49 Fun Facts About AFC Bournemouth

What is AFC Bournemouth's nickname?

The Cherries. The name is usually traced to the cherry-red striped shirts the team once wore, or to cherry orchards said to have stood on the estate next to the ground.

Under what name were AFC Bournemouth formed in 1899?

Boscombe. The club was formed from the remains of Boscombe St John's Institute FC, wound up that year, at a meeting held under a street lamp in Gladstone Road.

What is the traditional name of AFC Bournemouth's home ground, in use since 1910?

Dean Court. It is named after J.E. Cooper-Dean, who leased the club a patch of wasteland beside Kings Park in 1910; since 2015 a sponsor has called it the Vitality Stadium.

Which former England winger ended his career at Bournemouth in 2008 by volleying a late winner in his farewell game?

Darren Anderton. Days after announcing he would retire, the 36-year-old came off the bench against Chester City and volleyed in the winner two minutes from time.

Which 18-year-old striker scored in ten successive league games while on loan at Bournemouth in 2000–01?

Jermain Defoe. The run began with his first game for the club and equalled a post-war record, and 16 years later Bournemouth brought him back as a Premier League signing.

Third-tier Bournemouth's famous 1957 FA Cup run included a 1–0 win away to which top-flight club?

Wolves. They were third in the top flight when Bournemouth beat them, and second-placed Tottenham were knocked out 3–1 in the very next round.

Which future England centre-back spent two months on loan at Bournemouth as an 18-year-old in 1996–97?

Rio Ferdinand. He played ten games in Bournemouth's defence that winter and was an England international within a year.

Bournemouth won their first trophy as a league club in 1946, beating Walsall in which cup's final?

The Third Division South Cup. The final was played at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge in a one-off post-war revival of the competition, which was never staged again.

Which European club's strip inspired the red-and-black stripes Bournemouth adopted under manager John Bond?

AC Milan. The Italian look was part of an early-1970s makeover that also gave the club a new name and a new badge.

The heading player on AFC Bournemouth's badge honours which prolific scorer of the 1950s and 60s?

Dickie Dowsett. After retiring he returned as the club's commercial manager and helped design the new identity that put his own silhouette on the shirt.

Ted MacDougall scored nine goals for Bournemouth in an 11–0 FA Cup win over which club in 1971?

Margate. His nine goals that day set a record for one player in a game in the FA Cup proper, and within a year a top-flight giant had bought him.

Which FA Cup holders did Bournemouth famously knock out in January 1984?

Manchester United. Bournemouth were second from bottom of the Third Division when they beat the holders 2–0 in the third round.

Who managed Bournemouth to the Third Division title in 1987?

Harry Redknapp. His side piled up a club-record 97 points and took Bournemouth into the second tier for the first time in their history.

Bournemouth won the first Associate Members' Cup in 1984 by beating which club?

Hull City. The final was meant for Wembley, but the Horse of the Year Show had wrecked the pitch, so Bournemouth won it 2–1 on Hull's own ground.

A last-day 1990 defeat to which club relegated Bournemouth and sparked weekend disorder?

Leeds United. Their 1–0 win clinched the Second Division title and sent Bournemouth down, while rioting by visiting fans caused more than £1 million of damage in the town.

After the 1990 trouble, police barred home games on what kind of day until 2003?

The ban finally lifted for a game against Shrewsbury Town in April 2003.

Which club did Bournemouth's 1987 title-winning manager rejoin as a coach in 1992?

West Ham United. He had spent seven years there as a player, and within two years of going back as a coach he was the manager.

Which future Premier League manager began his managerial career at Bournemouth in 1992?

Tony Pulis. The club was deep in money trouble, so he had almost nothing to spend, finished 17th twice and left before the 1994–95 season began.

Whom did Bournemouth beat 5–2 in the 2003 Division Three play-off final?

Lincoln City. Bournemouth had been relegated only a year earlier, and the five goals they scored in Cardiff took them straight back up at the first attempt.

Whose ground hosted Bournemouth's home games while their own stadium was being rebuilt in 2001?

Dorchester Town. Bournemouth began 2001–02 at Dorchester's Avenue Stadium while their own ground was rebuilt with the pitch turned through 90 degrees.

Which Bournemouth substitute set the record for the Football League's fastest hat-trick, against Wrexham in 2004?

James Hayter. He came on late with Bournemouth 3–0 up and scored three in about 140 seconds; his parents missed it all, having left early to catch the ferry home to the Isle of Wight.

Sean O'Driscoll left Bournemouth in 2006 to manage which club?

Doncaster Rovers. He left after 22 years at Bournemouth as player, coach and manager, and took Doncaster up to the Championship in his first full season.

Why did Bournemouth start 2008–09 on minus 17 points?

Administration. The Football League had threatened to shut Bournemouth out of the division altogether before letting them start on minus 17, and they still stayed up.

Which Bournemouth boss became the Football League's youngest manager, aged 31, in 2009?

Eddie Howe. He took over a side stuck in the League Two relegation zone, kept them in the Football League and won promotion the very next season.

Which club did Bournemouth beat 2–1 to secure the 2009 'Great Escape'?

Grimsby Town. The win in the last home game made Bournemouth safe with a match to spare, in a season they had started 17 points behind everyone else.

