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Timeline of English football facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts


1840s – 1850s – 1860s – 1870s – 1880s – 1890s – 1900s – 1910s – 1920s – 1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s – 2020s

2020s

2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020

2023

  • Erik ten Hag wins his first major honour in his first season at Manchester United, as the club won a trophy after a seven-year drought, beating Newcastle United 2-0 in the League Cup final.
  • Manchester City win their third league title in a row, becoming the 5th different club to achieve this feat. However, they also matched Manchester United's achievement 24 years ago by winning the treble.
  • Seven years after winning the league and two years after finally winning the FA Cup, Leicester City were relegated after nine years in the top flight.

2022

2021

2020

  • All football action stops in March, due to lockdown rules in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumes on the 17th of July, behind closed doors.
  • Liverpool win the Premier League for the first time, which marks their first national league title since 1990.
  • Arsenal win the FA Cup, extending their record amount to 14.
  • Bury F.C. enter administration and are expelled from the Football League.

2010s

2019 – 2018 – 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013 – 2012 – 2011 – 2010

2019

2018

  • Manchester City win the Premier League title and become the Centurions, the first club to win the top flight title with 100 points. During the season they break multiple all-time Premier League and Top Division records.
  • In League One, the two offshoot clubs of Wimbledon, AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons, end the 2017–18 season with different fates, with AFC Wimbledon surviving and MK Dons relegated to League Two. This means that the 2018–19 season will be the first in which AFCW will play in a higher division than MK Dons.
  • Chelsea win the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 1-0.

2017

2016

  • The Football League renames itself as the English Football League, with all of the leagues and cup competitions it organises including "EFL" in their titles.
  • Manchester United equal Arsenal's record 12 FA Cups.
  • Leicester City win the top tier title of English football for the first time in history, with one British sports book having offered preseason odds of 5000/1 against their winning the title, just 8 years after their relegation to the 3rd tier.
  • Leicester City's Jamie Vardy became the first player to score in 11 consecutive appearances in Premier League history.
  • Defending champions Chelsea sack manager José Mourinho in December while in 16th place and eventually fail to qualify for European football, for the first time in two decades, finishing 10th, the lowest position for a Premier League holder. This record only stood for one year, as Leicester City finished 12th the following season. Eden Hazard, the previous season's PFA Players' Player of the Year, did not score a league goal until late April.
  • Manchester United sack manager Louis van Gaal despite winning the FA Cup, after a poor league season which sees the club miss out on next season's Champions League. Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is appointed in his place.

2015

  • Arsenal win the FA Cup for a record twelfth time.
  • Chelsea win the Premier League in Jose Mourinho's return to the club.
  • AFC Bournemouth were promoted to the top flight for the first time after winning the Championship, just eight years after they were in administration and barely survived in the Football League.

2014

  • 19 May: Louis van Gaal is confirmed as manager of Manchester United. Former interim manager Ryan Giggs is named as his assistant, and confirms his retirement as a player at the age of 40 after nearly a quarter of a century during which he played 963 games and won an English record of 22 major trophies.
  • Arsenal win the FA Cup, their first major trophy in 9 years.
  • Manchester City win their 4th top flight title.

2013

2012

2011

  • Manchester United win a record-setting 19th top-flight title. They also reach the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, but lose to Barcelona for the second time in three years.
  • Manchester City won the 130th FA Cup Final beating Stoke City 1–0 at Wembley, claiming a major trophy after 36 years.
  • Birmingham City claim the second major trophy in their history after beating Arsenal in the League Cup Final. Despite that, however, they were relegated on the final day of the league season.
  • On Saturday, 5 February there were 41 goals from 8 Premier League games which was the record for a single day in the Premier League since it became a 20-team division. The results were Aston Villa 2–2 Fulham, Everton 5–3 Blackpool, Manchester City 3–0 West Brom, Newcastle 4–4 Arsenal, Stoke 3–2 Sunderland, Tottenham 2–1 Bolton, Wigan 4–3 Blackburn, Wolves 2–1 Manchester United.
  • Chelsea sign Fernando Torres from Liverpool for a British record £50 million.
  • Manager Carlo Ancelotti is sacked despite winning the League and Cup double for Chelsea the previous season.

2010

  • Manchester United defend their League Cup title.
  • Liverpool fail to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2003. Tottenham Hotspur break into the top four of the Premier League for the first time, thus taking Liverpool's spot in Europe's top club competition.
  • Chelsea become the seventh team to win the league and FA Cup double, scoring a record 108 Premier League goals in the process.
  • Chester City, the Conference team who were relegated from The Football League last year, go out of business after 125 years in existence. They are reformed as Chester and will initially compete in a regional division.

