Quick facts as world’s first football club Sheffield F.C clocks 160 years
Sheffield FC 1890 team …..PHOTO: Sheff News
On this day, 24, October 1857, Sheffield F.C., the world’s oldest surviving independent football club, was founded in Sheffield, England,
The 160 year old club is also the oldest club not associated with an institution such as a school, hospital or university.
Sheffield F.C. initially played Sheffield rules, a code of its own devising, although the club’s rules influenced those of the England Football Association (1863) including handball, free kicks, corners and throw-ins.
World football governing body, FIFA and the English FA recognise Sheffield F.C. as the “world’s oldest football club”.
The club joined the FA in 1863, it continued to use the Sheffield rules. Sheffield F.C. did not officially adopt association football until 1877.
Sheffield Football Club is currently based in Dronfield, Derbyshire. They play in the Northern Premier League Division One East, at eighth tier of the English football league system.
In 2004, Sheffield FC was given the FIFA Order of Merit – an award given to only one other club, Real Madrid. In 2007, they were inducted into the English football hall of fame to commemorate their 150th anniversary.
On the pitch, the club’s finest hour came in 1904 when they won the FA Amateur Cup, a competition conceived after a suggestion by Sheffield. They also finished as runners-up of the FA Vase in 1977.
