The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located southeast of San Francisco. The team is named after the prospectors of the California gold rush.
The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1949 when the leagues merged. The 49ers were the first major professional sports team based in San Francisco. They are the 10th-oldest franchise in the NFL, and have been owned and operated by Italian Americans (the Morabito and DeBartolo families) since their inception. The team played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco before moving to Candlestick Park in 1971 and then to Levi's Stadium in 2014. Since 1988, the 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara.
The 49ers won five Super Bowl championships between 1981 and 1994. Four of those came in the 1980s, and were led by Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Charles Haley, Fred Dean, and coaches Bill Walsh and George Seifert. They were division champions 22 times between 1970 and 2023, making them one of the most successful teams in NFL history. The 49ers are tied with the New England Patriots for most playoff wins (40) in NFL history, having been in the league playoffs 30 times (29 times in the NFL and one time in the AAFC), and have also played in the most NFC Championship Games (19), hosting 11 of them, also an NFC record. The team has set numerous NFL records, including most consecutive away games won (18), most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring (4), most consecutive games scored (420 games from 1977 to 2004), most field goals in a season (44), most games won in a season (18), and most touchdowns (8) and points scored (55) in a Super Bowl.
In 2025, 9.2% of the franchise was sold to various groups in two separate transactions which valued the team at $8.5 billion, the largest valuation in NFL history. The stake was sold to several investors in Atherton and Menlo Park including 3.1% to the family of Vinod Khosla and 3.2% to Pete Briger Jr. of Fortress Investment Group.
In June 2023, the enterprise branch of the 49ers bought English soccer club Leeds United; in May 2025, it acquired 51% of Scottish soccer club Rangers F.C.
History
Morabito family era (1946–1976)
Buck Shaw years (1946–1954) The San Francisco 49ers, an original member of the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC), were the first major league professional sports franchise based in San Francisco, and one of the first major league professional sports teams based on the Pacific Coast.A.S. "Doc" Young, "The Black Athlete in the Golden Age of Sports, Part VI: The Black Athlete Makes His Mark," Ebony, May 1969, pg. 118. In 1946, the team joined the Los Angeles Dons of the AAFC and the Los Angeles Rams of the rival National Football League as the first three teams playing a "big four"-sport in the Western United States, eventually becoming part of the NFL themselves in 1950.
In 1957, the 49ers enjoyed their first sustained success as members of the NFL. After losing the opening game of the season, the 49ers won their next three against the Rams, Bears, and Packers before returning home to Kezar Stadium for a game against the Chicago Bears on October 27, 1957. The 49ers fell behind the Bears 17–7. 49ers owner Tony Morabito (1910–1957) collapsed of a heart attack and died during the game. The 49ers players learned of his death at halftime when coach Frankie Albert was handed a note with two words: "Tony's gone". The 49ers scored 14 unanswered points to win the game, 21–17. Dicky Moegle's late-game interception in the end zone sealed the victory. After Tony's death, 49er ownership went to Victor Morabito (1919–1964) and Tony's widow, Josephine V. Morabito (1910–1995). The 49ers' special assistant to the Morabitos, Louis G. Spadia (1921–2013) was named general manager.
During the decade of the 1950s, the 49ers were known for their so-called "Million Dollar Backfield", consisting of four future Hall of Fame members: quarterback Y. A. Tittle and running backs John Henry Johnson, Hugh McElhenny, and Joe Perry. They became the only full-house backfield inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
For most of the next 13 years, the 49ers hovered around .490, except for 1963 and 1964 when they went 2–12 and 4–10, respectively. Key players for these 49ers included running back Ken Willard, quarterback John Brodie, and offensive lineman Bruce Bosley. During this time the 49ers became the first NFL team to use the shotgun formation. It was named by the man who devised the formation, San Francisco 49ers' coach Red Hickey, in 1960. The formation, where the quarterback lines up seven yards behind the center, was designed to allow the quarterback extra time to throw. The formation was used for the first time in 1960 and enabled the 49ers to beat the Baltimore Colts, who were not familiar with the formation.
In 1961, primarily using the shotgun, the 49ers got off to a fast 4–1 start, including two shutouts in back-to-back weeks. In their sixth game they faced the Chicago Bears, who by moving players closer to the line of scrimmage and rushing the quarterback, were able to defeat the shotgun and in fact shut out the 49ers, 31–0. Though the 49ers went only 3–5–1 the rest of the way, the shotgun eventually became a component of most team's offenses and is a formation used by football teams at all levels. In 1962, the 49ers had a frustrating season as they won only 6 games that year. They won only one game at Kezar Stadium while on the road they won five of seven games. After posting a losing record in 1963. Victor Morabito died May 10, 1964, at age 45. The 1964 season was another lost campaign. According to the 1965 49ers Yearbook, the co-owners of the team were: Mrs. Josephine V. Morabito Fox, Mrs. Jane Morabito, Mrs. O.H. Heintzelman, Lawrence J. Purcell, Mrs. William O'Grady, Albert J. Ruffo, Franklin Mieuli, Frankie Albert, Louis G. Spadia and James Ginella. The 1965 49ers rebounded nicely to finish with a 7–6–1 record. They were led that year by John Brodie, who after being plagued by injuries came back to become one of the NFL's best passers by throwing for 3,112 yards and 30 touchdowns. In 1966, the Morabito widows named Lou Spadia team president.
