Have Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace benefitted from Wembley Stadium 'curse'?

Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace are still on the high of recent wins at Wembley Stadium and football fans have noticed a spooky trend from the home of football in recent years.

The Addicks got their hands on the League One play-off final trophy by beating Leyton Orient 1-0 while the Eagles got the better of Manchester City by the same scoreline to win the FA Cup earlier this month.

Both those teams tasted triumph in front of a sold out Wembley Stadium allocation. A total of 38,345 Charlton Athletic fans made the trip across London to Wembley with 33,467 Crystal Palace fans there for the FA Cup. Both London clubs sold out their allocation.

Wembley Stadium ‘curse’ explained as West End fans complete 2025 clean sweep

The League Two play-off final took place under the arch on Bank Holiday Monday and, ahead of kick-off, Sky Sports set the football world talking by suggesting that there may be a lucky end at Wembley Stadium. Reporting from pitchside, an anchor for the broadcaster said: “It’s AFC Wimbledon fans that have got that stand today. Why is that significant? Because guess what, for the Carabao Cup final it was Newcastle fans who had that stand.

“The FA Cup final, it was Crystal Palace fans that were in that area of the stadium. And, guess what? In the play-offs so far, Sunderland fans, Charlton fans have been in the West Stand. So, Wimbledon fans that are travelling to Wembley today might just feel like the omens are on their side. In fact, we can go further back as well because, guess what? Southampton, Oxford, Crawley fans all in the West Stand.”

As if cursing the Walsall fans in the East Stand, it was indeed AFC Wimbledon that emerged 1-0 winners and achieved promotion to League One. That Sky Sports report sparked conversation with football followers recalling jubilant and painful trips to Wembley Stadium.

One fan crunched the figures behind play-off winners and the allocated stands ahead of the 2023 play-off finals last year. Those findings, combined with last year’s trio of West End winners, showed that there had been a total of 28 West End winners compared with 23 in the East End at the new Wembley. That would suggest that the ‘curse’ is not any dark magic at work in the West End this season.

Nathan Jones and Oliver Glasner praise fans

Speaking about the fans after the play-off final win, Jones said: “I’m so proud of the whole football club, everyone. The fans, especially for the 44 or 45,000 who turned up today.

“All the owners were here today. They saw what a football club they bought. They bought a shell of a club and now they are seeing something totally different.

“Then every member of staff who has worked so hard and the players deserve huge credit because they’ve gone through some stuff – they’ve had to sacrifice a lot. They’ve had to put up with me demanding, demanding and demanding, which isn’t easy at times. It’s the culmination of a lot of work.”

Meanwhile, FA Cup winner Glasner said: "No one expected Frankfurt to win the Europa League and no one expected Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup. You can see what you can get when you are patient.

"As football players and managers, the biggest success is not lifting the trophy. It's giving tens of thousands of our fans a moment for their life. Giving them great times. Maybe they have some problems at home so just to make them happy... we did it for our fans."

In other news, Charlton Athletic move for 'terrific' transfer after promotion as QPR star courted by Sheffield United.