2000s

2009 – 2008 – 2007 – 2006 – 2005 – 2004 – 2003 – 2002 – 2001 – 2000

2009

2008

  • Portsmouth beat Cardiff City 1–0 in the FA Cup final, winning the competition for the first time in 49 years, the longest gap between two FA Cup wins for the same club.
  • In early September, both Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley walk out of their Premier League management jobs, citing boardroom interference in transfers. In the same week, Dimitar Berbatov completes a move to Manchester United against the wishes of the Tottenham Hotspur board. Manchester City were purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group and on the same day broke the transfer record by purchasing Robinho of Brazil for £32million – slightly exceeding the £30.75million that their city rivals paid for Berbatov.
  • Three clubs start the Football League Two season with points deductions. Both Rotherham United and AFC Bournemouth started the season on −17 points after exiting administration without using a Company Voluntary Agreement. Luton Town started on −30 points after a 20-point deduction due to exiting administration without using a CVA and a 10-point deduction due to illegal agent payments during transfers. This 30-point deduction doubled the previous record points deduction imposed on a club in 2007.
  • Manchester United win the Premier League for the 10th time and overall 17th English League championship. It is also the tenth title for manager Sir Alex Ferguson (now the longest serving manager in English football with 22 years of unbroken service at the club) and Ryan Giggs, the only player to have collected title medals with all 10 of their championship winning sides since 1993.
  • Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea 2–1 after extra time in the first final of the Football League Cup to be held at the new Wembley Stadium
  • Fabio Capello succeeds Steve McClaren as head coach of the England national football team.
  • Derby became the first Premier League side to be relegated in March.
  • The 2008 UEFA Champions League final is the first all-English club final in European Cup history, and after 120 minutes, Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties after a 1–1 draw in Moscow, Russia.
  • Leicester City are relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their 124-year history.
  • Aldershot Town win promotion to the Football League as Conference National champions, 16 years after the previous incarnation went out of business.
  • Hull City A.F.C. reach the top flight for the first time in their history beating Bristol City F.C. 1–0 at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final.

2007

  • Luton Town F.C. enter administration on 22 November thus incurring a 10-point deduction for the 2007–08 season.
  • Steve McClaren is fired from the job as England manager after failing to qualify for Euro 2008 – the first time in 24 years that England have failed to qualify for the European Championships.
  • Manchester United win the Premiership for the ninth time under Sir Alex Ferguson.
  • Chelsea win a cup double winning the FA Cup in the first final back at the recently completed Wembley Stadium. The match however was not one of the better finals to ever have graced the Wembley turf and finished 1–0. Didier Drogba scored the only goal in the last minute of extra-time. Ryan Giggs set a new record for the player to appear in the most finals. However, he could not beat Mark Hughes' record for the most finals won by one player. The victory by Chelsea stopped Manchester United from winning the Double.
  • Leeds United entered administration on 4 May after a number of years struggling with the debt incurred by previous boards, thus incurring a 10-point deduction for the 2006–07 season, resulting in them being relegated to the third tier for the first time, but this was not the last of them. Two months later, on 4 August, the club was sold without a C.V.A. after entering administration, required by league rules. In consequence, Leeds were hit with the biggest point deduction yet in English professional football history (until Luton's 30 point penalty a year later), starting the 2007–08 League One season on -15.
  • Boston United enter administration in the final minutes of the league season to take a 10-point deduction in the 2006–07 season. They are relegated two divisions to the Conference North.
  • Chelsea become League Cup champions after beating Arsenal 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium. This was also the last major English Cup Final to be played at the Millennium Stadium before the move back to Wembley Stadium after its completion.
  • The Arsenal women become the first (and to date only) English club to win the competition now known as the UEFA Women's Champions League, winning the UEFA Women's Cup Final against Swedish side Umeå 1–0 on aggregate.
  • American tycoons George N. Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks pay £174.1m to take over Liverpool.
  • Alan Ball Jr., member of England's World Cup winning team of 1966, dies of a heart attack aged 61.

2006

  • Doug Ellis sells Aston Villa to American billionaire Randy Lerner for £64million.
  • John Terry succeeds David Beckham as England's national team captain. Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is named vice-captain.
  • Sven-Göran Eriksson announces that he will step down as England manager following the 2006 World Cup. He will be succeeded by Steve McClaren with effect from 1 August.
  • Chelsea win the Premiership for the second year in succession.
  • Manchester United win the League Cup for the second time in their history beating Wigan Athletic 4–0 at the Millennium Stadium.
  • Middlesbrough reach the UEFA Cup final for the first time in their history, only to be beaten 4–0 by Sevilla.
  • Peter Osgood, who won FA Cups with Chelsea and Southampton in the 1970s, dies of a heart attack aged 59.
  • Charlton Athletic become the first Premiership club to change their shirt design mid-season due to the collapse of former sponsors Allsports.
  • Alan Shearer retires two weeks early following a knee injury. After a professional career that lasted almost 20 years, the former England and Newcastle captain bows out as the Premiership's leading goal scorer of all time with 260 goals in 441 games but only one trophy, the 1994–95 Premiership title.
  • Sunderland are relegated from the Premiership, and break the record set by Stoke City 21 years earlier for the lowest points accumulated, ending the season with just 15 points. They also matched Stoke's record low of just 3 wins.
  • Reading are promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history, after winning the Football League championship with a professional league record of 106 points.
  • Liverpool beat West Ham 3–1 on penalties in the 125th FA Cup final after the game finished 3–3 in normal time. It is the last FA Cup game at the Millennium Stadium before Wembley re-opens.
  • Arsenal's first UEFA Champions League final sees Jens Lehmann become the first player dismissed in a final as FC Barcelona win 2–1. The club also played their last season at Highbury after 93 years, with Thierry Henry scoring the last goal, and the last hat trick, in the final game before relocating to the new 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium at nearby Ashburton Grove.
  • The players of Aston Villa make history on 14 July by issuing a joint statement critical of chairman Doug Ellis, the first-ever time such a statement has been formally issued to the press by a collective of players from any English football club.
  • In their first season as a top division club and only their 28th in the professional leagues, Wigan Athletic finish tenth (having spent much of the season in the top five) and are League Cup runners-up to Manchester United who beat them 4–0 in the final.
  • Oxford United, the 1986 League Cup winners and members of the First Division from 1985 to 1988, become the first former winners of a major trophy to be relegated to the Conference.

