The oldest football clubs trace their origins to the mid-19th century, a period when football evolved from being a casual pastime to an organised mainstream sport.
The identity of the oldest football clubs in the world, or even in a particular country, is often disputed or claimed by several clubs, across several codes of football. The Gymnastic Society in London, founded in the 18th century, is the earliest recorded society dedicated to footballSporting Magazine; May 1796, p. 104." These matches have been described in a modern publication as "the most important centre of footballing activity Harvey, Adrian (2005) Football, the First Hundred Years: the untold story. London: Routledge; p. 54 The Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh is thought to be the earliest recorded club with football in its name in the world, with records going back to 1824. Rugby clubs also referred to themselves, or continue to refer to themselves, as simply a "football club", or as a "rugby football club". "Club" has always meant an independent entity and, during the historical period in question, very few high school or university teams were independent of the educational institutions concerned. Consequently, school and university football teams were seldom referred to as "clubs". That has always been the case, for example, in American football, which has always had ties to college sport in general. Conversely, however, the oldest still-existing "football club" with a well-documented, continuous history is Dublin University Football Club, a rugby union club founded in 1854 at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. There exists some record of Guy's Hospital Football Club being founded in London in 1843, through an 1883 fixture card referring to Guy's 40th season.
The world's oldest extant professional football club of any code of football is the Melbourne Football Club, founded in 1858. Melbourne play Australian Rules Football (Aussie Rules) in the Australian Football League (AFL) and were premiers as recently as 2021 after defeating the Western Bulldogs in the 2021 AFL Grand Final.
Britain and Ireland Defunct clubs
While the first clubs emerged in Britain, possibly as early as the fifteenth century, these are poorly-documented and defunct. For example, the records of the Brewers' Company of London between 1421 and 1423 mention the hiring out of their hall by the "football players" for "20 pence", under the heading "Trades and Fraternities".Magoun, Francis Peabody (1929) "Football in Medieval England and Middle-English Literature." The American Historical Review, v.35, no. 1 The listing of football players as a "fraternity" or a group of players meeting socially under this identity is the earliest allusion to what might be considered a football club.M. Marples, 1954, A History of Football, Secker & Warburg, London, p. 36 Other early sporting bodies dedicated to playing football include "The Gymnastic Society" of London which met regularly during the second half of the eighteenth century to pursue two sports: football and wrestling.Football The First Hundred Years: The Untold Story by Adrian Harvey, Routledge 2005, page 54 The club played its matches – for example between London-based natives of Cumberland and Westmorland – at the Kennington Common from well before 1789 until about 1800.
The Foot-Ball Club (active 1824–41) of Edinburgh, Scotland, is the first documented club dedicated to football, and the first to describe itself as a football club.John Hope, Accounts and papers of the football club kept by John Hope, WS, and some Hope Correspondence 1787–1886 (National Archives of Scotland, GD253/183) The only surviving club rules forbade tripping, but allowed pushing and holding and the picking up of the ball. Other documents describe a game involving 39 players and "such kicking of shins and such tumbling".
Other early clubs include the Great Leicestershire Cricket and Football Club present in 1840.Football The First Hundred Years: The Untold Story by Adrian Harvey, Routledge 2005, page 60
On Christmas Day 1841, an early documented match between two self-described "football clubs" took place. The Body-guard Club (of Rochdale) lost to the Fear-nought Club after using an ineligible player as a substitute.Football The First Hundred Years: The Untold Story by Adrian Harvey, Routledge 2005, page 85 The complete rules used in this game are unknown, but they specified twelve players on each side, with each team providing its own umpire, and the game being started by the firing of a pistol.
A club for playing "cricket, quoits and football" was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in or before 1848.The Guardian, 10 June 1848. The Surrey Football Club was established in 1849 and published the first non-school football list of rules (which were probably based upon the eighteenth century Gymnastic Society cited aboveFootball The First Hundred Years: The Untold Story by Adrian Harvey, Routledge (2005), pages 78-79). Windsor Home Park F.C. was in existence as early as 1854,. A newspaper advertisement for W. Runicles, of Eton High Street, boasts of patronage by "H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, the Young Gentlemen of Eton College, and the Members of the Home Park Football Club". and would go on to compete in early editions of the FA Cup.
Continuous clubs Supported by the Guinness Book of Records, and founded by staff at Guy's Hospital in London in 1843, the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' RFC would be the oldest "football" club of any code. Nevertheless, the connection between the present club and the original "Guy's Hospital" formed in 1843 is still disputed, alleging that the present club is a modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs, starting with the Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital teams, which were the first to merge following the union of their respective Medical Departments. The last department to merge was the King's College Hospital in 1999, although its club (founded in 1869) remained as a separate institution.
