will not get the full amount they might have hoped for - which could have made a key difference in transfer negotiations this summer.

The Black Cats' eight-year stint outside the top flight means their parachute payments ended all the way back in 2020, when they were playing in League One.

The Wembley result caps off a remarkable 18 months for Sunderland, whose 2023/24 season fell apart after the polarising decision to sack Tony Mowbray and place interim manager Mike Dodds - who won just two of his 13 matches - in charge for the rest of the campaign.

But the arrival of former Lorient boss Le Bris in the summer kickstarted a new era for the North East club, and they sat in the top four places for almost the entirety of the season.

A run of five consecutive defeats at the end of the season - and a less than impressive pair of performances in the play-off semi-final win over Coventry - did concern Black Cats fans, but Sunderland made it count when it mattered most at Wembley.