Question: What is the most decorated football club in England?

List of football clubs in England by competitive honours won



This page lists English association football clubs whose men's sides have won competitive honours run by official governing bodies. Friendly competitions and matches organized between clubs are not included. The football associations FIFA and UEFA run international and European competitions; and The Football Association, and its mostly self-governing subsidiary bodies the English Football League and Premier League, runs national competitions. County Football Associations organise regional competitions, but all full list of their honours is not provided in this article.
The European governing body UEFA was founded in 1954, and created their first competition, the European Cup, the next year. It was expanded and renamed in 1992 as the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool hold the English record, with five wins.[1] Parallel to UEFA, various officials created the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1955, but this competition was disbanded when UEFA created the replacement tournament the UEFA Cup in 1971, renamed the UEFA Europa League in 2009.[2] The English record number of Europa Leagues is three, also held by Liverpool. Another competition absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in 1999, was the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which was created in 1960 and featured the winners of national knockout competitions.[3] The winners of this competition played the European Cup winners in the UEFA Super Cup, starting in 1972 but was recognised by UEFA in 1973, which now features the winners of the Champions and Europa Leagues.[4] The International Football Cup, also known as the UEFA Intertoto Cup, started in 1961, was a competition for clubs not participating in the European Cup, UEFA Cup, and Cup Winners Cup. UEFA officially recognised it in 1995, and discontinued it in 2008, with the Europa League expanded to accommodate Intertoto clubs.[5] UEFA and CONMEBOL also created an intercontinental competition in 1960 with the Intercontinental Cup, featuring representatives from both associations. In 2000, the international governing body FIFA created the FIFA Club World Cup and in 2004 the Intercontinental Cup was merged with it. Manchester United are the only English club to win either intercontinental competition, winning each once.[6][7]
England's first competition organised by a national body, the FA Cup, began in the 1871–72 season, making it one of the oldest football competitions in the world.[8][9] Arsenal hold the record number of wins, with 13.[10] League football began in the next decade with the founding of The Football League in 1888–89. The name First Division was adopted in 1892, when The Football League gained a second division. The First Division remained the highest division of the English football league system until 1992, when the Premier League was founded. Manchester United have won the most top division titles, 20.[11] The English equivalent of the super cup began in 1898 with the inauguration of the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, pitting the best professional and amateur sides of the year against each other.[12] The trophy would develop into the FA Charity Shield in 1908, which was later renamed the FA Community Shield in 2002. Manchester United also hold the record here, with 21 wins.[12] The Football League created its own knockout competition in 1960, the League Cup. Its current record is eight wins, held by Liverpool.[13] The Anglo-Italian League Cup was created in 1969 to match English cup winners against the winners of the Coppa Italia, and was permanently disbanded in 1976.[14] In 1985, the Full Members Cup and Football League Super Cup were created as substitutes for UEFA competitions after UEFA responded to the Heysel Stadium disaster by banning English clubs.[15][16] They finished in 1986 and 1992 respectively. The Football League Centenary Trophy marked The Football League's 100th birthday, in the 1988–89 season.[17]
Lower down in the hierarchy of English football are many other competitions, not included in the tables on this page. These include competitions run by the above national governing bodies, but organised for clubs ineligible for higher competitions. For example, the Texaco Cup, EFL Trophy, and Anglo-Italian Cups. Regional competitions are organised by County Football Associations. Most clubs founded in the early years of English football used to play in county competitions, although those that still participate generally field youth or reserve sides. Many county cups are now contested by lower or regional division clubs.
Summary totals
Numbers in bold are record totals for that category. Clubs in italics are Double winners: they have won two or more of these trophies in the same season (excluding super cups). Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won. See the other tables for breakdowns of each competition won.
Cups here are competitions with a knockout format. Among FIFA and UEFA competitions, these are the UEFA Champions League, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. Among top-qualifying competitions overseen by The FA, these are the top division, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Full Members Cup, the Football League Super Cup and the Football League Centenary Trophy.
Super cups here consist of the two FIFA and UEFA honours that had only two participating clubs per season. These are the Intercontinental Cup and UEFA Super Cup.
Shields are the FA Community Shield and its precursor the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. The Anglo-Italian League Cup is also listed as a shield because it only had two clubs competing per season.
Last updated on 19 May 2018.

