Southampton FC

English club founded in 1885, famous for winning the FA Cup in 1976 and for its talent-producing academy that developed players such as Gareth Bale and Alan Shearer.

History

Southampton Football Club was founded in 1885 as St Mary's Church of England Young Men's Association, a religious origin that earned the club the nickname The Saints. For nearly a century it played its home matches at The Dell, until moving in 2001 to the modern St Mary's Stadium. The most glorious moment in its history came in 1976 when, still in the second division, it defeated Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup final, with a goal by Bobby Stokes, in one of the greatest upsets in the competition's history. The club was also runner-up in the FA Cup in 1900, 1902 and 2003, and had Matt Le Tissier as its greatest idol, a symbol of the 1990s in the Premier League. Southampton built a reputation as one of England's best player development academies: its academy launched names such as Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Luke Shaw, and also served as a springboard for Sadio Mané and Virgil van Dijk. In recent decades, the club has alternated seasons between the Premier League and the Championship, maintaining itself as a traditional presence in English football.