Dick Nolan years (1968–1975) For the 1968 season, the 49ers hired Dick Nolan, who had been Tom Landry's defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, as their head coach. Nolan's first two seasons with the 49ers had gone much the same as the previous decade, with the 49ers going 7–6–1 and 4–8–2.
The 49ers started out the 1970 season 7–1–1, with their only loss a one-point defeat to Atlanta. After losses to Detroit and Los Angeles, the 49ers won their next two games before the season finale against the Oakland Raiders. Going into the game, the 49ers had a half-game lead on the Rams and needed either a win or a Giants victory against the Rams in their finale to give the 49ers their first-ever divisional title.
In the early game, the Giants lost to the Rams 31–3, thus forcing the 49ers to win their game to clinch the division. In wet, rainy conditions in Oakland, the 49ers won against the Raiders, 38–7, giving the 49ers their first divisional title, which made them champions of the NFC West. The 49ers won their divisional playoff game 17–14 against the defending conference champion Minnesota Vikings, thus setting up a matchup against the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC Championship. In the final home game for the 49ers at Kezar Stadium, the 49ers kept up with the Cowboys before losing 17–10, which resulted in the Cowboys going to Super Bowl V. The 49ers sent five players to the Pro Bowl that season, including MVP veteran quarterback John Brodie, wide receiver Gene Washington, and linebacker Dave Wilcox. Nolan was also named NFL Coach of the Year for 1970. Following the 1970 season, the 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium to Candlestick Park. Despite being located on the outskirts of the city, Candlestick Park gave the 49ers a much more modern facility with more amenities that was easier for fans to access by highway.Parkhouse, B. L., The Management of Sport: Its Foundation and Application (Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby, 1991), p. 166.
The 49ers won their second straight divisional title in 1971 with a 9–5 record. The 49ers again won their divisional playoff game, this time against the Washington Redskins, by 24–20. This set up a rematch against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game, this time played in Dallas. Though the defense again held the Cowboys in check, the 49ers offense was ineffective, and the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys beat the 49ers again, 14–3. In 1971, eight 49ers made the Pro Bowl, including defensive back Jimmy Johnson and Gene Washington, both for the second year in a row, as well as defensive end Cedric Hardman, running back Vic Washington, and offensive lineman Forrest Blue.
The 49ers won their third consecutive NFC West title in 1972 with five wins in their last six games, making them the only franchise to win their first three divisional titles after the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. Their opponents in the divisional playoffs were the Dallas Cowboys, making it the third consecutive year the teams faced each other in the playoffs. Vic Washington took the opening kickoff 97 yards for a score, and the 49ers took a 21–6 lead in the second quarter. After the 49ers took a 28–13 lead in the fourth quarter, Tom Landry sent quarterback Roger Staubach, who was backing up Craig Morton, into the game. Staubach quickly led the Cowboys on a drive to a field goal, bringing the score to within 28–16, and as the game wound down it appeared that this would be the last points the Cowboys would get. However, Dallas completed the comeback in the last two minutes. Just after the two-minute warning, Staubach took just four plays to drive 55 yards in only 32 seconds, hitting Billy Parks on a twenty-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 28–23. Cowboys kicker Toni Fritsch then executed a successful onside kick that was recovered by Mel Renfro, giving the Cowboys the ball at midfield with 1:20 left on the clock. With the 49ers on the ropes, Staubach scrambled for 21 yards, then completed a 19-yard sideline pass to Billy Parks who went out of bounds at the 10-yard line to stop the clock. Staubach then completed the comeback with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ron Sellers with only 52 seconds left, giving the Cowboys a dramatic 30–28 victory; it was the third straight season the Cowboys had defeated the 49ers in the postseason. It would also be their last postseason appearance for nine years.
The 49ers run at the top of the NFC West ended in 1973 with the 49ers falling to a 5–9 record, their worst since 1969. The team lost six of its last eight games, including games to the also-ran New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions. In the final season of his career, longtime 49ers quarterback John Brodie split playing time with two other quarterbacks, most notably longtime backup Steve Spurrier. The team also suffered from not having a dominant running back, with Vic Washington leading the team with only 534 yards rushing.