2005

2004

2003

2002

  • Arsenal join Manchester United as the second club to have won three league championship/FA Cup doubles.
  • West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City win promotion to the Premiership, ending an exile from the top flight which both clubs had begun in 1986.
  • Mobile phone operator MM02 replaces SEGA as Arsenal's shirt sponsor.
  • Leicester City leave Filbert Street after 111 years and relocate to the 32,000-seat Walkers Stadium.
  • Manchester United break the British transfer record once again by paying Leeds United £29million for central defender Rio Ferdinand.
  • On 16 March, a First Division match between Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion degenerates into one of the most violent in English football history, featuring multiple on-field assaults and ending with abandonment when United, trailing 3–0 at the time, were left with 6 players. This match enters English football lore as the Battle of Bramall Lane.
  • Alan Shearer hits his 200th Premiership goal against Chalton Athletic at St. James' Park on 20 April 2002.
  • Everton become the first team to have spent 100 seasons in the top flight of English football.
  • The FA approves the plan of Wimbledon to move to Milton Keynes. The move is extremely unpopular with the club's fans, who form a breakaway club called AFC Wimbledon. The new club is playing at a much lower level (Combined Counties League) than the original one, who are competing in Division One, but the new Wimbledon club is soon enjoying the highest attendance.
  • Brighton & Hove Albion become only the seventh club in English football history to win back-to-back promotion championships after winning the 2001–02 League One title (having won the 2000–01 League Two title the season before).

2001

2000

1990s

1999 – 1998 – 1997 – 1996 – 1995 – 1994 – 1993 – 1992 – 1991 – 1990

1999

1998

  • Arsenal equal Manchester United's record of two league championship and FA Cup doubles in their first full season under the management of Frenchman Arsène Wenger, who was also the first foreign manager to win the English top flight.
  • Chelsea complete a double of the Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup within four months of Gianluca Vialli taking charge of team affairs following Ruud Gullit's dismissal, which follows a dispute with chairman Ken Bates over transfer funds.
  • Doncaster Rovers F.C. are relegated from the Football League with a record of 34 league defeats.
  • Manchester City are relegated to the third tier of the English league for the first time in their history.
  • Halifax Town win the Conference title and are promoted back to the Football League after five years away.
  • Reading leave Elm Park after 102 years and relocate to the 25,000-seat Madejski Stadium named after chairman John Madejski.
  • England go out of the World Cup in France after losing on penalties to Argentina after a 2–2 draw.
  • Charlton Athletic win promotion to the Premier League by beating Sunderland 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw in the Division One playoff final at Wembley.

1997

  • After captaining Manchester United to their fourth Premiership title in five seasons and 11th English League championship overall, Eric Cantona announces his retirement as a player.
  • Ruud Gullit becomes the first foreign manager to win an English trophy after his Chelsea side defeated Middlesbrough 2–0 in the FA Cup final to end their 26-year trophy drought.
  • Middlesbrough experience a unique season. They are on the losing side in both domestic cup finals and have a 3-point deduction imposed for postponing a Premiership fixture at short notice seeing them relegated in second from bottom place – so they finished in the last two of all three major English competitions.
  • Alan Shearer is ruled out of football for seven months after suffering a broken ankle in a pre-season game.
  • Kevin Keegan shocks Newcastle United by resigning as manager just after the turn of the New Year. He felt that he could take the club no further, and is succeeded by Kenny Dalglish.
  • Bolton Wanderers move into the Reebok Stadium, leaving Burnden Park, their home for 102 years.
  • Sunderland end 99 years at Roker Park and move to the 42,000-seat Stadium of Light on the banks of the River Wear.
  • Derby County relocate to Pride Park Stadium after 101 years at the Baseball Ground.
  • After a record 119 years at the Victoria Ground, Stoke City relocate to the 28,000-seat Britannia Stadium.
  • Brighton & Hove Albion, FA Cup runners-up 14 years ago, avoid relegation to the Conference by drawing 1–1 away with Hereford United, who go down instead, on the last day of the Division Three season.
  • Billy Bremner, legendary Leeds United captain of the 1960s and 1970s, dies of a heart attack aged 54.

1996

1995

1994

  • Manchester United become only the fourth club in the 20th century to win the league championship and FA Cup double. They achieve this triumph just four months after the death of former manager Sir Matt Busby at the age of 84. They are denied an unprecedented 'treble' by Aston Villa, who defeat them in the final of the League Cup.
  • Blackburn Rovers break the English transfer fee record by paying Norwich City £5 million for 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton.
  • Club and former England captain Bryan Robson leaves Manchester United after 13 years to become player-manager of Middlesbrough.
  • Tottenham Hotspur are found guilty of financial irregularities dating back to the 1980s and handed the most severe punishment in the history of English football: a £600,000 fine, 12 league points deducted and a one-year ban from the FA Cup. The points deduction and the FA Cup ban are later quashed but the fine is increased to a new record of £1.5million.
  • Billy Wright, former captain of Wolverhampton Wanderers and England, dies of cancer aged 70.
  • Huddersfield Town end 86 years at Leeds Road and move into their new 20,000-seat Alfred McAlpine Stadium.
  • Northampton Town relocate to Sixfields Stadium after 97 years at the County Ground.
  • Liverpool's famous Spion Kop is demolished to make way for a new all-seater stand, as is Aston Villa's Holte End, as standing accommodation is banned from Premier League stadiums.

