The very first football team. The oldest football club in the world. Worksop Town Football Club

1. “Banner of Labor” (Orekhovo-Zuevo)

One of the oldest football clubs in Russia, founded on November 16, 1909 by factory workers from Morozovsk. Became the champion of Moscow 4 times in a row (1910-1913). Changed its name 9 times. The best achievement was reaching the final of the USSR Cup in 1962. Since 2007, it has been playing in the second division - first in the “Center” zone, and now in the “West” zone, and has still not risen above 12th place there.

2. CSKA (Moscow)

Founded on August 27, 1911 as a society of ski lovers. Changed its name 7 times. It began to be called CSKA only in 1960. Since Soviet times, he has become a champion 13 times, won the national cup 12 times, won the UEFA Cup and won the Russian Super Cup 6 times. CSKA became the first Russian club to keep the originals of all trophies. Over the last 16 seasons, it has not fallen below fifth place in the championship.

3. FC Kolomna

The Kolomna football club from the city of the same name was founded back in 1906 as a gymnastics society at a machine-building plant. In general, initially such a team did not exist, but in 1997 the Kolomna government decided to unite 2 football clubs - Avangard, founded in 1906, and Oka, created in 1923. In the modern history of the club, there has not been much success. Kolomna spent only 3 seasons in the West zone of the second division and never rose above 13th place.

4. “Chernomorets” (Novorossiysk)

The football club from Novorossiysk with an unremarkable emblem is also one of the oldest in Russia. It began in 1907. During this time, it changed its name 9 times. The first performance in the USSR Championship dates back to 1960. In 1988 he became the champion and winner of the RSFSR Cup. He competed 8 times in the Russian Championship, where he took sixth place 2 times. Since 2012, he has been playing in the “South” zone of the second division and is fighting well for access to the FNL.

5. Zenit (Penza)

Next year the Penza football club will celebrate its 100th anniversary. He has many achievements, but, however, within his region. It changed its name as many as 15 times (for 12 years it was even called “Spartak”). The club has never played in the country's top league and has never advanced beyond the 1/32 stage of the cup. For the last 7 years he has been playing in the “Center” zone of the second division and plays very unpredictably - he took both fifth and fourteenth places. At the end of the season, he settled on 11th place in the standings.

England is the country where football appeared. A game that has captured the minds and hearts of millions of fans around the world. It is no coincidence that they remain one of the strongest in Europe. Many of them have already celebrated their centenary, never ceasing to delight their fans.

At the origins

Many modern researchers claim that games similar to football existed in ancient China and among the Incas. However, more reliable information still sends us to medieval England. Football then, of course, was very different from now: there were no uniform rules, games were organized spontaneously and often developed into brawls. It got to the point that King Edward III even tried to ban matches, calling football more dangerous and useless entertainment than archery.

In the 19th century the situation changed dramatically. At first it was possible to play with both hands and feet. The Klyuchevskaya date is 1863, when a unified set of rules was first adopted. Here there was a split among football fans. The most important decision was to ban playing with hands. Some agreed with this, while others became the founders of rugby.

First championship

The English football league is the oldest in the world. It was founded in 1888. 12 teams took part in the first season, the competition was held in two rounds. The champion was the Preston North End club, now playing in the Football League Championship (the second most important tournament).

There are only 4 teams - participants of the first championship, which will compete in the Premier League this year. These are West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Burnley and Stoke City. It is worth noting that the name of English football clubs does not change with such frequency as it often happens in our country. Most of the groups are called the same as they were 100 years ago.

The oldest tournament in the world

And yet the very first tournament in the history of football was not the championship, but the FA Cup. Its first draw took place in the 1871/72 season. Initially, 15 teams entered the draw, but 3 of them subsequently withdrew their candidacies.

