Hull City reach Premier League after Tigers grab promotion chance

Zakirovic said before Saturday’s game that his team had been “collateral damage” from Southampton’s elimination from the play-offs, causing Hull to switch from preparing for the game against Saints to plotting for Middlesbrough four days before the final.

Despite pre-match difficulties and being underdogs as they were up against third-placed Millwall in the semi-final, Hull got the job done on an extremely hot day at Wembley.

Promotion has been a tremendous first season in English football for the Hull boss, a former Bosnia international.

Jakirovic won titles in Bosnia and Croatia before a brief stay in Turkey at the end of last season, but he is probably best known in the UK as the Dinamo Zagreb boss was beaten 9-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League in 2024-25. He was dismissed after a few days.

If he came to England to prove a point, it really is a case of mission accomplished.

“When Ollie scored the goal, I was thinking, ‘I’m dreaming and it’s a movie,'” Zakirovic said.

“I’m very emotional. A lot of the players were crying with joy.”

“It’s been an incredible journey. I think we don’t realise what we’ve achieved today. We hamanyof problems ahead of us.”

“I’m very proud of everyone, especially the players; they’re the main actors.“