1993

1992

  • The Football Association creates the FA Premier League, an elite league of 22 clubs that replaces the old Football League First Division as England's highest division.
  • Manchester United win the Football League Cup for the first time in their history, beating four-time winners Nottigham Forest in the final.
  • Blackburn Rovers, back in the top flight for the first time since the 1960s, make Alan Shearer England's most expensive footballer by paying Southampton £3.5million for his services.
  • Leeds United win the last Football League First Division championship before the creation of the FA Premier League.
  • Liverpool win the FA Cup for the fifth time in their centenary year.
  • Aldershot, who have struggled to stay afloat for two years, finally go out of business on 25 March. Maidstone United follow suit on 17 August after their financial crisis leaves them with no option but to quit the Football League.
  • Eight years after retiring as a player, Kevin Keegan returns to football as manager of Newcastle United and saves them from Second Division relegation.
  • Chester City move into their new Deva Stadium, having ground-shared with Macclesfield Town for two years since leaving Sealand Road.
  • Gary Lineker retires from international football with 48 goals to his name for England – just one goal short of the record set by Bobby Charlton. He also calls time on his career in England, joining Nagoya Grampus of Japan.
  • England are eliminated from Euro 92 in the group stages after losing their final group game 2–1 to host nation Sweden.
  • After a slow start to the new Premier League campaign puts their league title hopes under serious doubt, Manchester United pay Leeds United £1.2million for French striker Eric Cantona in hope of winning a title race which by late November is being led by the likes of Aston Villa and Norwich City.
  • Paul Gascoigne joins Lazio of Italy in a £5.5million move from Tottenham Hotspur.

1991

1990

  • Liverpool win their eighteenth top-flight title, which will be their last for the next 30 years.
  • England reach the semi-finals of the World Cup before losing to eventual winners Germany on penalties after a 1–1 draw. Manager Bobby Robson resigns after the competition to take charge of Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and is succeeded by Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor, who in turn is replaced by Czech coach Jozef Venglos – the first manager in the top flight of English football from outside of the British Isles.
  • English clubs are readmitted to European competition after a five-year ban arising from the Heysel Stadium disaster. First Division runners-up, Aston Villa, qualify for the UEFA Cup whilst FA Cup winners, Manchester United, qualify for the Cup Winners' Cup. Champions Liverpool are unable to compete in the European Cup because they have to serve an extra year of the ban.
  • Leeds United won the Second Division championship to end their eight-year exile from the First Division.
  • York City striker David Longhurst collapses and dies in his side's Fourth Division home fixture against Lincoln City at Bootham Crescent.
  • AFC Bournemouth director Brian Tiler, a former Aston Villa player, is killed in a car crash. Manager Harry Redknapp is also involved in the crash but survived.
  • Play-off finals become one-legged matches played at Wembley. In the Second Division, Swindon Town beat Sunderland 1–0 but stay in the Second Division after being found guilty of financial irregularities, with Sunderland being promoted in their place.
  • Manchester United win their first major trophy under the management of Alex Ferguson, beating Crystal Palace 1–0 in the FA Cup final replay after drawing the first match 3–3.
  • Peter Shilton retires from international football at the age of 40, kept goal a record 125 caps for the country.
  • Manchester United and Arsenal were respectively deducted 1 and 2 points, for a 21-man brawl involving their players on the pitch. The first and, so far, the only instances in English league history where a team were docked points for player misconduct.

1980s

1989 – 1988 – 1987 – 1986 – 1985 – 1984 – 1983 – 1982 – 1981 – 1980

1989

  • Arsenal win the league championship for the first time in 18 years, in the final minute of the final game of the season from Michael Thomas, giving them a 2–0 away win over nearest rivals Liverpool to snatch the title on goals scored, with both teams goal difference being equal.
  • 94 Liverpool fans die on 15 April after being crushed on the terraces at Hillsborough, where Liverpool were taking on Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final. The final death toll for the disaster was 97.
  • Liverpool go on to win the FA Cup with a 3–2 extra-time victory over Everton at Wembley. Ian Rush, who scored twice in the 1986 all-Merseyside final triumph, does so again.
  • John Lyall's 15-year reign as West Ham manager comes to an end after they are relegated from the First Division.
  • Newport County go out of business on 27 February and are then expelled from the Football Conference for failing to fulfill their fixtures.
  • Leeds United's most successful ever manager, Don Revie, dies on 26 May from motor neurone disease aged 61.
  • Peter Shilton becomes the most capped England international when he wins his 109th cap beating Bobby Moore's record.
  • Nottingham Forest end their nine-year wait for a major trophy by winning the Football League Cup.
  • Alex Ferguson makes a host of big-money signings for Manchester United in his latest attempt to win them their first league title since 1967, paying a total of more than £7 million for Mike Phelan, Neil Webb, Paul Ince, Gary Pallister and Danny Wallace.
  • Gary Lineker returns to English football after three years in Spain with FC Barcelona when he joins Tottenham Hotspur for £1.1million.

1988

  • Liverpool wrap up their seventeenth league title after losing just two league games in a 40-game season.
  • Wimbledon beat Liverpool 1–0 to win the FA Cup in one of the most dramatic finals seen at Wembley. The triumph came at the end of Wimbledon's 11th season as a Football League club and only their second as First Division members.
  • Luton Town win the first major trophy of their history by beating Arsenal 3–2 in the League Cup final.
  • Jackie Milburn, former Newcastle United striker, dies of cancer at the age of 64.
  • Lincoln City, the first club to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League, regain their league status at the first time of asking by clinching the Football Conference title.
  • Paul Gascoigne, 21-year-old Newcastle United midfielder, becomes England's first £2 million footballer when he signs for Tottenham Hotspur.
  • Shortly after Gascoigne's transfer, the national transfer fee record is broken again when Everton pay £2.2million for West Ham United striker Tony Cottee.
  • Ian Rush returns to Liverpool after an unsuccessful season at Juventus in Italy for £2.8million – the third time in the space of a few weeks that the record fee paid by an English club is broken.
  • Billy Bonds, the oldest outfield player in the Football League at 41, retires from playing with West Ham United.
  • Mark Hughes returns to Manchester United after two years away for a fee of £1.8million.
  • Portsmouth are relegated to the Second Division a year after promotion.

