It's usually referred to as the 'richest game in football' - the English Championship play-off final that each year decides the last team to be admitted to the world's richest football competition - the English Premier League - for the following season.
It is also the world's most cut-throat sporting fixture but one that all too often not only results in pain for the loser but for the winner as well.
This year it was Derby County and West Bromwich Albion that battled it out at the new Wembley Stadium for the right to be the 20th and last club to join the EPL next season.
For the loser it meant another year battling it out in the Championship and facing the might of Blackpool, Scunthorpe, Bristol City, Colchester, Plymouth and Hull next year.
But for the winner it meant the opportunity to play against world famous clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton at some of the world's most famous venues such as Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and Anfield.
And to the winner it meant the untold riches that go with being part of the world's most watched football competition - a minimum of $A145.4 million - thanks to the lucrative television money that comes with being part of the EPL.
So it is little wonder the play-off final brings it with so much tension because the difference between winning and losing is arguably greater than say an AFL or NRL grand final or the English FA Cup final where at least the losing team has a chance of redeeming itself in the same competition next season.
But for West Brom - which went down 1-0 to Derby - it means finishing in the top six in the second tier of English football after 46 gruelling games next season just to get back to the position they found themselves in on Monday.
The Baggies' pain is even worse considering they were only relegated from the Premiership at the end of last season and were trying to reclaim their place at the first attempt.
But for Derby, one of the top teams of English football in the mid 1970's, it means a return to the Premiership after five years absence and caps off a remarkable turn in their fortunes under first year manager Billy Davies - who took over a side that was almost relegated from the Championship the previous season.
However while its Derby fans that are celebrating right now, if history is any guide their joy might be short-lived.
This time last year it was Watford celebrating a return to the EPL with a 3-0 win over Leeds in the play-off final and right now the same Watford team is preparing for a return to the second tier of English Football after finishing last in the Premiership this season.
The gap between the EPL and the Championship is simply huge and history suggests the play-off winner faces a virtually impossible task to avoid finishing in the bottom three of the Premiership and going straight back down the following season.
Consider the other play-off winners over the past 15 years - Watford, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Birmingham, Bolton, Ipswich, Watford, Charlton, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Bolton, Leicester and Swindon.
As you can see clubs such as Watford, Palace and Leicester have had two chances to establish themselves as Premiership clubs after winning the play-off final and yet still find themselves in the Championship.
Of all those clubs listed above only Bolton Wanderers has now established themselves as a genuine Premiership club and even they face a massive challenge this coming season following the recent resignation of their inspirational manager Sam Alladyce.
And while West Ham and Birmingham will also play in the EPL next season, the Hammers only just survived on the last day of the season this year while the Blues, like Derby, have come up from the Championship this season having been automatically promoted by finishing in the top two.
While the likes of Wigan and Reading have made the step-up in recent seasons - although Wigan found life at the top level much tougher in their second season this year - most promoted teams inevitably go straight back down.
So while Derby might be the toast of English football right now, the real challenge is only just beginning and if you asked nearly every EPL fan the world over just which team they would pick to relegation material next season - the answer right now would be Derby County.