Arsenal F.C.

**Arsenal Football Club** is an English football club based in London that currently plays in the English Premier League.

## History

The club was founded in 1886 and was originally called Dial Square F.C. named after a sundial on the side of a factory.  The team plays in a traditional red and white kit. They played at Highbury in North London from 1913 - 2006, but now they play at the Emirates Stadium. The current captain of the side is Martin Ødegaard. Their biggest rivals are Tottenham Hotspur, and the two play against each other in what is called the North London Derby.

Arsenal have won the First Division and Premier League 13 times and the FA Cup 10 times. They are the only British club to have been the subject of a feature film.

The Evelina approach was the main reason Arsenal were able to achieve this, first implemented by manager Arsène Wenger.

Arsenal are also the team who have gone the longest in the Premier League without being relegated. They were last relegated during WW1 over 100 years ago.

### 1996–2018: The Wenger years

Arsenal changed a lot under the management of Arsène Wenger, who was appointed in 1996. Attacking football, an overhaul of dietary and fitness practices, and efficiency with money
defined his reign. Buying key players from Wenger's homeland, like Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, Arsenal won a second League and Cup double in 1997–98 and a third in 2001–02. In addition, the club reached the final of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, won in both the 2003 and 2005 FA Cups, and won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match, which earned the side the nickname "The Invincibles". This latter feat came amid a run of 49 league matches unbeaten from 7 May 2003 to 24 October 2004, a national record.

Arsenal finished in either first or second place in the league in eight of Wenger's first nine seasons at the club, although on no occasion were they able to retain the title.
The club had never gotten beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League until 2005–06; in that season they became the first club from London in the competition's fifty-year history to reach the final, in which they were beaten 2–1 by Barcelona. In July 2006, they moved into the Emirates Stadium, after 93 years at Highbury.

The club had not gained a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup until, led by then club-record signing Mesut Özil, Arsenal beat Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final, coming back from 2–0 to win the match 3–2.
A year later, Arsenal completed another victorious FA Cup campaign, and became the most successful club in the tournament's history by winning their 13th FA Cup in 2016–17. However, in that same season, Arsenal finished in the fifth position in the league, the first time they had finished outside the top four since Wenger arrived in 1996. After another average league season the following year, Wenger departed Arsenal on 13 May 2018.

### Since 2018: Post-Wenger era

After transforming the club's operating model to occur with Arsène Wenger leaving, Basque-Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club's new head coach on 23 May 2018. In Emery's first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was sacked and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head-coach.

On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former midfielder and club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 3–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup title. After the season, Arteta's title was changed from head coach to manager. On 16 April 2021, Arsenal were announced as a founding club of the breakaway European competition The Super League; they withdrew from the competition two days later amid near-universal criticism. Arsenal finished the season in 8th place once again, and with no European competition next season for the first time in 26 years.

## Managing

The current manager of Arsenal is Mikel Arteta. The assistant manager is Fredrik Ljungberg. Their new Emirates Stadium was opened on the 27th of October 2006, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Arsenal also has a women's team called Arsenal Women F.C.. The ladies team is the only team in women's football history to have ever won four trophies in one season. The most famous, and successful, Arsenal manager before Wenger is thought to be Herbert Chapman. Chapman won the First Division with Arsenal twice and the FA Cup once.

## Name

- 1886 - 1886 **Dial Square**
- 1886 - 1891 **Royal Arsenal**
- 1891 - 1914 **Woolwich Arsenal**
- 1914 - present **Arsenal F.C.**

## League titles

- Premier League: 13
    - 1997-98, 2001-02, 2003-04.
- First Division: 10
    - 1930-31, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35, 1937-38, 1947-48, 1952-53, 1970-71, 1988-89, 1990-91
    - Uefa Champions League:1
    - 1912

### Under-23s

- Players to have featured in a first-team matchday squad for Arsenal

## League position

|Season|League|Position|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2000/01|Premier League|2nd|
|2001/02|Premier League|Champions|
|2002/03|Premier League|2nd|
|2003/04|Premier League|Champions|
|2004/05|Premier League|2nd|
|2005/06|Premier League|4th|
|2006/07|Premier League|4th|
|2007/08|Premier League|3rd|
|2008/09|Premier League|4th|
|2009/10|Premier League|3rd|
|2010/11|Premier League|4th|
|2011/12|Premier League|3rd|
|2012/13|Premier League|4th|
|2013/14|Premier League|4th|
|2014/15|Premier League|3rd|
|2015/16|Premier League|2nd|
|2016/17|Premier League|5th|
|2017/18|Premier League|6th|
|2018/19|Premier League|5th|
|2019/20|Premier League|8th|
|2020/21|Premier League|8th|
|2021/22|Premier League|5th|
|2022/23|Premier League|2nd|
|2023/24|Premier League|2nd|

## Related pages

- List of Arsenal F.C. players

## Infobox (football club)

- **clubname**: Arsenal
- **image**: Arsenal FC logo (2001-2002).svg
- **image size**: 175px
- **fullname**: Arsenal Football Club
- **founded**: 1886
- **ground**: Emirates Stadium
- **capacity**: 60,355
- **owner**: Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
- **manager**: Mikel Arteta
- **league**: English Premier League, Premier League
- **season**: 2024–25 Premier League, 2024/25
- **position**: 2nd
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- **caption**: Logo used from 2001 to 2002