1987

  • Tottenham manager David Pleat resigns after rumours in the media that he has been involved in a vice ring. He is replaced by Terry Venables.
  • Coventry City win the first major trophy in their history by beating Tottenham Hotspur (unbeaten in their previous seven finals) 3–2 in the FA Cup final.
  • Everton win their ninth league title in adversity after struggling with massive injuries all season, still managing to win the league by 11 clear points.
  • Lincoln City become the first English club to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League after the re-election system is scrapped. They are replaced by Conference champions Scarborough.
  • The Football League introduces play-offs to settle the final promotion place initially including one team from the higher division.
  • Former Aston Villa and Wales midfielder Trevor Hockey dies of a heart attack at the age of 43.
  • Arsenal become the first team to defeat Liverpool in a game in which Ian Rush had scored by defeating them 2–1 at Wembley in the League Cup Final.
  • Liverpool are forced to play their first few games of the season away from home after a sewer collapses below the Spion Kop terrace.
  • Ian Rush moves to Juventus, as agreed in his deal the previous summer.
  • Portsmouth are promoted back to the First Division after 29 years away.
  • Alex Ferguson begins to rebuild Manchester United by signing Arsenal defender Viv Anderson, Celtic striker Brian McClair and Norwich City defender Steve Bruce.
  • Liverpool sign Watford and England winger John Barnes for £900,000, and replace Ian Rush with Oxford United's John Aldridge for £750,000.

1986

  • England are eliminated from the 1986 FIFA World Cup in the quarter-finals after losing 2–1 to Argentina, whose first goal had been an obviously deliberate handball by Diego Maradona – an act which he quickly labeled the Hand of God goal. Argentina go on to win the competition.
  • Liverpool win the league championship and FA Cup double in Kenny Dalglish's first season as player-manager, after Everton throw away their huge advantage in the closing weeks of the season.
  • Liverpool sell Ian Rush to Juventus of Italy for £3.2 million, but keep him for a season on loan.
  • Sir Stanley Rous, one of the Football Association's most prominent administrators, dies at the age of 90. Shortly after his death, a stand at Watford's Vicarage Road stadium is to be named in his honour.
  • Wimbledon are promoted to the First Division in only their ninth season as a Football League club.
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers complete a hat trick of successive relegations to fall into the Fourth Division for the first time in their history.
  • Terry Venables signs two English based strikers for Spanish club FC Barcelona – Mark Hughes from Manchester United for £2.2million and Gary Lineker from Everton for £2.7million.
  • Oxford United survive their first season in the First Division and also win the Football League Cup.
  • Wimbledon, who only joined the Football League nine years ago, win promotion to the First Division to complete a four-year rise from the Fourth Division.
  • Swindon Town, Fourth Division champions, set a new Football League record of 102 points.
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers suffer a third successive relegation and fall into the Fourth Division, but are saved from going out of business by a new takeover deal, as are Middlesbrough after relegation to the Third Division.
  • West Ham United finish a club-best third in the league and are just four points behind champions Liverpool.
  • Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson is sacked in November after a poor start to the season, instantly replaced by the successful Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson.

1985

  • Everton win their 8th league title with 5 league games to spare, they then take their foot off the gas to lose 3 of their last 5 but still set a club record points total.
  • 56 spectators are burnt to death and more than 200 are injured in a fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium on 11 May.
  • 39 spectators, most of them Italian, are trampled to death in rioting on the terraces of the Heysel Stadium at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. Despite the carnage, the match is played and Juventus win 1–0. The sequel of the tragedy was a 5-year ban on English clubs from European competition, with a 6-year ban on Liverpool.
  • Everton establish themselves as one of the strongest club sides in Europe after winning the league championship with four matches to spare and adding the Cup Winners' Cup to their trophy cabinet.
  • Anton Johnson is banned from football for life after it is revealed that he had illegally taken control of two football clubs (Southend United and Rotherham United) at the same time and had also mishandled the finances of both clubs.
  • Preston North End and Burnley are both relegated to the Fourth Division for the first time.
  • 16 years old Matthew Le Tissier finishes a trial at Oxford United and signs for Southampton.
  • Oxford United promoted to the top flight, after claiming the Second Division championship, a year after they won the Third Division championship in 1984, the only club to have won two consecutive championships on the way to the Top Flight.
  • A 14-year-old boy is crushed to death by a collapsed wall when Leeds United fans riot on the last game of the Second Division season at Birmingham City, but media coverage and public attention of the tragedy is overshadowed as it occurred on the same afternoon as the Bradford City fire.
  • Harry Catterick, who managed Everton to league title glory in 1963 and 1970 as well as an FA Cup triumph in 1966, dies from a heart attack while watching their FA Cup quarter-final win over Ipswich Town at Goodison Park.