In Northern Ireland, the oldest football club is North of Ireland F.C., formed in 1868. It was the first rugby club formed in what is now Northern Ireland and only two other clubs - Dublin University and Wanderers - were formed earlier anywhere else in all Ireland.The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin
It has been claimed that the present-day Barnes Rugby Football Club, from Barnes in London, is a continuation of the nineteenth-century Barnes Football Club, and moreover that the latter club was formed in 1839 and is thus the oldest club to have played football for its entire history. However, as of 2018, Barnes RFC's website claims only that the club was established in the 1920s, while alluding to "possibilities" that its history stretches back to 1862. In 2021, local enthusiasts revived the old Barnes Football Club, established in 1862.
Sheffield F.C. in England, is the world's oldest surviving independent open football club: that is, the oldest club not associated with an institution such as a school, hospital or university; and which was open to all to play. It was founded in 1857. Sheffield F.C. initially played Sheffield rules, a code of its own devising, although the club's rules influenced those of the England Football Association (FA) (1863) including handball, free kicks, corners and throw ins. While the international governing body of association football FIFA and the FA recognise Sheffield F.C. as the "world's oldest football club","Sheffield FC: 150 years of history" at FIFA, 24 October 2007 and the club joined the FA in 1863, it continued to use the Sheffield rules. Sheffield F.C. did not officially adopt association football until 1877.The origin of the rules of football on sheffieldhomeoffootball.org
Notts County F.C. are officially the oldest professional football club in the world, formed in 1862, playing their first recorded match on 8 December 1864 at Nottingham's Meadows Cricket Ground against a team known as Trent Valley. Notts are thought to have mostly played under Sheffield Rules in their early days, though certain matches are recorded as being played according to "Nottingham Rules". A team from the same city, Nottingham Forest F.C. (initially a group of shinty players) are recognised as the second oldest professional football club in the world, having been formed in 1865.
Setting its birth date in 1856, Cambridge University A.F.C. has been described by the university as the oldest club now playing association football."Oldest club in the world" inducted into the Football Hall of Fame on the UC website, 19 October 2016 (archived, 1 March 2017) For example, "Salopians formed a club of their own in the late 1830s/early 1840s but that was presumably absorbed by the Cambridge University Football Club that they were so influential in creating in 1846". According to Charles Astor Bristed, in the early 1840s at Cambridge, there were games played between clubs from colleges and houses. Football is documented as being played on the original club ground, Parker's Piece, as early as 1838. The earliest existing evidence of the Cambridge University Football Club comes from "The Laws of the University Football Club" dated 1856, and held at Shrewsbury School. The Cambridge rules of 1863 would provide the basis for the FA's original rules.
The only survivor among the FA's founding clubs still playing association football is Civil Service F.C. Six of the 18 founding members later adopted rugby exclusively.Tony Collins, 2009, A Social History of English Rugby Union, Routledge, Abingdon, p. 14. Cray Wanderers F.C., originally of St Mary Cray and currently playing in nearby Chislehurst, founded in 1860, is the oldest club now playing association football in Greater London. The code played by Cray Wanderers in its earliest years is unknown.
Liverpool Football Club (not to be confused with Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League), later known as Liverpool St Helens F.C., were formed in 1857, which claims to be the oldest open rugby club in the world. The club adopted the Rugby Union rules in 1872, never playing association rules.
Dublin University Team
The first known record of the club appears under the heading 'Trinity College' in the Dublin Daily Express of 1 December 1855 and is taken to show that it had then been in existence for at least a year:
The club had thus been founded by about 1854, and it has a well-documented, continuous history since then, which gives it a strong claim to be considered the world's oldest extant football club of any code. ('College time' was a practice at Trinity of having the clocks set 15 minutes behind local time to reduce lateness at lectures.)
Australia Australian rules football
The oldest Australian rules football club is the Melbourne Football Club, founded in 1858, which still plays professionally, making it the oldest extant professional football club of any football code in the world.
The origins of the club date back to 10 July 1858 with a letter published in Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle written by Tom Wills, captain of the Melbourne Cricket Club. He proposed a "foot-ball club" to keep Victorian cricketers fit in winter.
An informal and loosely organised Melbourne team, captained by Wills, played against other football enthusiasts in the winter and spring of 1858.
On August 7, 1858, in Melbourne, Victoria, students from Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar played the first recorded Australian Rules game against each other.
The Melbourne Football Club was formally established the following year on 14 May 1859. Three days later (17 May), four members codified the first laws of Australian Rules Football.