Blackpool 3 Cardiff 2:Veteran striker Brett Ormerod hit the €100million goal to fire Blackpool to the most lucrative, and unlikeliest, of promotions to the Premier League as they beat Cardiff 3-2 in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final.
The Lancashire outfit have been out of the top flight since 1971 but they showed remarkable character to twice come from behind at Wembley.
Michael Chopra put Cardiff ahead but Charlie Adam levelled with a free-kick for his 19th goal of the season before Joe Ledley restored the Welsh club's lead with a neat finish.
Yet the energy and desire that has been so evident in Ian Holloway's side throughout the campaign again came to the fore as Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Ormerod struck from close range shortly before the break to put Blackpool in front.
Ormerod's 13th goal of the season - undoubtedly the most important strike of the 33-year-old's long career - gave the Seasiders an advantage they did not surrender.
And it ensured the Blackpool supporters - who made one half of Wembley a sea of brilliant orange - were in ecstasy at the final whistle while Cardiff boss Dave Jones and his players were left devastated.
The men from Bloomfield Road - whose average home crowd of 8,611 was the second-lowest in the Championship this season - will be the smallest club in the top flight since the formation of the Premier League.
Holloway said: "I am bursting with pride.
"My lads kept going and they kept doing the same thing. I'm so proud. It's absolutely outstanding.
"Cardiff threw everything at us in the second half and we still showed signs of not keeping the ball but in the first half for me is the future, you have to keep the ball.
"I'm gutted for the Cardiff lads but I've never worked with a group of people who deserve this more."
He added: "It's absolutely magnificent, not just for my team but for the whole area that we're from."