Ahead of the Championship playoff final, Luton Town goalkeeper Ethan Horvath said promotion to the Premier League would be “massive” for his club.
Luton will face Coventry City on Saturday at Wembley, with the winner earning a spot in the Premier League. The Championship playoff final is often billed as the £180 million game due to the financial reward of promotion to the English top flight.
Horvath actually played in the same match last year, coming in as a substitute for his parent club Nottingham Forest as they defeated Huddersfield Town to earn promotion.
Now on loan at Luton, the U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper spoke to ESPN about the significance of the match.
“I think the magnitude of this game is just really massive for the fans,” Horvath said.
“It’s a bit hard to put into words,” he added. “We’ve got the NBA Finals going on now and my hometown Denver Nuggets are in it. If they end up winning, they aren’t going to end up getting 200 million or whatever the amount is for this game, you know?”
Should Luton win, it would complete a remarkable climb for a club that was in the fifth-tier National League less than a decade ago. Its stadium, Kenilworth Road, holds just 10,356 and would need major upgrades to meet Premier League standards should the Hatters defeat Coventry.
“You look around the stadium here, for the fans, for the community, it’s going to be massive,” Horvath said. “To get into the Premier League is one thing, but then to have all of that [here], what you could do to the stadium, for the fans, for the community — it’s endless.”
Horvath has started every Championship game for Luton this season, and is scheduled to return to Nottingham Forest at the end of the campaign when his loan expires.
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