Who Are the Oldest Football Teams in Europe?
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Who Are the Oldest Football Teams in Europe?

Who Are the Oldest Football Teams in Europe?

Football is known as being the most popular sport in the world, however it is not actually the oldest sport. The history of the sport itself can be traced back to the 19th century, in England, developed in boys’ public schools in Victorian England.

Although the origins of the game are unknown, and similar versions may have been created earlier, it has been traced back to then. The Football Association was formed in 1863 and with this, the beautiful game had begun. In this piece, Football Park is going to take you through the oldest teams still competing today, including those in the top five leagues, the oldest in England, and the first football team ever created.


Who Are the Oldest Football Teams in the Top 5 Leagues

By the top 5 leagues, we are referring to the UEFA football rankings, which include the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1. We will now go through the oldest football clubs from each league – order is as stated previously.


Premier League: Nottingham Forest – 1865

Founded in 1865, Nottingham Forest are the oldest current Premier League club. They became a professional side in 1892, winning their first piece of silverware in the FA Cup in 1898.

In the late 1970s was the Reds’ most successful period in professional to date. They were crowned Champions of England for the first time in 1978, before going on to win the European Cup in 1979 and 1980 back-to-back under the management of English icon Brian Clough.


Serie A: Genoa – 1893

Genoa were founded in 1893 and originally operated as a cricket and football club. The football club only started to dominate the operations in 1897 as football in the country became more relevant. They won six of the first seven Italian top-flight titles until 1904 but have since only won a further three and a Coppa Italia.

They fell out of relevance in the sport in Italy after their 1991 UEFA Cup semi-final run but were dealt a huge blow just over a decade later, receiving demotion to Serie C after being part of the match-fixing scandal. They have since built their way back to stability in the Serie A.


La Liga: Sevilla – 1890

Although there have been far more successful clubs in Spain, Sevilla are the oldest club currently competing in La Liga. They have played 78 seasons in the top-flight but have only won 18 trophies.

Sevilla feast in the Europa League, but domestically they struggle much more, having five Copa del Rey titles, one Supercopa de España and one La Liga title. Sevilla have been highly successful in Europe, however, winning the competition six times, including their historic three in a row between 2014 and 2016. They are now struggling in the top-flight due to financial issues, finishing 17th last season.


Bundesliga: Hamurger SV – 1887

Recently promoted Hamburg are the oldest club competing in the Bundesliga. It has been a rollercoaster for the club from Hamburg. They have won six top-flight titles, three DFB-Pokal’s, 1 European Cup (1983), and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup six years prior.

Due to financial troubles, they had to sell their best players in order to stay afloat. They were relegated from the first division for the first time 2018 and have struggled to since make that step to rise back above the water… until now where we can enjoy Hamburger competing in the Bundesliga once again.


Ligue 1: Le Havre – 1894

The club originated in 1872, but the football section of the club was not founded until 1894. Founded in Normandy, they became the first club to win the Championship outside Paris.

They have been competing in the top division in this stint since 2023, and their fiercest rivals are SM Caen and Lens.


Who Are the Oldest Football Clubs in England?

Premier League: Nottingham Forest – 1865

The oldest football club in the Premier League is Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees have recently navigated their way back into European football after a 29-year absence, and just three years after returning to the top-flight following a 23-year absence.


Championship: Stoke City – 1863

Founded in 1863, the Potters were originally named the Stoke Ramblers. They were a founding member of the Football League in 1888, and they get their nickname from the city’s pottery tradition.

They have only won one major trophy, in 1972 with the League Cup, and were Premier League occupants for 10 seasons before their relegation in 2018. The idiom “Can they do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?” originates as a result of teams and players known to struggle there.


League One: Reading – 1871

Founded on Christmas Day in 1871, the Royals were not granted professional status until 1895. They were one of the founding members of the Southern League in 1894 but were not able to compete in the Football League until 1920.

Reading have never lifted a major trophy, however, have tasted silverware in way of the Championship in both 2006 and 2012. They have only played in the Premier League for three seasons and currently find themselves competing in the third tier of English football amid recent ownership troubles.


League Two: Notts County – 1862

Notts County are the oldest professional football club in British history, and the oldest professional football club in the world. They were founded in November 1862 and are one year older than the FA. They were of course a founding member of the Football League, and in 1894 the Magpies won their first and only major trophy in terms of the FA Cup.

They also made history as the first club to win the FA Cup while not playing in the first division. They just missed out on being part of the Premier League back in its first season, being relegated just one year shy of its introduction. The Magpies have since fallen all the way down to non-League football and now find themselves a contender for promotion in League Two.


Who is the Oldest Football Club in Non-League and the World?

Sheffield FC can be recognised as being the ‘birthplace of the beautiful game’, after being founded in 1857. So much so that even FIFA recognise them as the world’s oldest football club. Sheffield FC currently compete in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division – the ninth tier of the English football pyramid.



The city of Sheffield played a crucial role in developing and establishing the sport, which is now recognised and adored all over the world and it may not exist otherwise. The first football match devised by pioneers Sir Nathan Creswick and William Prest of ‘married vs singles’ and ‘professionals vs the rest’, even had its own rule book, which was later taken as the Rulebook of 1859, which is still used today, albeit tweaked as the game became modernised.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Ben Growdon

Content Writer

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