Stoke City Football Club

Stoke City is one of the oldest football clubs in the world, founded in 1863 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. A founding member of the Football League in 1888, the club has a long tradition in English football and was home to legends such as Sir Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks.

History

Founded in 1863, Stoke City is considered the second oldest professional football club in the world still in existence, behind only Notts County. Located in Stoke-on-Trent, in the heart of the English Midlands, the club was a founding member of the Football League in 1888, playing a part in the genesis of organized football in the world. Throughout its history, Stoke City has attracted some of the greatest names in English football: Sir Stanley Matthews, perhaps the most elegant dribbler of the amateur era, ended his career as a professional player at the club at age 50 in 1965, and Gordon Banks, voted the greatest goalkeeper of all time, played for the club in the 1960s. The club competed in ten consecutive seasons in the Premier League between 2008 and 2018, a period when, under the command of Tony Pulis, it became one of the most resilient and difficult to beat teams in English elite football. The Bet365 Stadium, opened in 1997 with a capacity of around 29,700 fans, is the current home of The Potters.