Hull City’s match-winning hero was a player who has typified their success story in this remarkable season.

Oli McBurnie, who joined them as a free agent in August, three days before their opening match, after leaving Spain’s Las Palmas following their relegation from La Liga, scored the game’s only goal in second-half stoppage time against Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final at Wembley to send Hull back to the Premier League.

McBurnie, a tireless striker who personifies the spirit in manager Sergej Jakirovic’s side, was one of those who came in on a free transfer or on loan — after Hull were hit with a transfer embargo by the EFL in the summer. That meant they weren’t able to sign players for a fee over three windows. It was later reduced to two windows on appeal.

Given Hull had also finished last season 21st in the 24-team Championship, with survival not secured until the last game and then only via goal difference, that all meant their fans had gone into the 2025-26campaign fearing the worst.

Even the most optimistic of them could not have predicted what was to follow.

Against all the odds, Hull now find themselves back in the Premier League, marking a return to the top flight for the first time in nine years — a spell that included dropping down into the third tier five years ago. This promotion is a true underdog story.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Jakirovic said: “A lot of players are crying — of course from happiness. I think we are not aware of everything that we achieved, today or this whole season. It’s an unbelievable journey. So many problems. Everything that we achieved is unbelievable. I’m very proud of everyone in the club.”

The build-up to Saturday’s Championship final was dominated by the fallout of the ‘Spygate’ drama.

After Southampton admitted to spying on opponents Middlesbrough in training ahead of their semi-final — as well as on Oxford United and Ipswich Town earlier in the season — they were expelled from the EFL’s showpiece event after qualifying for it.

Amid the drama, Hull unwittingly found themselves at the centre of a storm. Jakirovic had warned against them becoming “collateral damage” in an interview with The Athletic.

After defeating Millwall in their semi-final, Hull spent four training sessions preparing to face Southampton. After Tuesday night’s bombshell statement from the EFL that saw Southampton kicked out, they had time for only one training session with Middlesbrough in mind as their opponents.

Hours before yesterday’s final, Hull’s owner Acun Ilicali told BBC Radio Humberside that he’d been advised by his legal team to take action if his team lost to Middlesbrough. In the end, that didn’t come to pass.

Central to Hull’s revival has been their charismatic Bosnian head coach Jakirovic, who was hired in June.

Ilicali, their Turkish owner, who bought the club in January 2022 from the unpopular Allam family, had initially targeted his countryman Emre Belozoglu, but backed down amid a fan backlash over the latter’s suspended prison sentence for directing a racial slur at a Black opponent during a match in 2012 when still a player.

Jakirovic, who previously managed Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and Turkey’s Kayserispor, arrived in England as a relative unknown, but he’s turned Hull around and proven hugely popular with the players.

After their measly return of just 44 league goals in the 46 games last season, Hull scored 70 this time en route to finishing sixth, before defeating third-place Millwall 2-0 on aggregate in that play-off semi-final.

Sergej Jakirovic has come from relative obscurity to take Hull into the Premier League (Paul Ellis/Getty Images)

After a goalless first leg in Yorkshire, Jakirovic changed Hull’s shape, moving from a 4-2-3-1 to a back three with wing-backs, which caught Millwall by surprise three days later. Hull won 2-0 at The Den, turning in one of their best performances of the season. Jakirovic opted for that same formation again in Saturday’s final.

“He’s not stubborn, like a lot of managers typically are, and I think that’s been one of the reasons we’ve done so well this year,” McBurnie told the i newspaper in an interview this month. “It’s probably hard to game plan against us, because we play so many different ways against different teams.”

Jakirovic, who styles his football on that of former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, had also worked under a transfer embargo at Kayserispor, who he saved from relegation in the Super Lig last season.

“I don’t think anyone expected the change from last season to this season,” Will Young, from the To Hull and Back podcast, told The Athletic. “And I think the main person for that is Sergej Jakirovic. I think it’s the tactical changes he’s made to the side — we’ve gone from a more defensive side to a chaotic one.”

Hull’s numbers this season show how efficient they have been in front of goal.

According to Opta, Hull’s xG performance of 10.38 was the third highest in the Championship (with an xG of 59.62 and those 70 goals scored), while their shot conversion rate of 13.6 per cent and big-chance conversion rate of 44.7 per cent were the highest in the division.

The data also showed their effectiveness on the counter-attack, with 11 goals from fast breaks — the second highest in the Championship — and 56 shots from quick breaks. It also highlighted their direct style, with 1,157 successful long passes, behind only Wrexham and Portsmouth in the second tier, and their combative approach, as they made the highest number of tackles with 819 and won 2,425 duels, the division’s fifth-highest total.

