The Oldest Football Clubs In England

Football in England is a historic pastime, with the first recorded football match taking place in 1170. It took 700 more years for football clubs, like the ones we know today, to be formed and a national and now international set of rules to be made. Club’s often take pride in their history and heritage, even using it to brag to those teams that are currently doing a lot better than they are. Some dates might be disputed here, but we are going with what each club lists as their date of foundation. Here are the oldest clubs that are currently in the top four league of English football.

10 - Birmingham City

The exact date of Birmingham City’s creation as a football club is unknown, however it was some point during 1875. At this time, they were called Small Heath Alliance and played their home matches at Muntz Street. They became a professional football club in 1885 and won the first ever Football League Second Division Title in 1893.

They were renamed Birmingham City FC in 1905 and moved to St. Andrew’s Ground, their current stadium, the following year. They are now in League One following relegation from the Championship last season, but are likely to return to the second tier next season.

9 - Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers were founded as Christ Church FC in 1874 by the Reverend of Christ Church Bolton and the headmaster of the adjacent school. It was initially run by the church, but was forced to cut ties after internal disputes. The club changed site and name to Bolton Wanderers, the Wanderers in the name coming from the fact that they had no permanent home ground.

Pikes Lane home of Bolton Wanderers 1881 to 1895 before the move to Burnden Park. pic.twitter.com/m62PvmIhQK

— Lost Football Heroes-WW1+BWFC history/researcher (@JefferzWilli) February 25, 2023

They were one of the founding members of the Football League, being from one of the best footballing regions in the country at the time, and have spent their entire existence in one of the top four leagues in England. They are currently in League One, but have spent more time in the top flight in their history than out of it. That could change in the next few years however, as they look a long way off Premier League level.

8 - Aston Villa

The first current Premier League team on this list, Aston Villa were founded in 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel’s cricket team who were looking for ways to stay fit during winter. They played their first game against a local rugby team because there were no football teams in their area.

Two years after they were founded, George Ramsey joined the club and helped them become the most successful football team in English history, winning six FA Cups and six league titles after he became manager. He is generally known as the player who introduced the ‘passing game’ to English football, as it had been mainly focused on dribbling before then.

7 - Reading

Unlike a lot of teams on this list, Reading is not based in the North West of England or in the Midlands. The club was founded 1871 but didn’t turn professional until 1895 and weren’t invited into the Football League system until 1920. In 1913, they took part in a tour of Italy and led to Attilio Fresia becoming the first Italian to play in English football.

George Puscas becomes the second player to make the move between #ReadingFC and Genoa after Attilio Fresia, who switched Liguria for Elm Park in 1913 after playing against the Royals on their tour of Italy.

Genoa's manager at the time was ex-Reading player William Garbutt. pic.twitter.com/C1S8aApriV

— The Tilehurst End (@TheTilehurstEnd) August 25, 2022

The club has only been in the top flight for three seasons in their entire history. The first came about in 2006, having won the Championship with a record points tally of 106. They are now with Birmingham in League One, but are a lot less likely to get promoted this season.

6 - Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday were not the first team founded in the city, and didn’t even include the name of the city in their name. They were originally known as The Wednesday as an offshoot of The Wednesday Cricket Club. They were founded in 1867 and played their first match against a local team the same year.

They turned professional in 1889 and were invited to join the expanding Football League in 1892. They also won the FA Cup in their early years, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1896. They moved to the village of Owlerton in 1900 and began building the Hillsborough Stadium there. They are currently in the Championship but are regarded as one of the most historically successful clubs of all time.

5 - Nottingham Forest

Now we come to teams with disputed start dates, as Nottingham Forest were founded some time in 1865, but records show that they started playing matches in 1866. In 2019, following Notts County’s relegation from the Football League, the EFL stated that Forest were the oldest club in the football league, despite disputes from other clubs that they were in fact older.

