Club History

Contrary to modern perception, Manchester City Football Club has a modestly decorated history spanning from the year 1880.

For a more in-depth look into certain areas of the club's history, please select the relevant page.

* **Eras**
* **Name Changes**
* **Badge / Logo Changes**
* **Stadium Changes**
* **Ownership Changes**
* **Kit History**

## Introduction

Manchester City Football Club are an English professional football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as **St. Mark's (West Gorton)**, they became **Ardwick Association Football Club** in 1887 and **Manchester City** in 1894. The club's home ground is the **Etihad Stadium** in east Manchester, to which they moved in 2003, having played at **Maine Road** since 1923. Manchester City adopted their sky blue home shirts in 1894, in the first season with the current name. Over the course of its history, the club has won nine **league** titles, seven **FA Cups**, eight **League Cups**, six FA Community Shields, one European Cup Winners' Cup, and one Champions League.

The club joined the Football League in 1892, and won their first major honor, the FA Cup, in 1904. Manchester City had its first major period of success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, winning the league title, FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners Cup under the management of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup final, Manchester City went through a period of decline, culminating in relegation to the third tier of English football for the only time in their history in 1998. They since regained promotion to the top tier in 2001–02 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since 2002–03.

Manchester City received considerable financial investment both in playing staff and facilities following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group in August 2008. This started a new era of unprecedented success, with the club winning the FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League in 2012, both their first since the 1960s, followed by another league title in 2014. Under the management of Pep Guardiola, Manchester City won the Premier League in 2018, becoming the only team in the competition history to attain 100 points in a single season. In 2018–19, they won four trophies, completing an unprecedented sweep of all domestic titles in England and becoming the first English men's team to win the domestic treble. This was followed by three consecutive Premier League titles in 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23; the third, fourth, and fifth of the Guardiola era, as well as the club's first-ever Champions League final in 2021, which they lost to Chelsea. In 2023, the club won their first UEFA Champions League, while also winning the domestic league and cup in the same season completing a continental treble in the process.

Manchester City topped the Deloitte Football Money League at the end of the 2021–22 season, making it the football club with the highest revenue in the world, approximated at €731 million.

1. ↑ "Manchester City – Historical Football Kits". Historicalkits. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
2. ↑ "Manchester City's £200m training complex officially opens". *BBC Sport*. 8 December 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
3. ↑ Bullin, Matt (18 May 2019). "Man City win treble – how impressive is that achievement?". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
4. ↑ "Deloitte Football Money League 2023 (rankings for the 2021–22 season)". *www2.deloitte.com*. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2022.