Stoke City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863 the club changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. They are the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts County, and are one of the founding members of the Football League. They currently play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. They have never been lower than the third tier.

Their first, and to date only major trophy, the League Cup was won in 1972, when the team beat Chelsea 2–1. The club's highest league finish in the top division is 4th, which was achieved in the 1935–36 and 1946–47 seasons. Stoke played in the FA Cup Final in 2011, finishing runners-up to Manchester City and have reached three FA Cup semi-finals; in 1899 then consecutively in 1971 and 1972. Stoke have competed in European football on three occasions, firstly in 1972–73 then in 1974–75 and most recently in 2011–12. The club has won the Football League Trophy twice, in 1992 and in 2000. The club's record appearance maker is Eric Skeels, who made 597 appearances between 1959 and 1976, and the club's record goalscorer is John Ritchie, who scored 176 goals in 351 appearances from 1962 to 1975.

Honours

League Football League Championship Runners-up: 2007–08

Football League Second Division: 3 Champions: 1932–33, 1962–63, 1992–93 Runners-up: 1921–22 Third Place: (Promoted) 1978–79 Play-off Winners: 2001–02

Football League Third Division North: 1 Champions: 1926–27

Football Alliance: 1 Champions: 1890–91

Birmingham & District League: 1 Champions: 1910–11

Southern League Division Two: 2 Champions:1909–10, 1914–15 Runners-up: 1910–11

Cups FA Cup Runners-up: 2010–11 Semi-finalists: 1898–99, 1970–71 (3rd place), 1971–72 (4th place)

League Cup: 1 Winners: 1971–72 Runners-up: 1963–64

Football League Trophy: 2 Winners: 1991–92, 1999–2000

Watney Cup: 1 Winners: 1973

Staffordshire Senior Cup: 15 Winners: 1877–78, 1878–79, 1903–04 (shared), 1913–14, 1933–34, 1964–65, 1968–69 (shared), 1970–71, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1981–82, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1998–99, 2016–17 Runners-up: 1882–83, 1885–86, 1894–95, 1900–01, 1902–03, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2010–11

Birmingham Senior Cup: 2 Winners: 1901, 1914 Runners-up: 1910, 1915, 1920, 1921

Isle of Man Trophy: 3 Winners: 1987, 1991, 1992 Runners-up: 1985

Bass Charity Vase: 5 Winners: 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1998 Runners-up: 1890, 1894, 1990, 1996

Player records

Appearances Most appearances in total (League & Cup) – 597 Eric Skeels (1959–76) Most League appearances – 507 Eric Skeels (1959–76) Most appearances in total (Including war-time) – 675 John McCue (1940–60) Most Consecutive Appearances – 148 Tony Allen (1960–63) Youngest Player – Emre Tezgel 16 years, 112 days v Leyton Orient 9 January 2022 Oldest Player – Stanley Matthews 50 years, 5 days v Fulham 6 February 1965 First Substitute – Keith Bebbington in 1965 who replaced Dennis Viollet Most Substitute Appearances For The Club – 98 Peter Crouch (2011–2019)

Top 20 most appearances

RankNameYearsLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotal1 Eric Skeels1960–1976507433895972 John McCue1946–196050240005423 Bob McGrory1921–193547932005114 Denis Smith1968–19824072934234935 Alan Bloor1961–19783883837194826 Peter Fox1978–19934092232144777 Tony Allen1957–1970417302604738 Ryan Shawcross2007–2021401251984539 Jackie Marsh1967–197935532352244410 Frank Bowyer1948–1960398380043611 Frank Mountford1946–1958391340042512 Alan Dodd1972–19853741525441813 John Sellars1946–1958384290041314 Harry Davies1922–1938389220041115 Harry Sellars1923–1935370250039516 Peter Dobing1963–19733072240837717 Stanley Matthews1932–1965318370035518 Billy Spencer1925–1938338160035419 John Ritchie1962–197426927381735120 Harry Oscroft1950–19593262300349

Goalscoring

Leading Goalscorer (League & Cup) – 176 John Ritchie (1963–75) Leading Goalscorer (League only) – 140 Freddie Steele (1934–49) Leading Goalscorer (Including war-time) – 282 Tommy Sale (1930–47) Leading Goalscorer (FA Cup) – 19 Freddie Steele Leading Goalscorer (League Cup) – 18 John Ritchie Leading Goalscorer (Premier League only) – 45 Peter Crouch Most Goals In a Season – 38 Charlie Wilson & Arthur Griffiths Most Goals In a Season (League only) – 33 Freddie Steele Most Goals In a single match – 7 Neville Coleman v Lincoln City 23 February 1957 Most matches Scored In Consecutively – 7 (7 Goals) Mike Sheron