Wearing the Garibaldi with pride. 👊 pic.twitter.com/kA7w7pHY0Q

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) January 23, 2025

The club was founded by a local shinty team at a pub in Nottingham in 1865. The club’s official colours were decided as ‘Garibaldi’ red after they bought 12 caps in that colour. They get the ‘Forest’ in their name from the Forest Racecourse, where they played their first home matches. They are one of the most successful clubs in England and are currently playing in the Premier League.

4 - Wrexham

Wrexham’s history is an interesting one as they were formed in 1864 as the oldest club in Wales and for the first few years of their existence as a club, they played mostly friendly games except for their outings in the Welsh Cup. They were invited into the FA Cup in 1883 by the FA, but were later kicked out of the Football Association after crowd trouble at one of their matches. The club was reformed in 1884 as Wrexham Olympic, but dropped the Olympic from their name in 1888.

Wrexham joined the Football League 1921, having been promoted from the Birmingham and District League which they joined in 1905. The club have spent most of their existence in the third and fourth tiers of English football, as well as an extended period in the National League. The EFL consider them as the second oldest club currently in the Football League, however that is disputed. They aren't technically in England, but they do play in the English football league. This list doesn't contain the oldest football clubs in the UK, as that would also include Scottish and Northern Irish teams.

3 - Stoke City

Stoke City’s claim to having been founded in 1863 is very dubious to say the least. The Book of Football, published in 1905 named the date of Stoke’s founding as 1863, but there is little evidence to suggest that the club was around at that time. The Stoke Ramblers were founded 1868 and later became Stoke City after a merger. There are no records of ‘Stoke City’ playing any matches before the 1868 date, other thanThe Book of Football stating otherwise.

The Victoria Ground was home to Stoke City for well over a century. A modest venue squeezed in between terraced houses and the River Trent, it once held over 51,000 for a cup game. After City moved out in 1997 it laid derelict for a while before houses were built on the site. pic.twitter.com/6u7b4jjRzA

— Paul Groundtastic (@paul_gtastic) January 21, 2019

Stoke were liquidated in 1908 and refound shortly after. Many football historians consider this as the date of the current Stoke City’s founding, however we are going with Stoke’s claim. They are now in the Championship, having spent most of their existence in the second tier, but are in serious danger of dropping into the third tier for the first time since the early 2000s.

2 - Notts County

Notts County are considered by most to be the oldest club in the Football League, and in football in general. They were founded in 1862 and played in one of the first FA Cup tournaments and founded the Football League along with 11 other teams. Unlike most other teams on this list, County were not formed at a meeting of an already existing sports club, but rather as an informal gathering at a park in Nottingham.

The years before they founded the Football League were incredibly successful, as they were one of the first professional teams and were one of the most popular too. However they struggled in the Football League and were relegated to the second division soon after it was created. They slipped into non-league football between 2019 and 2023, but are now in a strong position to earn promotion into the third tier.

1 - Crystal Palace: The Oldest English Football Club

Crystal Palace are generally considered as one of the oldest teams in England, but in 2020, they began to claim that they were the oldest club in England. Their claim has more historical evidence than Stoke City’s as there was a club founded in 1861 called Crystal Palace. They took part in the first ever FA Cup in 1871, but stopped playing fixtures in 1876. The Crystal Palace Club, which ran the site on which the original club was established and played, continued to exist and in 1905 the current Crystal Palace was founded.

Since 1861 🎶🦅

MATCHDAY: Fulham (a)#CPFC // #FULCRY pic.twitter.com/XLQBQCnd3e

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 22, 2025

Newspaper reports in 1905 claimed that the team was a new team, but a 1906 Crystal Palace handbook said that they were the same. The old Crystal Palace’s registration with the FA lapsed when they stopped playing, so many claim that as evidence that they are not the same club, but Wrexham were expelled from the FA in 1883, yet many agree that they are the same club as the one before, with a founding date on 1864. The EFL still claims that Notts County are the oldest club in the top four tiers, but Crystal Palace certainly have a case.