FIFA and UEFA



UCL
UEFA Champions League.[1][18] Since 1955. Known as the European Cup until 1992.
UEL
UEFA Europa League.[19][2] Since 1971. Known as the UEFA Cup until 2009.
USC
UEFA Super Cup.[4] Since 1972.
ICFC
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.[20]  Discontinued. Held from 1955 to 1971. Although not organised by UEFA, it is included here under UEFA as it is the predecessor to the UEFA Europa League.[2]
UCWC
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.[3][21]Discontinued. Held from 1960 until 1999. Merged with the UEFA Europa League.
UIC
UEFA Intertoto Cup.[5] Discontinued. Held from 1995 to 2008.
IC
Intercontinental Cup.[6][22][23] Discontinued. Held from 1960 to 2004. Although the competition was organised by UEFA and CONMEBOL, it was replaced by the FIFA Club World Cup, and the winners are recognised by FIFA as club world champions.[24]
FCWC
FIFA Club World Cup.[7][25] Since 2000.

Winners of each competition are referenced above. Numbers in bold are English record totals for that competition. Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won.
Last updated 24 May 2017.

FA, EFL and PL (top-qualifying)

This section only lists competitions overseen by The FA (and its subsidiary leagues the EFL and Premier League) where there are no higher competitions clubs could participate in instead. See the next section for other competitions run by these bodies. See the main article for winners of friendly competitions run by these bodies.


EFC
English football champions.[11][26][27] The Premier League (since 1992) succeeded the Football League First Division (1888 until 1992) as the top-division.
FAC
FA Cup.[10][28] Since 1871.
EFLC
EFL Cup.[13][29] Since 1960.
SLCS
Sheriff of London Charity Shield.[12] Discontinued. 1898 until 1907. Predecessor to the FA Community Shield below.[30] The post-1907 fundraising matches for the Shield are not included because they no longer had FA involvement.
FACS
FA Community Shield.[12] Since 1908. Known as the FA Charity Shield until 2002.[31]
FLSC
Football League Super Cup.[15] Discontinued. One-off tournament held between 1985 and 1986.
FMC
Full Members Cup.[16] Discontinued. Held from 1985 to 1992. For the first season, the Football League Super Cup above was a higher competition for which six clubs qualified instead, but the season is included here for completeness.[32][33]
FLCT
Football League Centenary Trophy.[34][17] Discontinued. Held during the 1988–89 season to celebrate Football League's 100th birthday. The sister tournament, the Football League Centenary Tournament, is not included here because it was a friendly competition with unusual match rules, such as 40 minute matches.[35][36]
AILC
Anglo-Italian League Cup.[14] Discontinued. Held from 1969 until 1971 and from 1975 until 1976. Also includes clubs from Italy.

Winners of each competition are referenced above. Numbers in bold are record totals for that competition. Clubs in italics are Double winners: they have won two or more of the top division, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup. Trophies that were shared between two clubs are counted as honours for both teams. Clubs tied in total honours are listed chronologically by most recent honour won.
Last updated 16 April 2017.

FA, EFL and PL (lower-qualifying)

In addition to the honours listed in the section above, England's football governing bodies have also organized a variety of less prominent competitions for clubs not eligible for the honours above. One example is the Texaco Cup (or International League Board Competition), which was available for top division sides that hadn't qualified for Europe, and was one of the few attempts to create a cross-border competition between clubs from the various nations of the UK and Ireland.[37] Another is the EFL Trophy, which involves clubs from League One and League Two (the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system).[38]
County FAs

English football also has a network of regional governing bodies known as County Football Associations. These associations are roughly based around county lines, although some cover multiple counties or the boundaries of major cities.[39] They generally have a Senior Cup, such as the Kent Senior Cup or Middlesex Senior Cup, as their premier competition for men's clubs.[40][41] In some cases, such as the Kent and Middlesex Senior Cups, these involve the senior first-teams of lower-division or regional-division clubs;[40][41] in other cases it can have other formats, such as the Manchester Senior Cup, which became a reserve team competition for six large clubs from the region. In the years when league football was unavailable or only available to northern and midlands clubs, the Senior Cups coexisted with the FA Cup as the main tournaments for clubs.[42][43][44]
See also
List of English football champions
List of UEFA club competition winners
List of FA and league honours won by men's clubs
Footnotes