Top 20 overall goalscorers RankNameYearsLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotal1 John Ritchie1962–1974135151881762 Freddie Steele1933–194914019001593 Frank Bowyer1948–196013712001494 Charlie Wilson1925–19301128001205 Johnny King1953–19611067001136 Harry Oscroft1950–19591034001077= Jimmy Greenhoff1969–19767611961037= Tommy Sale1930–1949985001038 Harry Davies1922–1937929001019 Peter Dobing1963–1973823919510 Joe Schofield1891–1899818059211 William Maxwell1895–19007410018512 Peter Thorne1997–2001650698013 Harry Burrows1965–1973685307614 Arthur Watkin1913–19256113007415= Alf Smith1903–1915675007215= Mark Stein1991–19975408107216= Jimmy Broad1921–1924625006716= Terry Conroy1967–1979498826717 Dennis Viollet1962–1967594306618 Bobby Liddle1928–1938613006419 Wayne Biggins1989–1995520476320= Peter Crouch2011–2019465926220= Stanley Matthews1932–1965548006220= William Smith1909–1913573026220= Jonathan Walters2010–201743116262

Internationals Most capped player – 81 Glenn Whelan First player to be capped – Edward Johnson for England 1880 First Scottish player to be capped – Tommy Hyslop 1896 First Welsh player to be capped – Mart Watkins 1902 First Irish player to be capped – James Sheridan 1905

Transfers Record transfer fee paid – £18.3 million to Porto for Giannelli Imbula February 2016 Record transfer fee received – £20 million from West Ham United for Marko Arnautović July 2017

Progression of record fee paid

DatePlayerBought fromFeeSeptember 1894 George ClawleyCrewe Alexandra£10August 1897 Jimmy McGeachanBolton Wanderers£150March 1903 Ted HoldcroftBurslem Port Vale£500August 1919 David BrownDundee£1,200August 1921 Jimmy BroadMillwall£2,500August 1929 Wilf KirkhamPort Vale£2,800March 1933 Jack PalethorpeReading£3,000August 1938 Patrick GallacherSunderland£5,000August 1947 Jimmy McAlindenPortsmouth£7,000August 1947 Tommy KiernanCeltic£8,500October 1949 Leslie JohnstonCeltic£9,000August 1951 Alan MartinPort Vale£10,000August 1951 Sammy SmythWolverhampton Wanderers£25,000August 1962 Eddie ClampArsenal£35,000August 1963 Peter DobingManchester City£37,500March 1965 Roy VernonEverton£40,000April 1967 Gordon BanksLeicester City£52,000August 1969 Jimmy GreenhoffBirmingham City£100,000January 1974 Alan HudsonChelsea£240,000November 1974 Peter ShiltonLeicester City£325,000February 1982 Sammy McIlroyManchester United£350,000July 1989 Ian CransonSheffield Wednesday£480,000August 1994 Paul PeschisolidoBirmingham City£580,000December 1999 Brynjar GunnarssonÖrgryte IS£600,000August 2005 Sambégou BangouraStandard Liège£900,000January 2008 Ryan ShawcrossManchester United£1,000,000January 2008 Leon CortCrystal Palace£1,200,000August 2008 Dave KitsonReading£5,500,000August 2009 Robert HuthMiddlesbrough£6,000,000August 2010 Kenwyne JonesSunderland£8,000,000August 2011 Peter CrouchTottenham Hotspur£10,000,000August 2015 Xherdan ShaqiriInter Milan£12,000,000February 2016 Giannelli ImbulaPorto£18,300,000

Progression of record fee received DatePlayerSold toFeeNovember 1966 John RitchieSheffield Wednesday£70,000May 1972 Mike BernardEverton£120,000December 1976 Alan HudsonArsenal£225,000September 1977 Peter ShiltonNottingham Forest£250,000July 1980 Garth CrooksTottenham Hotspur£600,000January 1982 Adrian HeathEverton£700,000October 1989 Peter BeagrieEverton£750,000November 1993 Mark SteinChelsea£1,500,000July 1997 Mike SheronQueens Park Rangers£2,750,000August 2009 Seyi OlofinjanaHull City£3,000,000January 2011 TuncayVfL Wolfsburg£4,500,000July 2015 Steven NzonziSevilla£7,000,000July 2015 Asmir BegovićChelsea£8,000,000July 2017 Marko ArnautovićWest Ham United£20,000,000

All-Time XI & Hall of Fame members In the final match of the 2012–13 season, as part of the club's official celebration of their 150th anniversary, supporters cast votes to determine the greatest ever Stoke City team.

