Nottingham Forest’s torturous time outside the top flight came to an end on Sunday, as the two-time European champions won promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.
[ MORE: Sadio Mane to leave Liverpool this summer ]
Levi Colwill scored the game’s only goal, in the wrong goal, to give Nottingham Forest a 1-0 victory at Wembley Stadium. After 23 years, another sleeping giant of English football is back in the big time.
Nottingham Forest strike first against Huddersfield in their bid to return to the Premier League 👏 pic.twitter.com/3K2R6g4mgs
— ESPN+ (@ESPNPlus) May 29, 2022
Steve Cooper’s side finished the 46-game Championship season 4th in the table, eight points back of 2nd-place (automatic promotion) Bournemouth, which was an amazing feat in itself given they were bottom of the table on Sept. 28, with just five points from their first nine games.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) May 29, 2022
🌳🔴 #NFFC pic.twitter.com/2IIZ9w69Aa
[ MORE: Leeds sign USMNT attacker Brenden Aaronson ]
Nottingham Forest have completed their fairytale story of a once-great giant rising again as they clinch promotion back to the top flight for the first time in 23 years. The Reds were crowned back-to-back European champions in 1979 and 1980, right on the heels of their first (and still only) English top-division title in 1978, to go with a pair of back-to-back League Cup triumphs at the start (1978 and 1979) of Brian Clough’s famous run, before doing it again a decade later (1989 and 1990).
Nottingham Forest were one of the 20 founding members of the Premier League in 1992, but they were relegated from the top flight in the first season, for the first of four relegations over a 12-year span, the last from which they have only now found their way back. Forest spent three seasons in League One from 2005 to 2008, and it was their 14th try in the Championship that saw them back to where they believed they belonged all along.
When the 2022-23 Premier League season kicks off on Aug. 6, they will belong.