The final took place at Kennington Oval. In the decisive match, the Wanderers (a team from London that has not survived to this day) and the Royal Engineers, consisting of the Royal Engineers of the British Army, met. 2 thousand spectators watched the final of the first tournament in the history of football. The outcome of the confrontation was decided by the only goal of Morton Betts in the 15th minute, which brought the trophy to the capital club.

Interesting fact: as a defender, Betts played his only match for England as a goalkeeper. In 1877, the meeting with the Scots ended in failure - 1:3, as did Betts' career in the national team.

Marks of Excellence

Unlike the names, which remained unchanged, the emblems of English football clubs were subject to change. At the same time, the main elements, as a rule, were preserved. For example, the canary on the Norwich logo or the rooster on the Tottenham crest.

Fans attach great importance to symbolism. Team nicknames are most often associated with animals or objects depicted on the logos. The logos of English football clubs are very diverse. It is also important to have a motto on them. For the same Tottenham it says: “To decide is to do.” The Spurs have managed to do their job, that is, become champions, only twice so far. And the last time was back in 1961.

Champions

The most titled club in England today remains Manchester United. They won their first title back in 1908, and their last in 2013. Over the course of their history, the team won the English Championship 20 times and won silver medals another 15 times.

English football clubs that managed to win the main trophy are included in the hall of fame of the “most footballing” country in Europe. There are 24 such teams in total. Among them are those who are still among the leaders of not only national but also European football, and those who have been playing in the lower leagues for a long time.

If we count which city the winners most often brought the coveted trophy to, then Liverpool will be the undisputed leader. The team of the same name, together with Everton, became champions 27 times. And Manchester United and Manchester City have only 24 titles between them.

New story

Since 1992, English football has opened a new page in its history. From now on, the best English football clubs play in the Premier League. 20 teams play in it. This tournament is rightfully considered the most popular and profitable sports championship in the world.

There were many preconditions for its appearance. The main one is financial. Its founders decided to leave the world's oldest football league in order to generate greater profits, primarily through the sale of television rights.

In the first season of 1992/93, 22 teams took part in the tournament. Manchester United became the champion with a big advantage, ahead of Birmingham's Aston Villa by 10 points. That season was also replete with big names. At the opening of the season, the Welshman was recognized as the top scorer and upset his opponents 22 times. Eric Cantona (then still part of Leeds) shone on the field.

As many experts note, football clubs in the English Premier League have distanced themselves greatly from teams from other divisions. This is noticeable both in the level of play and in income. At the same time, they are dissatisfied with such successes not only in their homeland, but also far beyond its borders. Thus, it was recently stated that the popularity of English football has a negative impact on interest in the national championship. When English football clubs play, attendance at local matches falls, and talented players only dream of getting to the

New champion

The latest season of the English Premier League brought an incredible surprise. The trophy went to the modest Leicester team, which had never won a championship gold medal before.

Leicester is one of the oldest English clubs, founded back in 1884. However, in more than a hundred years of history, the main achievement before this season was silver medals back in 1929. Then the “Foxes” (as the fans call the team) took second place, losing only one point to Wednesday from Sheffield. Few people remember about this team now; many other English football clubs suffered a similar fate. The list of Leicester's achievements really opened up only last season.

In the 2015/16 season, Leicester was in the leading group from the first rounds, but for a long time was not perceived as a real contender for the title. For some time, Leicester managed to lead, losing first place first to Manchester City and then to London's Arsenal. However, after winning the 23rd round, the “Foxes” again topped the standings and did not lose first place to anyone until the very end. They finished the season with truly amazing results, losing only 3 matches out of 38, and this in one of the strongest leagues in the world.

In 1857, Cambridge University graduates founded the world's first football team, which was named Sheffield FC. This club is considered one of the best in England, and it also went down in history as “the oldest football club in the world.”