Gordon Banks (1967–72) Jackie Marsh (1967–79) Ryan Shawcross (2007–21) Denis Smith (1968–82) Mike Pejic (1968–76) Stanley Matthews (1932–47) & (1961–65) Alan Hudson (1974–76) & (1984–85) Jimmy Greenhoff (1969–76) Peter Hoekstra (2001–04) Mark Stein (1991–93) & (1996–97) Ricardo Fuller (2006–12)

Bench Asmir Begović (2010–2015) Lee Dixon (1986–88) Neil Franklin (1939–50) Terry Conroy (1967–79) John Ritchie (1962–66) & (1969–75)

Manager Tony Waddington (1960–77)

English Football Hall of Fame members A number of Stoke City players have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame:

Gordon Banks (2002 inductee) Stanley Matthews (2002 inductee) Peter Shilton (2002 inductee) Geoff Hurst (2004 inductee)

Football League 100 Legends The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football.

Gordon Banks Neil Franklin Geoff Hurst Stanley Matthews Jimmy McIlroy Peter Shilton Neville Southall

PFA Team of the Year The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Stoke : 1975 Peter Shilton, Alan Hudson (1st tier) 1976 Alan Hudson (1st tier) 1979 Mike Doyle, Howard Kendall (2nd tier) 1986 Keith Bertschin (2nd tier) 1986 Lee Dixon (2nd tier) 1991 Wayne Biggins (3rd tier) 1992 Vince Overson, Wayne Biggins (3rd tier) 1993 Vince Overson, Mark Stein (3rd tier) 1997 Mike Sheron (2nd tier) 1999 Graham Kavanagh (3rd tier) 2000 Graham Kavanagh (3rd tier) 2001 Graham Kavanagh (3rd tier) 2008 Ryan Shawcross, Liam Lawrence, Ricardo Fuller (2nd tier)

Managerial records

First full-time manager: Thomas Slaney who was in charge for nine years (1874 to 1883) Longest serving manager: Tony Waddington 17 years (764 matches) (June 1960 to March 1977)

Team records

Matches First recorded match: Stoke Ramblers 1–1 E.W Mays XV, Friendly, 17 October 1868 First match at the Victoria Ground: Stoke 2–1 Talke Rangers, Friendly, 28 March 1878 First FA Cup match: Stoke 1–2 Manchester, First Round, 10 November 1883 First Football League match: Stoke 0–2 West Bromwich Albion, 8 September 1888 First League Cup match: Stoke City 1–3 Doncaster Rovers, Second Round, 18 October 1960 First European match: Stoke City 3–1 Kaiserslautern, First Round, 13 September 1972 Last match at Victoria Ground: Stoke City 2–1 West Bromwich Albion, Division One, 4 May 1997 First match at the Britannia Stadium: Stoke City 1–1 Rochdale, League Cup, 1st Round 2nd Leg, 27 August 1997 First League match at the Britannia Stadium: Stoke City 1–2 Swindon Town, Division One, 30 August 1997 First match in the Premier League: Bolton Wanderers 3–1 Stoke City, 18 August 2008

Record wins Record win: 26–0 v Mow Cop, Staffordshire Senior Cup, 1877 Record League Win: 10–3 v West Bromwich Albion, First Division, 4 February 1937 Record Premier League Win: 6–1 v Liverpool, 24 May 2015 Record FA Cup Win: 11–0 v Stourbridge, First Round, 26 September 1914 Record League Cup Win: 6–2 v Chelsea, Third Round, 22 October 1974 Record home Win: 9–0 v Plymouth Argyle, Second Division, 17 December 1960 Record away Win: 6–0 v Bury, Second Division, 13 March 1954

Record defeats Record League defeat: 0–10 v Preston North End, Football League, 14 September 1889 Record Premier League defeat: 0–7 v Chelsea, Premier League, 25 April 2010 Record FA Cup defeat: 0–8 v Wolverhampton Wanderers, Quarter Final, 22 February 1890 Record League Cup defeat: 0–8 v Liverpool, Fourth Round, 24 November 2000