Portal:English football

The English Football Portal

The England national football team playing at Wembley.

Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest national governing body, and the oldest national knockout competition. With over 40,000 football clubs, England has more teams involved in the sport than any other country. The world's first football club, Sheffield F.C., and the oldest professional club, Notts County, were both founded in England.

The influence of the British Empire helped spread football across the globe, shaping the development of the modern Laws of the Game. England's domestic football scene remains one of the strongest in the world, with the Premier League ranking among the richest and most popular leagues globally. As of 2022, five of the ten richest football clubs were English. Football remains deeply ingrained in English culture, with 31% of the population expressing an interest in the sport. (Full article...)

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New Brompton F.C. (later Gillingham F.C.) in 1894.

Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent, currently playing in EFL League Two. As the only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at Priestfield.

The club was founded in 1893 and joined the Football League in 1920. They were voted out of the league in favour of Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 season, but returned to it 12 years later after it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. Twice in the late 1980s they came close to winning promotion to the second tier of English football, but a decline then set in and in 1993 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. In 2000, the Gills made the second tier for the first and only time by defeating Wigan Athletic in the playoff final, and spent 5 seasons there, with them achieving a club record highest league finish of 11th place in 2002–03. The only honour the club has won at a professional level was the Football League Fourth Division championship in 1963-64.

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Did you know...

...that former Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday footballer Brian Hornsby trekked to Machu Picchu (pictured) with musician Tony Hadley in aid of Action Medical Research?

...that Garry Parker ran the full length of the pitch at Wembley Stadium to score a goal for Nottingham Forest in the final of the Simod Cup against Everton in 1989, which Forest won 4-3?

...that Bob McGrory managed the English football team Stoke City for a period of 17 years, having previously played for the club for 14 years?

...that footballer Roy Cheetham was the first Manchester City player to be used as a substitute?

...that Scottish footballer Kevin Bremner scored for five different teams in the Football League during the 1982–83 season?

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The Conference League Cup is the generic name of an English football competition, open to clubs playing in levels 5 or 6 of the English football league system, (steps 1 and 2 of the National League System), which covers the three Football Conference divisions.

The Conference League Cup was formed for the inaugural season of the Football Conference, in 1979–80 and existed for twenty-two seasons before being axed at the end of the 2000–01 season. It was briefly re-formed for the 2004–05 season, but it was again agreed not to renew the competition for the next season. With the transfer of sponsorship of the Conference to Blue Square for the start of the 2007–08 season two seasons later, the re-introduction of the competition was announced, scheduled to commence that very year.

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Flowers and tributes left at Maine Road in memory of Marc Vivien Foe

Credit: en.wikipedia user Slipperman

Flowers and tributes left in memoriam of Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foé at Maine Road, home of his former club Manchester City. Foé collapsed in the 71st minute of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal between Cameroon and Columbia and later died. Many of his former clubs created memorials in his honour, with Manchester City retiring the number 23 shirt.

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