Despite the fact that Sheffield is not currently a giant in English football, this club has something to be proud of. It featured English national team player Charles Cleg, who played the first official international match in football history in 1872. Among other famous people of the club, it is worth noting John Owen and John Hudson, who played for the Three Lions team in the 80s and 90s of the 19th century. Now Sheffield is a regular participant in the Football League Championship and is trying to break into the Premier League in order to once again declare itself to the whole world.

You learned that the first club to appear in world football was Sheffield FC. Now we invite you to read about the oldest football clubs in Spain, Germany, Italy and Russia.

In 1889, Scottish doctors Robert Russell Rossom and Alexander Mackay, working in Spanish mines, created the Huelva Recreation Club. Thus, Recreativo became the first professional football team in Spain.

Recreativo plays its home matches at the 22,000-seat Nuevo Colombino stadium.

Unlike Sheffield, the Spanish record holder failed to collect many trophies and gain popularity in Spain. Perhaps the single most significant achievement of the team from Andalusia is that Recreativo became the first Spanish club to defeat a club from Portugal.

The first football club in the history of German football was created in 1887. This is Hamburg, which over the long period of its operation has managed to become one of the most titled clubs in Germany. Hamburg has a unique achievement. This is the only club that has played full-time in the Bundesliga since its creation in 1863.

In its history, Hamburger SV has won the following trophies: German Championship and Cup, German League Cup, German Super Cup, European Champions Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup.

In Italy, the oldest football club is a team from the province of Liguria called Genoa. The club was founded in 1893. The star era of the Genoese was at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when the first Italian amateur football championships were held. Between 1898 and 1900, Genoa won the first 3 editions of the Italian Championship.

During its long existence, Genoa won the Italian Championship (Serie A, B and C) and the national cup.

The first football club created on the territory of Russia was not Spartak, nor CSKA and Lokomotiv, but the little-known Znamya Truda team. This club was created back in 1909 by the English workers of the Morozov manufactory, the Charnock brothers. This is where the team’s nickname “Morozovtsy” came from.

The Znamya Truda team became the champion of Moscow in 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913, and the highest achievement of the oldest club in Russia was reaching the final of the USSR Cup in 1962. In that final, the Morozovites lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 2:0.

Nowadays, “Znamya Truda” performs in the second division of Russia, the “West” zone.

This world is divided into two categories - right-handers and left-handers. By exactly the same analogy, this world is divided into two other categories - those who love football and those who do not. If you are from the category of those who do not like this game, great from all points of view, then I suggest you close this article and get out of here. Why so categorical? Yes, because everyone who has at least a little bit of negativity towards the foot ball considers it their duty to say it out loud, and with such a face that you don’t even want to imagine. So let’s not conflict, we simply don’t understand each other.

The beginning of professional football

So, after a harsh introduction, we can finally get to the heart of the matter.

This article can be considered the starting point of a series of topics about everyone’s favorite game at the Stone Forest club called football. In this section we will touch on everything under the sun, as long as there is a connection with this game, the fans of which are millions, if not billions, of people on planet Earth.

Oddly enough, I don’t want to write absolutely anything about the history of football, its roots, or talk about the crowds of raging Britons who, amid heart-rending screams, kicked a pig’s bladder along the cobblestone pavements of Her (His) Majesty’s cities. We are an unusual community, so we will also begin in an unusual way, namely, we will talk about the first football club in history.

This should be considered a football club from the glorious city of Sheffield, located in the very heart of the British Isles. The club of the same name with the prefix “football” was formed in 1857 on the basis of the cricket section by two students Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest. A strange rebirth, but, as they say, no matter what happens, everything is for the better.

Sheffield FC's home stadium is the BT Local Business Stadium (formerly the Coach and Horses Ground). This is a small building for 2000 people, which until recently was the city stadium, where visitors to the local pub had fun playing ball. And in 2001, the stadium was purchased by Sheffield management. No more than 300-400 people attend a team game.

