Crystal Palace won the battle against Watford in what has been billed as the richest game in the sport, with Kevin Phillips scoring the all-important goal from the penalty spot in extra time after the match ended goalless after 90 minutes in the Championship Playoff final.
With the win at Wembley, Crystal Palace now join Cardiff and Hull City as the three promoted sides who will strut their stuff in the English Premier League next season.
Palace were the much better side during normal time, coming to their own in the second half, following a tense and cagey first 45.
While they could not find the elusive goal in normal time, it came as no surprise when Manchester United bound Wilfried Zaha created the opening for Palace.
The tricky winger induced a challenge from Watford defender Marco Cassetti inside the box, which led to the referee correctly pointing to the spot.
Phillips, the 39-year-old veteran of several English Premier League sides, stepped up to blast the ball home into the top corner past Watford goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.
"I'm speechless, it's a dream come true," Zaha told Sky Sports. "All I ever wanted was to leave Crystal Palace knowing they were in the Premier League.
"For this game I told myself I'm giving everything I can. I've given it 200 percent and I've wanted it for so long. I've been here so long and I just wanted to help the team out and I'm just glad we've actually made it.
"Walking into the stadium with so many people was amazing and being able to play at such a great ground left me speechless. That's all I wanted."
Palace withstood some late pressure from Gianfranco Zola's side to earn themselves an estimated £120 million ($180 million) as a result of their promotion to the Premier League.
"We fought. We battled it out," Palace manager Ian Holloway said. "We had a tough few weeks with getting into the playoffs. Everyone got disappointed with us not getting automatic (promotion).
"But this group have been fantastic. I am very fortunate in my life to have had some wonderful players to play for me.
"I am so proud of these (players). I am so proud of the club. We are in the Premier League so, God help us."
It is now back to square one for Watford, who narrowly missed out on automatic promotion on the last day of the Championship season, before suffering heartbreak in the playoff finals at Wembley.
"It is tough for me and for everyone connected to Watford," Zola said. "It wasn't our best game but to lose in extra time to a penalty is hard to take.
"To be fair they played well and probably in the 90 minutes deserved more than us so congratulations to them. They did play very well.
"They had a player like Zaha who was on a different level and made the difference. When you play a game like this, it will be very tight. The difference can be made by individual qualities and today (Monday) that was the case."