1984

1983

  • The Football Association and then Scottish Football Association initiate the end of the British Home Championships by announcing they will not enter after the 1983–84 competition.
  • Liverpool retain both the League Cup and league title.
  • Manchester United beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4–0 in the FA Cup replay after a 2–2 draw in the first match to win their first major trophy under the management of Ron Atkinson.
  • Watford finish second in the league at the end of their first season in the First Division.
  • The Football Association keep faith in England manager Bobby Robson despite the country's failure to qualify for the 1984 European Football Championship.
  • Bob Paisley retires after nine years as Liverpool manager. He finishes on a high with the league championship and League Cup to bring his tally of major prizes to an English record of 21. His successor is 62-year-old coach Joe Fagan.
  • Sharp Electronics become the first official sponsors of Manchester United.
  • Manchester United and England winger Steve Coppell retires from playing at the age of 28 due to a knee injury.

1982

1981

1980

1970s

1979 – 1978 – 1977 – 1976 – 1975 – 1974 – 1973 – 1972 – 1971 – 1970

1979

1978

1977

  • Tommy Docherty is sacked as manager of Manchester United just weeks after guiding them to FA Cup victory over Liverpool. He is replaced by Dave Sexton.
  • Liverpool establish themselves as one of Europe's finest sides by retaining the league title and joining the list of European Cup winners.
  • Aston Villa win their second League Cup in three years. 19-year-old striker Andy Gray is voted PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year. He was the only player to have won both in the same season, until Cristiano Ronaldo in 2006–7.
  • Peter Houseman, who played in Chelsea's FA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup winning teams of 1970 and 1971, is killed in a car crash near Oxford at the age of 31 along with his wife.
  • Wimbledon are elected to the Football League in place of Workington.
  • Kenny Dalglish joins Liverpool at a record £440,000 to replace Kevin Keegan who leaves to join Hamburg in Germany.
  • After a 2–1 victory to Scotland against England in the British Home Championship at Wembley Stadium, the Tartan Army invade the pitch, breaking goalposts and helping themselves to some of Wembley's turf.

1976

1975

  • Derby County, in Dave Mackay's first full season as manager, win their second league title in four years to add to the 1972 championship which had been won by Mackay's predecessor, Brian Clough.
  • John Lyall ends his first season as West Ham manager with an FA Cup triumph at the expense of Fulham, whose side included former West Ham captain Bobby Moore.
  • Carlisle United, who had topped the 1974–75 First Division after three games, are relegated after failing to put together a consistent run of good form in their first season as a top division club.
  • Manchester United are promoted back to the First Division one season after losing their top-flight status.
  • Aston Villa re-establish themselves a top English side by winning the League Cup and gaining promotion to the First Division in the same season.

1974

1973

  • An Ian Porterfield goal gives Second Division Sunderland a shock win over Leeds United in the FA Cup final.
  • Leeds United also blow their title chances and Liverpool are crowned league champions instead.
  • Bobby Charlton and Denis Law both leave Manchester United after long and illustrious careers.
  • The Football League announces that three clubs, instead of two, are to be relegated from the First and Second Divisions from the end of the 1973–74 season onwards, with three clubs being promoted to the Second and Third Divisions. The four-up, four-down system between the Third and Fourth Divisions would continue.
  • Hereford United end their first season as a Football League club by winning promotion from the Fourth Division.

1972

1971

1970

1960s

1969 – 1968 – 1967 – 1966 – 1965 – 1964 – 1963 – 1962 – 1961 – 1960

1969

1968

1967

1966

1965

1964

  • Match of the Day makes its debut on BBC2 at 6.30pm on 22 August with highlights of Liverpool's 3–2 home win over Arsenal. Kenneth Wolstenholme is both presenter and commentator to an audience of just 20,000.
  • Liverpool win the league championship to claim their first major trophy under the management of Bill Shankly.
  • West Ham win the FA Cup to claim the first major trophy in their history.
  • Tottenham Hotspur inside-forward John White is struck by lightning on a North London golf course and dies instantly at the age of 27.
  • Tottenham Hotspur captain Danny Blanchflower retires as a player at the age of 37 after failing to overcome a serious knee injury.

1963

  • Tottenham Hotspur win the Cup Winners' Cup to establish themselves as the first English club to win a European competition.
  • Everton win their first league championship of the postwar years.
  • Manchester United win the FA Cup for the first time in 15 years. It is their first major trophy since the Munich Air Disaster five years earlier.
  • Birmingham City beat Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate in the League Cup final to win the first major trophy of their history.
  • 1911 FA Cup winners Bradford City finish second from bottom in the Fourth Division and have to seek re-election in order to preserve their Football League place.

1962

1961

1960

  • Burnley overcome a spirited challenge of 106-goal Wolves to win the league championship.
  • Wolves compensate for their league championship disappointment by overcoming Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup final.
  • Oldham Athletic, league runners-up 45 years earlier, finish second from bottom in the Fourth Division but retain their league status after the Football League's members vote for Gateshead to go down and Midland League champions Peterborough United to go up for the 1960–61 season.
  • former Arsenal and Sunderland player Charlie Buchan dies at the age of 68.
  • Aston Villa win the Second Division championship to regain their First Division status a year after losing it.

1950s

1959 – 1958 – 1957 – 1956 – 1955 – 1954 – 1953

1959

1958

  • Eight Manchester United players die and two more have their careers ended by injury after a plane crash near Munich-Riem Airport. Manager Matt Busby is badly injured and spends two months in hospital recovering from multiple injuries.
  • A makeshift Manchester United side reach the FA Cup Final, but lose 2–0 to Bolton.
  • Wolves win the league championship for the second time and qualify for the European Cup for the first time.
  • Sunderland are relegated from the First Division for the first time, having been in the top division every season since joining the Football League in 1890.
  • Former Manchester United and Manchester City winger Billy Meredith dies aged 83.

