47 Fun Facts About London Football Clubs

Fulham, London's oldest professional club, began in 1879 as a side called St Andrew's, formed by members of what?

A church Sunday school on Star Road, West Kensington, produced the side, founded by worshippers who mostly played cricket; it led a nomadic life until its first match at its present home in 1896.

Arsenal were founded in 1886 by munitions workers under what original name?

Dial Square was a workshop inside the Royal Arsenal armaments works; the team won its first match 6–0 against Eastern Wanderers and took the name Royal Arsenal soon afterwards.

Royal Arsenal became the first London club to do what in 1891?

Turn professional: the move set Royal Arsenal against the amateur London FA, and two years later they became the first southern club to join the Football League.

Which club ended the 49-game unbeaten league run of Arsenal's 2003–04 'Invincibles'?

Manchester United won 2–0 at Old Trafford in October 2004, and in the tunnel afterwards pizza was thrown at Sir Alex Ferguson, giving the match its name, the Battle of the Buffet.

Which Arsenal manager won the FA Cup a record seven times?

Arsène Wenger won three of the seven in his last five seasons, after nine years without a trophy, and the seventh took him past Aston Villa's George Ramsay as the Cup's most successful manager.

Which manager won Arsenal their first silverware and set up their trophy-laden 1930s?

Herbert Chapman won the 1930 FA Cup, Arsenal's first major trophy, then two league titles, and lobbied London Underground into renaming Gillespie Road station 'Arsenal' in 1932.

Which stadium did Arsenal make an official bid to buy in 1998, before choosing to build the Emirates instead?

Wembley Stadium was the target because plans to enlarge 38,000-capacity Highbury met local opposition; Arsenal dropped the bid within weeks but played Champions League home games there until 2000.

Highbury's famous East and West Stands were built in which architectural style in the 1930s?

Art Deco earned the East Stand a Grade II listing, so its facade survived when Highbury was turned into flats and the pitch became a communal garden.

Which London athletics ground did the Mears brothers acquire in 1904 before founding a football club to fill it?

Stamford Bridge was first offered to Fulham, who turned it down, so Gus and Joseph Mears founded Chelsea in 1905 to give their stadium a team.

After winning the league in 1955, Chelsea were talked out of entering which brand-new competition?

The European Cup began that autumn; Chelsea were drawn against Djurgården of Sweden but withdrew under pressure from the Football League, and a Polish club took their place.

Which club did Chelsea beat on penalties, in that club's own stadium, to win their first Champions League in 2012?

Bayern Munich led with minutes left before Didier Drogba headed Chelsea level; Petr Čech then saved a penalty in extra time and Drogba scored the winning kick of the shoot-out.

Which set of trophies did Chelsea complete in 2025, something no club had done before?

All four main UEFA competitions: Chelsea trailed Real Betis at half-time in the 2025 final of UEFA's newest tournament, then scored four times to claim the one European prize they lacked.

What does Tottenham Hotspur's Latin motto mean in English?

To dare is to do translates Audere est Facere; the cockerel standing on a ball goes back to 1909, when a metal casting from former player William Scott was made to top the new West Stand.

Which trophy made Tottenham the first British club to win a European competition, in 1963?

The Cup Winners' Cup: Spurs led the holders, Atlético Madrid, 2–0 in Rotterdam, saw a penalty cut it to 2–1, then scored three more, two of them by winger Terry Dyson.

Tottenham were the first club in the 20th century to achieve what, in 1960–61?

The League and FA Cup Double was sealed in a Cup final against a Leicester side whose full-back Len Chalmers was hurt in the first half and, with no substitutes allowed, had to limp on out on the wing.

Which striker did Harry Kane overtake in 2023 as Tottenham's record goalscorer?

Jimmy Greaves cost £99,999 from AC Milan in 1961, a fee set to spare him the tag of Britain's first £100,000 player; his 266 goals stood as the club record for 53 years.

What feature lets the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium switch between football and NFL games?

A retractable grass pitch splits into three sections and slides under the South Stand in about 25 minutes, uncovering a synthetic NFL field beneath.

West Ham United were founded in 1895 under what name?

Thames Ironworks was the works team of a Thames shipbuilder, started by its owner Arnold Hills; it was wound up in 1900 and relaunched as West Ham United.

Which three West Ham players started for England in the 1966 World Cup final?

Moore, Hurst and Peters gave England their captain and all four goals in the final; a bronze statue of the trio with Ray Wilson was unveiled near West Ham's ground in 2003.

West Ham's home since 2016, the London Stadium, was originally built for what?

The 2012 Olympics left a stadium two clubs wanted: West Ham's first deal to move in collapsed in 2011 under legal challenges, one of them from rival bidders Tottenham.

West Ham's former home, the Boleyn Ground, was more often referred to by what name?

Upton Park is the district around it; the official name came from Boleyn Castle, a landmark house beside the ground that local tradition linked to Anne Boleyn.

Which Fulham legend, nicknamed 'The Maestro', has a stand named after him at the club's ground?

Johnny Haynes became Britain's first £100-a-week footballer in 1961, when the maximum wage was abolished, yet spent his whole English career at Fulham.

Crystal Palace changed their nickname from 'The Glaziers' to what under a flamboyant 1970s manager?

The Eagles arrived in 1973 with manager Malcolm Allison, who borrowed the nickname from Benfica and swapped claret and blue for red and blue stripes.

