Macclesfield's professional football club, Macclesfield Town, first gained league status in 1997 as Football Conference Champions; they had won that title two years earlier but were denied promotion as their Moss Rose stadium in the south of the town failed to meet Football League stadium capacity requirements. At the end of the 2019–20 season, the Silkmen were relegated from EFL League Two. In September 2020, Macclesfield Town Football Club was wound up in the High Court over debts totalling more than £500,000.