1957

  • Manchester United win the league title for the second year running.
  • Aston Villa beat Manchester United 2–1 in the FA Cup final to win the trophy for a record seventh time. Their victory denies United the double, meaning Villa are still the last team to achieve the feat, back in 1896–97.
  • Stanley Matthews retires from international football at the age of 42, but continues his club career with Blackpool.
  • Charlton Athletic turn the tables on Huddersfield Town during the final 20 minutes of a Second Division fixture by turning a 5–1 deficit into a 7–6 lead.
  • Eastbourne United manager Ron Greenwood, 36, is appointed first-team coach of Arsenal.

1956

1955

1954

  • Wolves win the league title for the first time in their history.
  • West Bromwich Albion complete a double for clubs in central England by winning the FA Cup for the fourth time in their history.
  • Everton finish Second Division runners-up, are promoted to the First Division and have remained there ever since.
  • Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and Swindon Town are bracketed together in 19th place in the Third Division South having both accumulated 40 league points, scored 67 goals and conceded 70 goals.

1953

  • 38-year-old Stanley Matthews is instrumental in turning Blackpool's 3–1 deficit into a 4–3 victory against Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup final, ending his 20-year hunt for a major trophy. The final is still widely known as the 'Matthews Final', despite the fact that his teammate Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick in the game.
  • Arsenal win a record-breaking seventh league title with a superior goal difference over Preston North End, who also have 54 points and have not won the league title since 1890.
  • England's unbeaten home record against a non-British nation ends when they lose 6–3 then Hungarian Aranycsapat at Wembley.

1952

1951

  • Tottenham Hotspur win the First Division for the first time in their history, only a season after their promotion.

1950

  • Portsmouth defend their league title on goal average after finishing level on points with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

1940s

1949

  • Portsmouth win their first league title, 10 years after winning the FA Cup.

1948

1947

  • After a close three-horse title race, Liverpool win the first post-war league championship.
  • Charlton Athletic win the FA Cup, their first and only major trophy to date.

1946

  • Football League North (Wartime – Joint Division One League with Football League South)
  • Champions: Sheffield United
  • Derby County become the first team to win the FA Cup after losing a game when two-legged games are introduced for one season only.
  • League football resumes following the end of the Second World War.
  • The Football Association end their boycott of FIFA, paving the way for England to play in World Cup matches.

1930s

1939

  • The Football League is abandoned three games into the new season after the outbreak of the Second World War
  • Portsmouth beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1 in the FA Cup final.

1938

  • Manchester City become the first and only defending Champions to be relegated.

1937

  • Manchester City win their first-ever league title.
  • Sunderland win the FA Cup for the first time.

1936

  • Sunderland A.F.C. win their 6th league championship.
  • Founding Football League members, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers are relegated to the second division.

1935

  • Arsenal win their third successive league title.

1934

1932

1931

1930

  • Sheffield Wednesday defend their league championship, winning their fourth league title.
  • Arsenal win their first ever major trophy, the FA Cup.
  • Everton are relegated for the first time, just two years after being crowned top flight league champions.

1920s

1929

1928

  • Arsenal and Chelsea are the first clubs to play with shirt numbers on 25 August.
  • Dixie Dean becomes the first and only player to score 60 goals in one season in English football, helping Everton to win the top flight title.
  • Blackburn Rovers equal Aston Villa's record of six FA Cup wins.

1927

  • Newcastle United win their fourth and last top-flight title to date.
  • FA Cup: Cardiff City 1 Arsenal 0
  • The FA Cup is won by a team outside England for the first time prompting it to become known as the FA Cup rather than the English Cup as previously.

1926

  • Huddersfield Town become the first team to be the Football League champions three seasons in succession.

1925

  • FA Cup: Sheffield United 1–0 Cardiff City
  • Sheffield United F.C win the FA Cup, their last major trophy to this day. Runners-Up Cardiff City
  • The offside rule is changed: a player is now onside if a minimum of two (instead of three) opposing players are between him and the goal line.

1924

  • Huddersfield Town win the league for the first time.
  • FA Cup: Corinthian 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
  • A major shock in the first round as five times Cup winners, and First Division staple, Blackburn Rovers, are unexpectedly beaten by the amateurs of Corinthian F.C. at the Crystal Palace.
  • Newcastle United beat Aston Villa to win the FA Cup in what became known as the "Rainy Day Final" due to the weather and pitch conditions.

1923

  • Liverpool win a second consecutive league championship, a fourth in total.
  • Bolton Wanderers defeat West Ham United 2–0 in the first FA Cup final to be held at Wembley. The match kicked off 44 minutes late due to overcrowding – there was an estimated 200,000 fans in attendance, and it was not until a police constable on a white police horse helped clear the pitch that the match took place. As a result, the match is now known as the White Horse Final.
  • Aston Villa centre-half Tommy Ball is shot dead by his neighbour in November thus becoming the only Football League player to have been murdered.

1921

1920

1910s

1919

  • Leeds City are expelled and dissolved by the football league after financial irregularities including the payment of players during the First World War. In its place, a new club is formed, Leeds United.

1915

  • Everton win the final league title before league football is suspended because of the First World War.
  • FA Cup Final: Sheffield United 3–0 Chelsea
  • Sheffield United F.C win the FA Cup.

1914

  • Blackburn Rovers win their second league title and their second in three seasons.

1913

1912

1911

1910

  • Aston Villa win the league championship for a record sixth time.
  • Brighton & Hove Albion, champions of the Southern Football League, defeat Aston Villa, Football League champions, to win the 1910 FA Charity Shield, their only top-flight honour to date.
  • Millwall leave East London, relocating to The Den in South London.

1900s

1909

  • The Charity Shield is inaugurated.
  • Manchester United win their first-ever FA Cup title.