Crystal Palace won their first ever major trophy in 2025 by beating whom in the FA Cup final?

Manchester City fell to a first-half goal from Eberechi Eze, and Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson then saved a penalty to protect the lead.

Which architect, who also designed Ibrox and Old Trafford, drew up Selhurst Park for its 1924 opening?

Archibald Leitch started out designing factories; after terracing at his Ibrox ground collapsed in 1902, killing 25 people, he went on to build stands for clubs across Britain.

Which two clubs ground-shared at Selhurst Park at different times?

Charlton Athletic and Wimbledon were tenants in turn: Charlton arrived in 1985, close to bankruptcy and unable to keep up their own ground, and Wimbledon followed in 1991.

Brentford, nicknamed 'The Bees', played at which ground from 1904 until 2020?

Griffin Park was known for having a pub on each corner; Brentford left in 2020 and within a year won promotion to the top flight for the first time in 74 years.

QPR's only major trophy came in 1967, when the Third Division side beat West Brom 3–2 to win which competition?

The League Cup looked lost at half-time, with QPR 2–0 down, before three second-half goals made them the first Third Division club to win a major trophy.

Loftus Road became the first British professional ground to install what, in 1981?

An artificial pitch went down in 1981, the first in English professional football, but the plastic surface was ripped up and replaced with grass in 1988.

In which part of London's docklands were Millwall founded in 1885, before moving south of the river in 1910?

The Isle of Dogs was home to Morton's cannery, whose workers formed Millwall Rovers; the club kept the Millwall name after crossing the Thames to New Cross.

Which ground did Charlton Athletic return to in 1992 after seven years in exile?

The Valley stood derelict from 1985 while a near-bankrupt Charlton lodged elsewhere; supporters formed a political party to fight the 1990 council election, and planning permission followed in 1991.

What is Charlton Athletic's nickname?

The Addicks is thought to be a local way of saying 'haddocks', a nod to Arthur Bryan, whose fish shop was tied to the team in its early years.

Which London club began in 1881 as the Glyn Cricket Club and later took its name from a shipping line?

Leyton Orient became Orient in 1888 at the suggestion of Jack Dearing, who worked for the Orient shipping line, later part of P&O.

AFC Wimbledon was founded in 2002 by supporters after the original club was allowed to move where?

The relocated club became Milton Keynes Dons in 2004; the fans' club started in the ninth tier and climbed back to the League.

Wimbledon's 'Crazy Gang' shocked which team to win the 1988 FA Cup?

Liverpool, newly crowned champions and chasing the Double, also saw John Aldridge's penalty saved by Dave Beasant, the first ever stopped in an FA Cup final.

Who scored the winning goal for Wimbledon in the 1988 FA Cup final?

Lawrie Sanchez headed in a Dennis Wise free kick late in the first half, only 11 years after Wimbledon had been elected to the Football League.

Which London club, nicknamed the Bees, left Underhill in 2013 for a new stadium called The Hive?

Barnet spent more than a century at Underhill; The Hive rose on a Harrow site where a stadium begun for Wealdstone had stood unfinished since its backers ran out of money in 2004.

Which three West London clubs does Fulham contest derbies with?

Chelsea, Brentford and QPR are Fulham's West London derby rivals, and one of them is closer than its name suggests: Chelsea were founded in a pub on the Fulham Road and have always played in Fulham.

The Football Association was founded on 26 October 1863 at which London venue?

The Freemasons' Tavern hosted the founding meeting; the rules took six meetings that autumn, and Blackheath, who wanted to keep hacking, kicking an opponent's shins, quit when it was outlawed.

What giant structure replaced the Twin Towers as the landmark of the rebuilt Wembley?

A steel arch 315 metres long stands 133 metres above the pitch and carries the weight of the whole north roof.

West Ham lost the first FA Cup final at Wembley in 1923, a match now nicknamed after what?

A white horse, one of the police mounts sent to push back a crowd far beyond capacity, became the lasting image of the day; Bolton Wanderers won 2–0.

Which Brazilian club beat Chelsea 1–0 in the 2012 Club World Cup final?

Corinthians won through a Paolo Guerrero header in Yokohama; Chelsea had to wait until the 2021 edition to lift the trophy, then won it again in 2025.

What was Chelsea's crest before Ted Drake removed it in the 1950s?

A Pensioner, one of the army veterans from the nearby Royal Hospital Chelsea, gave the club its first crest and nickname; Drake swapped it for a more businesslike monogram in 1952.

Which trophy did West Ham win in 2023 to end a 43-year wait for major silverware?

The Conference League final against Fiorentina was settled by Jarrod Bowen's last-minute winner, West Ham's first major trophy since the 1980 FA Cup.

What name did Millwall's new ground keep in 1993 from the old one a quarter of a mile away?

The Den was the first new all-seater stadium finished in England after the Taylor Report on the Hillsborough disaster, which ended the era of terraced grounds like the old one.

Which West London club is based in Shepherd's Bush and White City?

QPR formed in 1886 when Christchurch Rangers merged with St Jude's; the new club was named Queens Park Rangers because most of its players came from the Queen's Park area.

Which club beat Arsenal 2–1 in 2006, when the Gunners became the first London side to reach a Champions League final?

Barcelona fell behind to a Sol Campbell header even though Arsenal's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had been sent off after 18 minutes, then scored twice in the last 14 minutes.