Which club lured Bournemouth's manager away in January 2011, only for him to return in 2012?

Burnley. He left Lancashire citing personal reasons, rejoined a Bournemouth side near the foot of League One and had them promoted by the end of that season.

Lee Bradbury's Bournemouth lost a 2011 League One play-off semi-final on penalties to which club?

Huddersfield Town. A 3–3 draw after extra time in the second leg left the tie 4–4 on aggregate; Huddersfield won the shoot-out 4–2, then lost the final to Peterborough.

Bournemouth's 8–0 win in October 2014 came away at which club?

Birmingham City. The hosts had sacked their manager five days earlier and had a man sent off inside seven minutes; it set Bournemouth's record league win and Birmingham's record home defeat.

Which Bournemouth striker ruptured knee ligaments in September 2015?

Callum Wilson. He had hit a Premier League hat-trick only a month earlier; Bournemouth lost him until April yet still finished 16th and stayed up.

Bournemouth were fined millions for breaking which Football League rules in 2014–15?

Financial Fair Play. Bournemouth lost £38.3 million winning promotion when only £6 million was allowed; the £7.6 million fine was later settled at £4.75 million.

Which defender did Bournemouth sign from Chelsea in 2017 for roughly £20 million, then a club record?

Nathan Aké. Chelsea had cut short his loan at Bournemouth that January to take him back to London, then sold him to the same club five months later.

Which striker did Bournemouth sign from Porto in August 2024 for a then club-record £40.2 million?

Evanilson. The Brazilian was bought to fill the gap left that same month when Bournemouth's leading scorer was sold for the biggest fee the club had ever received.

Bournemouth were relegated in 2020 despite a final-day 3–1 win at which ground?

Goodison Park. Beating Everton counted for nothing, because Aston Villa drew elsewhere that afternoon to stay out of the bottom three and end Bournemouth's five-year stay in the top flight.

Which club beat Bournemouth 3–2 on aggregate in the 2021 Championship play-off semi-final?

Brentford. Bournemouth led 2–0 on aggregate early in the second leg, then had Chris Mepham sent off and conceded three times to go out.

Which former Fulham manager took Bournemouth up as Championship runners-up in 2022?

Scott Parker. His side clinched automatic promotion with a 1–0 win over their closest rivals, Nottingham Forest, in the penultimate game of the season.

Bournemouth's record-equalling 9–0 Premier League defeat in August 2022 came away to which club?

Liverpool. The 9–0 matched the biggest win in Premier League history, and three days later Bournemouth dismissed their head coach, only four league games after he had won promotion.

Which first-team coach stepped up to lead Bournemouth after their head coach was sacked in August 2022?

Gary O'Neil. Twelve games as interim earned him the job outright and he kept Bournemouth up in 15th place, only to be replaced the following June.

Which American businessman leads Black Knight, the group that bought the club in 2022?

Bill Foley. A West Point graduate, he also owns ice hockey's Vegas Golden Knights, whose name salutes the Black Knights of his old military academy.

Which Hollywood actor led the minority owners in Bournemouth's 2022 takeover?

Michael B. Jordan. The Creed star later bought into Formula One's Alpine team too, in an investor group with Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds.

Who was appointed Bournemouth's head coach in June 2023?

Andoni Iraola. He did not win a league game until his tenth attempt, yet went on to set a club-record Premier League points total in each of his three seasons.

Sixth place in 2025–26 took Bournemouth into which UEFA competition?

The Europa League. Sixth was the highest finish in Bournemouth's history, and it came 17 years after the club had been fighting just to stay in the Football League.

In 2025–26 Bournemouth set a record for a 38-game Premier League season with 18 of what?

Draws. No club had shared the points so often in a 38-game season, yet Bournemouth lost only seven times and still finished with a club-record Premier League points total.

Which striker's £65 million move to Tottenham in 2024 is the club's record sale?

The same month Evanilson arrived from Porto for a record £40.2 million.

Who holds AFC Bournemouth's appearance record with 726 first-team games?

Steve Fletcher. He played for the club across two spells between 1992 and 2013, and in 2010, while he was still in the squad, a stand at the ground was renamed after him.

Who is AFC Bournemouth's record goalscorer, with 229 goals between 1924 and 1933?

Ron Eyre. The club's most celebrated striker, Ted MacDougall, never got close: he stands second on the all-time list, more than 80 goals behind.

Which club did Bournemouth fans name their biggest rival in a 2019 poll?

Southampton. Portsmouth came second in the poll, and it is Portsmouth, not Bournemouth, that Southampton count as their long-standing derby rival.

Bournemouth moved from Hampshire to which county in 1974?

Dorset. A redrawing of county borders in 1974 moved the town across, which is why the young club had played its early football in the Hampshire League.

As of 2026, what is Bournemouth's best FA Cup run?

Quarter-finals. They have reached the last eight three times, in 1957, 2021 and 2025, the first as a third-tier side that had just knocked out two of the top flight's leading three clubs.

Which former Borussia Dortmund coach became Bournemouth's head coach in June 2026?

Marco Rose. A German Cup winner with RB Leipzig, he was named as successor in April 2026, about five weeks before his predecessor's last game, and took charge for Bournemouth's first European campaign.