Peterborough United Football Club is an English association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. After former Southern League club Peterborough & Fletton United folded in 1932, there had been no senior football in the Peterborough area. In the summer of 1934, a new professional club, named Peterborough United, was founded to take its place. It was welcomed into membership of the Midland League for 1934–35, and the club's first team finished that initial season in mid-table. They entered the national cup competition, the FA Cup, the following season, but lost their opening match 3–0 at home to Rushden Town in the first qualifying round. When competitive football resumed after the Second World War, Peterborough enjoyed improved performances in both league and cup competition. In the cup, they regularly reached the rounds proper, and progressed to the fourth round in 1956–57 and 1959–60, eliminating two Football League teams on the first occasion and three on the second. In the Midland League, they finished second in 1953–54, third the following year, and then embarked on a run of five consecutive championships, scoring more than 100 goals in each campaign. Repeated attempts at election to the Football League failedalbeit narrowly in 1958–59until they finally gained admission to the Fourth Division in 1960 at the expense of Gateshead. Select seasons required via Div 3S and Div 4 links; pages give breakdown of voting figures.

Their momentum continued into the new Football League season: in second place with Christmas approaching, Peterborough did not lose again until the following April. and Select date(s) required via dropdown menus. They won the Fourth Division title, scoring what remains a Football League record 134 goals. Terry Bly supplied 52 of those 134not a league record, but a seasonal total which has not been surpassed since. They followed up with four top-half finishes at the higher level before dropping to mid-table, eliminated Arsenal among others on their way to the sixth round (quarter-final) of the 1964–65 FA Cup, and went one step further in the 1965–66 League Cup, losing to West Bromwich Albion in the semifinal, but problems off the field disrupted their further progress. In November 1967, the Football Association and Football League met to consider charges of making illegal payments to players, poor accounting practices and poor internal governance, stemming from claims surrounding an FA Cup match against Sunderland the previous January. They decided that Peterborough would be demoted to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1967–68 season. At the time, they stood fourth in the Third Division after 19 matches. They won their second Fourth Division championship in 1973–74, this time spending five years in the Third before returning to the fourth tier until 1991.

Back-to-back promotionsvia a fourth-place finish in 1990–91 and the play-offs in 1992, beating Stockport County 2–1 in the final,earned Peterborough a place in the second tier for the first time in the club's history. They came 10th in what was called the First Divisionwhen the newly formed FA Premier League split from the Football League, the remaining divisions of the Football League were renumbered upwardswhich remains the team's highest league finish. and were relegated in 1993–94. They returned to the second tier, which by then had been rebranded as the Football League Championship, in 2009, again after two consecutive promotions. Although relegated straight back to League One, they were immediately re-promoted, and stayed up for two seasons. Failure in the 2014 play-offs was offset by a first ever victory in a nationally organised cup competition: Peterborough defeated Chesterfield by three goals to one in the final of the 2013–14 Football League Trophy, a competition open to clubs in the third and fourth tiers of English football. They returned to the Championship as 2020–21 League One runners-up, went straight back down, and lost to Sheffield Wednesday on penalties in the 2023 play-off semifinal. They won the 2023–24 EFL Trophy, beating Wycombe Wanderers in the final, but again lost in the play-offs.

As of the end of the 2023–24 season, the team have spent 25 seasons in the fourth tier of the English football league system, 33 in the third, and 6 in the second. The table details the team's achievements and the top goalscorers in senior first-team competitions from their debut season in the Midland League in 1934–35 to the end of the most recently completed season.

Key

Key to league record: P – Played W – Games won D – Games drawn L – Games lost F – Goals for A – Goals against Pts – Points Pos – Final position Key to colours and symbols: Winners 2nd or F Runners-up Promoted Relegated ♦ Top league scorer in Peterborough's division

Key to divisions: Mid – Midland League Ldn MW – London Midweek League Div 3 – Football League Third Division Div 4 – Football League Fourth Division Champ – Championship League 1 – League One League 2 – League Two

Key to stages of competitions: Group – Group stage Prelim – Preliminary round QR1 – First qualifying round QR2 – Second qualifying round, etc. R1 – First round R2 – Second round, etc. QF – Quarter-final SF – Semi-final F – Runners-up W – Winners (S) – Southern section of regionalised stage

Details of the abandoned 1939–40 season are shown in italics and appropriately footnoted.