This is about the fact that history and traditions are not always respected according to their significance. But much more significant are the official founders of club football. Modern football leaves no chance for something soulful, something truly significant, everything is measured by money, income, etc. European club football of the highest echelons is dead from the inside; real kickball can only be seen at the bottom of the national championship leagues. And Sheffield FC plays there, in the regional championship, but it consistently gathers its 300-400 loyal fans, they have something to be proud of, history really plays out before their eyes. And they are a direct part of it.

150 years of Sheffield FC

A few years ago, the team celebrated its 150th anniversary, and Pele himself came to the awards ceremony to solemnly present memorable and distinctive gifts and awards that the club deserved into the hands of the current management.

It does not play in the Champions League, it is not even fully professional, but FIFA and the world community should honor it no less than other rich clubs that owe their championships to the bloated wallets of billionaires of Arab or Jewish origin. The most remarkable thing is that Sheffield FC is played by home-grown kids, for whom heritage and tradition are not just empty words. Compare these kids with the black fidgety millionaires on whom even more millions are spent, and who cry at the mere sight of a banana. The true masculinity of football remains at the bottom of the standings; real men play there, not pompous homosexuals.

At a recent prestigious auction at Sotheby's, one of the lots was a package of Sheffield FC documents from the time the team was founded. The club has to find finances to survive, and the management took this step with their hearts broken. But let’s hope that the 88 thousand pounds sterling received will help the team exist comfortably for some time, and the current owner of this package of documents will treat them with dignity and be able to carry the history of the first football club through the years. Support your local team.

By the way, in 2019, the Sheffield founders of professional football planned a tour to Russia to play with several teams, including the oldest Russian club, Znamya Truda.

There is so much talk about the origins of football and the stories are so different that it can get confusing.

Who was the first to think of kicking a ball and making it a game that has become the most popular in the world?

There is no exact answer to this question. It is known from very old sources that the first game of “foot and ball” appeared in China. Three thousand years ago it was called “tsuchu” (“push with the foot”), and it was part of the mandatory physical training program for soldiers.

Also similar to football was a competition in Ancient Greece more than two and a half thousand years ago. It was called the “battle for the ball.” From the name you can understand that it was hardly played creatively and artistically, as it is now, but rather harshly and roughly, like boxing or wrestling. How exactly the "battle" was fought is unknown, but it was also part of the soldiers' physical training.

Let's rewind time and move to Italy. There, in the 16th century, they also came up with a game where, according to the rules, you could use your legs and... fists! What a pity that the video camera had not yet been invented at that time - I would have liked to see this spectacle. Interestingly, this “foot-punch ball” game was played with the judges.

And already in 1840, students of English private schools came up with games reminiscent of modern football. In 1863, the world's first football association was founded. Since then, rules have appeared prohibiting picking up the ball and delaying an opponent.

It was then that the first official football clubs arose. We will tell you about them today.

• "Sheffield"
• Great Britain. Year of foundation: 1857

Where the first football association was founded and the first football club was created - this is logical. That is why the British are called the founders of football. On October 24, 1857, the very first football club, Sheffield, appeared: not to be confused with Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United - these are three different teams. "Sheffield", bearing the proud and unusual nickname "club", appeared in the north of Victorian England in the city of Sheffield (shock), famous primarily for the production of forks, spoons, knives and other cutlery. In 1855, two local cricket club players, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, organized batting matches and two years later, on 24 October 1857, they formed a football club. They developed the first rules for the game, known as the Sheffield Rules. There were no offside rules and players were allowed to push each other. Initially, club members played among themselves, dividing into teams of “married” and “single” or “professionals” and “others.” First does not mean successful. There are no major trophies in the club's gigantic history. Moreover, until 2001, Sheffield did not even have its own stadium, a proper store or a museum, millionaires were in no hurry to buy it, and professional football players had never been seen here. However, the club's fans are proud of its history - entire generations of families in the city of the same name support it. FIFA officially recognized Sheffield's status and awarded it a special Order of Merit for Services to Football in 2004. This award was given to an entire club only once again - by Real Madrid. Right now the club is lacking stars from the sky - Sheffield plays in the eighth most important division of England.

