Birmingham City

Birmingham City Football Club (IPA: bɜrmɪŋəm ˈsɪti/) is a professional football club based in Birmingham (England), United Kingdom. From the 2026-27 season it plays in the English Football League Championship, the country's second division.

Founded in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it later changed its name to Small Heath Football Club in 1888, then Birmingham Football Club in 1905 and, finally, Birmingham City Football Club in 1943. It is a historic team with tradition in English football. Its main achievements include 2 English League Cups won in the 1962-1963 and 2010-2011 seasons and the European runners-up finishes in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961.

As Small Heath, it played in the Football Alliance before being a founding member and the first champion of the Football League Second Division. The greatest period of success in its history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. It reached its highest position in the First Division in the 1955-56 season (6th place) and reached the 1956 FA Cup final, also finishing as runners-up in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won its first official trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3-1. It won the aforementioned competition for the second time in 2011. It spent most of its history in the top flight. Its longest period outside it, between 1986 and 2002, includes two brief spells in the third tier of English football, a period in which it won the Football League Trophy twice.

St Andrew's Stadium has been the club's ground since 1906. It has a strong rivalry with Aston Villa, a team from the same city, against whom it plays the Second City derby. The club's nickname is Blues, because of the colour of its kit, and its fans are known as "Bluenoses".