1908

1907

  • The action by the Football Association in 1885 leads to the breakaway and formation of the Amateur Football Association.
  • Professional Footballers' Association formed.

1906

1905

1904

Sheffield Wednesday win their first-ever league championship.

  • Manchester City win the FA Cup.

1903

1902

  • Norwich City FC formed as an amateur club
  • Sunderland A.F.C. wins their 4th league championship
  • J.H. Davies takes over near bankrupt Newton Heath (L&YR) F.C. and changes its name to Manchester United.
  • Sheffield United win the FA Cup. Runners Up: Southampton
  • Sheffield United 1–1 Southampton – (R) Sheffield United 2–1 Southampton

1901

1900

  • Aston Villa win the league championship, their fifth title in seven years.
  • Sheffield United F.C Finish 2nd.
  • Sunderland Finish 3rd.
  • Leading Goalscorer Billy Garraty (Aston Villa) 27
  • Brighton & Hove Albion are founded.

1890s

1899

  • Aston Villa win the last championship of the 1800s, defeating runners-up Liverpool F.C. 5–0 in the last match to secure the title.
  • Sheffield United F.C Win the FA Cup. Runners Up Derby County.
  • Scunthorpe United F.C. are formed.

1898

  • Sheffield United F.C secure the league title for the first time and only time.
  • Sunderland Finish 2nd.
  • Wolverhampton Wanderers Finish 3rd.
  • Leading Goalscorer Fred Wheldon (Aston Villa) 21
  • Portsmouth F.C is formed.

1897

  • Aston Villa capture their third league title and the FA Cup to win the second Double in English football.
  • Sheffield United Finish 2nd.
  • Derby County Finish 3rd.
  • Leading Goalscorer: Steve Bloomer (Derby County) 22

1896

1895

1894

  • Aston Villa win their first league championship. Later that year though their former captain Archie Hunter dies aged just 35.
  • Formerly St Mark's West Gorton and Aldwick Association FC are renamed Manchester City.

1893

1892

1891

  • Everton win their first league championship.
  • Luton Town become the south of England's first professional club in August – paying the entire team 2 shillings and sixpence plus expenses.
  • The penalty kick is introduced.
  • Assistant referees are first introduced as linesmen.

1890

  • Luton Town player Frank Whitby becomes the first professional player in the south of England on 15 December, earning 5 shillings per week.

1880s

1889

1888

1887

1886

  • Blackburn Rovers win the FA Cup for a third year in a row.
  • Plymouth Argyle F.C are founded.
  • Dial Square are founded, the team who went on to become Arsenal.

1885

1884

1883

1882

  • The Football Association (England), the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the Irish Football Association meet on 6 December and agree on one uniform set of rules for football. They also establish the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to approve changes to the rules (a task that they still perform to this day).
  • Burnley F.C. are formed
  • Hotspur Football Club is formed (later to become Tottenham Hotspur).

1880

  • St'Marks (West Gorton) are formed in Manchester.

1870s

1879

1878

  • First floodlit football match played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 14 October 1878 in front of an attendance of 20,000.
  • Newton Heath LYR Football Club was formed by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath (later known as Manchester United Football Club).
  • St Domingo's FC is formed, later changing its name in November 1879 – to Everton.

1876

  • Middlesbrough Football Club is formed.
  • Birmingham Senior Cup, the first Association tournament on a local level, commences.

1875

  • The crossbar is introduced, replacing tape as the means of marking the top of the goal.
  • Birmingham City are formed, under the name Small Heath Alliance.
  • Blackburn Rovers Football Club are formed.

1874

1873

  • The Calthorpe football club is formed, as the first club in Birmingham playing solely to the Association laws.

1872

  • Scotland and England draw 0–0, played at the West of Scotland Cricket Club. This is recognised by FIFA as the first official international match.
  • Wanderers beat Royal Engineers in the first FA Cup final.

1871

1870

  • First "goalkeepers", and transition from "dribbling game" to "passing game" is seen in club matches in Sheffield and London.
  • A match between England and Scotland, finishes in a 1–0 win for England at the Kennington Oval in London. This was the first match between the nations but is not recognised as being the first international (see 1872).
  • Maidenhead United F.C., Marlow F.C. and Abingdon F.C. are established (Maidenhead and Marlow took part in the first FA Cup tournament the following year).

1860s

1867

  • The first ever football tournament, the Youdan Cup, was played by twelve Sheffield clubs.
  • Wednesday 4 September 1867, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club was established.

1865

1863

1862

  • Notts County, the oldest professional football club in the world, is formed.

1850s

1857

  • Sheffield F.C., the world's oldest football club, established and the Sheffield Rules developed.

1840s

1849

  • Official referees appear for the first time in a football match in Cheltenham, two on the pitch and one in tribune.

1848

  • The Cambridge Rules are created being the first attempt to establish formal rules.

1846

  • A time limit on length of play is first introduced and first described in Lancashire

1845

  • First use of referee in English public school football games, from Eton football

1842

  • First use of referee. During a match in Rochdale, between the Bodyguards club and the Fearnaught club

1820s

1823

  • First description of a pass comes from Suffolk. In this Moor describes a team ball game with goals in which a player who can not advance further "throws the ball [he must in no case give it] to some less beleaguered friend more free and more in breath than himself". Although this description refers to throwing, Moor tells us that the game was at other times a football one: "Sometimes a large football was used; the game was then called 'kicking camp'."

1790s

1796

  • Last meetings of The Gymnastic Society, the first football club in the world.

See also

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Timeline of English football Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.