Seasons SeasonLeagueFA Cup Individual seasons accessed via dropdown menu.League CupOtherTop scorer(s)DivisionPWDLFAPtsPosCompetitionResultNameGoals1934–35Mid3815101381844010th—141935–36Mid401381952863417thQR1—221936–37Mid421662075973816thR1—321937–38QR2—271938–39R1—521939–40Mid331626—51945–46Mid36173166374379thQR3—121946–47Mid421812129077489thR2—211947–48Mid42224168878486thQR4—291948–49Mid421562158833616thR1—201949–50Mid462310139170564thQR3—301950–51Mid421615116965479thQR2—161951–52Mid422010129071505thQR4—281952–53Mid461815137655518thR2—301953–54Mid462781111173622ndR3—451954–55Mid46231676938623rdQR4—101955–56Mid463311213746771stR2—331956–57Mid46366414835781stR4—511957–58Mid46355616046751stR1—531958–59Mid36324013726681stR3—421959–60Mid32236310837521stR4—281960–61Div 4 462810813465661stR4R1—54 ♦1961–62Div 3462661410782585thR4R1—331962–63Div 3462011159375516thR3R2—261963–64Div 34618111775704710thR1R2—211964–65Div 346227178574518thR2—251965–66Div 34617121780664613thR2SF—251966–67Div 34614151766714315thR4R2—231967–68Div 3 4620101679675024thR3R1—141968–69Div 44613161760574218thR1R4—241969–70Div 4461714157769489thR4R1—271970–71Div 4461872170714316thR2R1—181971–72Div 4461716138264508thR3R1—32 ♦1972–73Div 44614131971764119thR3R1—231973–74Div 4 46271187538651stR4R1—251974–75Div 3461912154753507thR5R1—141975–76Div 34615181363634810thR4R4—171976–77Div 34613151855654116thR2R2—101977–78Div 3462016104733564thR3R3—151978–79Div 3 4611142144633621stR1R4—71979–80Div 4462110155847528thR1R3—231980–81Div 4461718116854525thR5R2—291981–82Div 4462410127157825thR3R1Football League Group Cup311982–83Div 4461713165852649thR3R2Football League Group CupGroup211983–84Div 4461814147248687thR1R2Associate Members' Cup121984–85Div 44616141654536211thR2R1Associate Members' Cup141985–86Div 44613171652645617thR5R1Associate Members' CupPrelim(S)151986–87Div 44617141557506510thR1R2Associate Members' CupPrelim(S)121987–88Div 4462010165253707thR2R3Associate Members' Cup241988–89Div 44614122052745417th R2R2Associate Members' CupPrelim(S)121989–90Div 4421717125946689thR2R1Associate Members' Cup121990–91Div 4 46211786745804thR3R2Associate Members' CupPrelim(S)141991–92Div 3 462014126558746thR2Associate Members' Cup261992–934616141655636210thR2R2Anglo-Italian CupPrelim191993–94 468132548763724thR3R4Anglo-Italian CupPrelim131994–954614181454696015thR2R1191995–964613132059665219thR4R2181996–97 4611142155734721stR4R2131997–984618131563516710thR3R2251998–99461812167256669thR1R1151999–2000 462212126354785thR1R1182000–014615141761665912thR3R1132001–024615102164595517thR4R2202002–034614161651545811thR1R1192003–044612161858585218thR3R1122004–05 469122549733923rdR4R1142005–06461711185749629thR1R1172006–074618111770616510thR3R2102007–08 46288108443922ndR4R2332008–09 46261197854892ndR3R1262009–10 468102846803424thR3R4—122010–11 4623101310675794thR3R335 ♦2011–124613112267775018thR3R2—122012–13 461592266755422ndR3R2—132013–1446235187258746thR3R3W332014–1546189195356639thR2R1132015–16461962182736313thR4R2152016–174617111862626211thR3R2132017–18461713166860649thR4R133 ♦2018–19462012147162727thR3R1232019–2035178106840597thR3R126 ♦2020–21 46269118346872ndR2R133 ♦2021–22 469102743873722ndR5R1—122022–2346245177554776thR2R229 ♦2023–2446259128961844thR3R3W192024–25League 14613122151685118thR3R1EFL TrophyWRicky-Jade Jones172025–26League 1461582364685318thR2R1EFL TrophyHarry Leonard17

Notes

References

External links Peterborough United F.C. official website