Salford City have won each of their last five meetings with Notts County, since a 2-0 home defeat in League Two in September 2023 – that includes 2-1 victories home and away in the 2025-26 campaign.

Notts County lost both of their regular season meetings with Salford City in the league this season – the only previous teams to suffer a league double to the team they later won promotion against in the League Two play-off final (since 2004-05) are Crawley in 2023-24 (vs Crewe), Morecambe in 2020-21 (vs Newport), Dagenham and Redbridge in 2009-10 (vs Rotherham) and Cheltenham Town in 2005-06 (vs Grimsby).

Salford City are contesting their first ever EFL play-off final and are aiming to reach the third tier of English football for the first time.

Notts County have reached a play-off final in the EFL for the fourth time, with the previous three coming in the 1990s; the Magpies beat Tranmere Rovers 2-0 in 1990 (3rd tier), Brighton and Hove Albion in 1991 (2nd tier) before losing to Bradford City in 1996 (3rd tier).

Salford City will visit Wembley Stadium for the third time, winning on their two prior trips to the venue – the Ammies beat AFC Fylde 3-0 in the 2019 Conference play-off final and Portsmouth on penalties in the 2021 Football League Trophy final.

Notts County have recorded back-to-back clean sheets for only the second time this season (also in December) – the Magpies have however conceded at least twice on each of their last three visits to Wembley Stadium, most recently losing on penalties to Chesterfield in the 2022-23 Conference play-off final after a 2-2 draw.

Notts County recorded just six shots across their two semi-final matches against Chesterfield, the fewest of any side on record (since 2013-14) in a two-legged EFL play-off tie; in the regular League Two season they ranked 18th for total shots (529), but joint-second for goals scored (74).

Salford City manager Karl Robinson’s only previous EFL play-off final ended in defeat to Wycombe with Oxford in 2020 in League One. Notts County manager Martin Paterson meanwhile won the 2009 Championship play-off final as a player with Burnley against Sheffield United.

Salford City’s Kallum Cesay scored in both legs of the semi-final tie against Grimsby, the first time he has scored in back-to-back matches as an EFL player; the last player to score in both semi-final legs and the final of the play-offs in a League Two campaign was Port Vale’s James Wilson in 2021-22.

Since the start of last season in League Two, only Bromley’s Michael Cheek (41) has struck more goals than Notts County’s Alassana Jatta (34). In that time, the Magpies’ forward has only played against Colchester more times (4) than Salford (3) without scoring however.