Norwich City beat Middlesbrough to claim ‘biggest prize in world football’

CNN  — 

Norwich City hit the $200 million jackpot Monday as it defeated Middlesbrough 2-0 in England’s Championship Playoff final at Wembley Stadium.

Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond scored the goals to ensure the East Anglia club will make a quick return to the Premier League having suffered relegation last campaign.

The end-of-season showdown is generally regarded as the world’s richest match as it offers promotion from England’s second tier into the elite Premier League which has some of the most lucrative broadcasting deals in sport.

The $200 million figure is an estimate of the minimum amount each EPL team will receive from television and commercial revenue for one season, according to Deloitte.

A report from the accountancy firm earlier this month described the Playoff Final as “the biggest prize in world football.”

But with new TV deals kicking in at the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Norwich could be in line for an even bigger financial windfall if it can maintain its EPL status next season.

Teams playing in the English top flight in 2016/17 can expect to receive a share of the new £5.14 billion ($7.94 billion) broadcasting deal agreed between the league and UK TV companies last year.

That breaks down to a minimum of roughly $355 million per club, according to Deloitte.

As Norwich players danced across the Wembley turf at full time, however, thoughts of improved financial rewards seemed a distant second to a momentous sporting triumph.

Middlesbrough had already defeated Norwich twice in the regular season, 4-0 in November and 1-0 in April, to virtually end the Canaries’ hopes of automatic promotion.

But the club co-owned by UK celebrity chef Delia Smith has been in fine form ever since appointing manager Alex Neil earlier this year.

The softly spoken Scot had made clear before the game that he had full confidence in his players to readdress their two previous losses against Boro. And so it proved at a rocking Wembley Stadium.

A frantic opening nine minutes saw both teams rattle the crossbar, Norwich first through Bradley Johnson before Jelle Vossen responded moments later with a brilliant strike at the other end.

When the opening goal arrived soon after it had more to do with defensive calamity than incisive attacking play.

Cameron Jerome dispossessed Boro defender Daniel Ayala deep in opposition territory before nonchalantly striding into the area and placing beyond goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos.

The Canaries were flying, and within three minutes they were soaring even higher. Steven Whittaker cleverly picked out Nathan Redmond who took a neat touch into the Boro area before rifling the ball beyond Konstantopoulos to make it 2-0.

Boro looked shell shocked and struggled to fight their way into the game. But it did at least manage to stem the flow of Norwich attacking play as the half wore on.

The second period saw Boro press to get back into the game without ever creating much.

Norwich was content to sit back and invite the pressure without ever committing too many men forward.

It was a tactic, allied with no little discipline and determination, that would see the game out and set the cash registers ringing in Norwich.