Portal:English football

Birmingham City Football Club are an English professional football club based in the city of Birmingham. Currently, they play in the Championship, after promotion from League One.

Formed under the name of "Small Heath" in 1875, they were founder members and the first ever champions of the Football League Second Division, the level they have been at for most of their history. As Birmingham City, the most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final in 1956, reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won their only major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate. They also won a second League Cup 48 years later in 2011, this time defeating Arsenal at Wembley.

St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Birmingham derby.

• ...that former Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday footballer Brian Hornsby trekked to Machu Picchu (pictured) with musician Tony Hadley in aid of Action Medical Research?

• ...that the first professional football team, The Zulus, was established in Sheffield, England in 1879?

• ...that Alex Leake was offered a £10 bribe by Manchester City player Billy Meredith to throw the final match of the 1904–1905 season?

• ...that footballer Billy Mosforth was a leading exponent of the screw shot, which allows players to bend the ball's trajectory?

• ...that Stockport County physio Rodger Wylde formed a rock group with player Tom Bennett whilst treating his broken leg?

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" refers to the English men's tournament. The equivalent competition for women's teams is the FA Women's Cup.

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world, commencing in the 1871-72 season. Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament, although lower division teams rarely reach the final. A record 762 teams were accepted into the FA Cup in 2011-12, which is to date, the most amount of entrants. In comparison, the League Cup can involve only the 72 members of The Football League (which organises the competition) and the 20 teams in the Premiership for a total of 92 eligible teams. The team who have won the most FA Cups throughout the competition's history is Arsenal, having won it on 14 occasions. Manchester United are second on the list on Cup wins on 13 and hold the most appearances in the final, reaching the showpiece event 22 times, but they hold the most defeats there with 9. Everton and Chelsea have both lost one less, but the latter became the first team to lose three successive final appearances (2020, 2021, and 2022).

2025–26 in English football

Leagues

• 2025–26 Premier League
• 2025–26 English Football League
• 2025–26 EFL Championship
• 2025–26 EFL League One
• 2025–26 EFL League Two
• 2025–26 National League

Cups

• 2025–26 FA Cup
• FA Community Shield
• 2025–26 FA Trophy
• 2025–26 EFL Cup
• 2025–26 EFL Trophy
• 2025–26 FA Youth Cup