• "Hamburg"
• Germany. Year of foundation: 1887

The history of the very first club in Germany is a little confusing. The fact is that until 1891, Hamburg (officially the oldest club in the country) was not only a football club, but the oldest football club is BFC Germany 1888. At first, the club performed successfully and even won two Berlin championships.

But later the club began to fall into the lower divisions. At the moment, the BFK Germany 1888 club plays in the 10th strongest German division, which can hardly be called a professional level. And local residents even believe that the oldest are the Dresden English Football Club (DFC), founded in 1874, and the Berlin Football Club, founded in 1885. These teams ceased to exist before the start of the 20th century. You may also notice that the names of many clubs have earlier dates (TSV 1860 Munchen, VfLBochum 1848, SSV Ulm 1846), but these sports clubs began playing football much later than 1888. Therefore, Hamburg is recognized as the oldest club in Germany, which recently achieved another record - the “citizens” remained the only team that has not been relegated from the Bundesliga since its inception. However, the tradition came to an end last season when the club were relegated to the second division, causing chaos among fans that was once unthinkable.

• "Le Havre"
• France. Year of foundation: 1872

Now let's look at the first professional team from France, which was created, oddly enough, by the British. In 1872, a group of representatives from England gathered to play games that were a mixture of football and rugby. Without knowing it, these Britons not only helped create the first football club in France, but also became the founders of rugby in this country. An even more curious fact is that this was not done out of great love for sports: the workers simply had nothing to do during their lunch break. Unlike Sheffield, Le Havre can boast of success: in 1899, sky and dark blue (these colors were chosen by the British founders of the club in honor of their alma maters - the universities of Oxford and Cambridge) became the first French champions not from Paris. In addition, the club is famous for helping to produce players such as Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez and Benjamin Mendy. Now Le Havre is fighting to get into the top division of France - the team is in fourth place in Ligue 2.

• "Recreativo"
• Spain. Year of foundation: 1889

The history of the founding of the oldest club in Spain is also connected with the British - Recreativo was founded by two Scots: Alexander Mackay and Robert Russell Ross, doctors who wanted miners to engage in active recreation. It is noteworthy that the "Deans" (the club's nickname) were not only the first football club in the Pyrenees, but also the first sports organization. Recreativo is exactly 10 years older than Barcelona and 13 years older than Real Madrid. Despite its long history, it was only in 1957 that the club crawled out of the amateur lower leagues and found itself in Spain's second division (Segunda) for the first time. The "Deans" debut in the top Spanish football world took place in the 1978/79 season. The first pancake came out lumpy - having taken 18th place, Rekre dropped down in class again. The peak of the club's success came in 2005-2007. First, the “Deans” won the second round (the only trophy in history), and then finished in 8th place in the Spanish Championship.

• "Kairat"
• Kazakhstan. Year of foundation: 1954

Let's finish our story about the oldest clubs in the world with the team that was the first to receive professional status in our country. The idea to come up with a football club did not come to us from Britain, which is a pity. “Kairat” was founded in 1954 on the basis of the Almaty “Dynamo”, according to the resolutions of the Presidium of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the KazSSR, as a result of the merger of the VSO “Urozhay” with “Kolkhozshy”. It is interesting that the history of the name of the club is unknown - when choosing, names such as “Eginshi”, “Tulpar”, “Onim” (“Harvest”), “Altyn Dan” (“Golden Grain”), “Kuresshi” (“Harvest”) appeared on the lists. Fighter"), "Berkut Dala" ("Steppe Eagle"), "Zhastar" ("Youth"). The name “Kairat” was not among these options. But none of the options proposed by the societies were even considered on the agenda. It is assumed that the name was given by influential people at that time, and this decision was not subject to discussion.