1999 FA Cup Final three league games all season. They had also qualified for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, due to be played four days later on 26 May, and were unbeaten in their previous 31 matches in all competitions. By contrast, Newcastle United had finished 13th out of the 20 teams in the Premier League, and had been knocked out of the Cup Winners' Cup in the first round and the League Cup in the fourth round. It was Newcastle's second consecutive appearance in the FA Cup Final – having lost 2–0 to Arsenal in 1998 – and their
1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final 1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final The 1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 30 May 1999, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Second Division to the First Division of the Football League in the 1998–99 season. Gillingham faced Manchester City. The match was Gillingham's first ever appearance at the Wembley Stadium. Manchester City, by comparison, had played there on eleven previous occasions in FA Cup and League Cup finals. The teams reached the final by defeating Preston North End and Wigan Athletic respectively