Hull’s tight-knit squad has been one of its strengths this season (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

With Hull unable to sign any players for a fee, sporting director Jared Dublin and head of recruitment Martin Hodge had to scour the market for free transfers and loan deals.

After some wasteful signings in recent years, such as Dogukan Sinik, Abu Kamara and Abdulkadir Omur, however, their transfer embargo — due to late payment of money to Aston Villa over Louie Barry’s loan last season — meant Hull had to box smart and be efficient.

“It was like a puzzle,” Jakirovic told The Athletic in an interview this week. “Maybe it was the best that it happened like this. This group of players became even closer. They had to stick together and help each other. Maybe this embargo helped us.”

The pick of the new arrivals was McBurnie, their Wembley hero, who was unfortunate to miss out on a place in Scotland’s World Cup squad earlier in the week.

“He’s everything, a true leader, very big experience of the Championship,” Jakirovic said of the 29-year-old in his post-match press conference. “I saw in these play-offs that he can handle pressure easily. He’s ready for these types of games.”

McBurnie and team-mates John Egan and John Lundstram all previously played in the Premier League for Sheffield United, where Dublin had also worked. Joe Gelhardt, on loan from the top flight’s Leeds United, has had a crucial impact too, with 15 goals, including the decisive second against Millwall in that play-off semi-final.

Hull’s other impressive performers this season include centre-back Charlie Hughes, midfielders Regan Slater and Matt Crooks, and winger Kyle Joseph. Left-back Ryan Giles has won over the fans after a tough start to life at the club. Mohamed Belloumi, a winger who cost Hull around £4million in summer 2024, has provided moments of magic, including the superb first goal of that Millwall tie.

Hull’s Matt Crooks celebrates promotion with the fans at Wembley (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Captained by hometown boy Lewie Coyle, it’s a tight-knit squad and a close dressing room.

In a raw and emotional interview with CBS after their Wembley win yesterday, Coyle paid tribute to his father.

“A lot of the time, I never backed myself to get to the Premier League, and be a Premier League player, and even saying it out loud sounds a bit daft,” he told the U.S. broadcaster. “I’m just a normal, humble kid, who grafts for everything I’ve got. And that comes from my old man, he instilled that in me.

“I’ve never really spoken about the night my dad passed away. I lost my dad in a tragic way, and I’ve never probably said this and I might regret saying it, but I feel I’m partly to blame for why my old man is not here. I’ve always searched for ways that could repay him, and if he can see what’s going on right now, then this is the closest I’ll ever get to saying, ‘Dad, I’m sorry’, and yeah, I owe everything to him. Everything.”

Ilicali, a Turkish TV mogul who has been likened to Simon Cowell, will feel vindicated after dispensing with four managers — Shota Arzveladze, Liam Rosenior, Tim Walter (an especially disastrous hire) and Ruben Selles in three seasons — before landing on Jakirovic.

His dismissal of Rosenior, whose Hull side missed the Championship play-offs by one place in 2023-24, was particularly controversial, but Ilicali had misgivings over his playing style.

Ilicali, who left his role as vice-president at Turkish giants Fenerbahce in June, had gambled on Hull achieving promotion — with their wage bill, for example, rising from £29.5million to £36.7m, according to their latest financial accounts published in December. Their income in the same period was £25.8m.

Acun Ilicali, Hull City’s Turkish owner, shows off the Championship play-off trophy (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

However, with Hull now back in the top flight — a prize worth around £205million ($275m) in extra revenue across the next three seasons, according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group — Ilicali will believe his approach has paid off. He has lofty ambitions for the club, and has spoken of his dream of reaching the Champions League with Hull.

He has promised his players a trip to Las Vegas following their Wembley triumph.

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” Jakirovic joked in his post-match press conference.

Hull’s head coach won’t be joining his players, but will instead holiday with his family in Croatia.

Against all expectations, Hull are in the Premier League for the first time since the 2016-17 season — a tough campaign when they went straight back down, having come up via a 1-0 win in the play-off final.

They’ll be the firm favourites to do so again next year.

However, if their 2025-26 season has taught us anything, it is to never write off this side.

“To see what’s happened is just ridiculous,” podcaster Young told The Athletic. “It’s very similar to 2008, when we first went to the Premier League (also via the play-offs).

“We are the team that just survived relegation on the final day of the season before. And it’s a bit of a group of misfits who weren’t expected to do much, even in the city itself, and they just went on a great run and somehow went up.

“If there’s a fairy tale in the league this season, it’s probably us, because we shouldn’t be anywhere near promotion, really.”