Football’s Pioneer Clubs: Where Are They Now?

In my first book, Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World (Pitch Publishing, 2021), I explored the roots of football in each major footballing country. Let’s take a look back at some of those pioneer clubs that are still going today to see where they are now…

Sheffield FC (England, 1857)

Sheffield FC is officially recognised by FIFA as the oldest team in the world. The club predates the foundation of the Football Association (and therefore the Association rulebook, the genesis of today’s game) by six years, but it did contribute to the development of the laws of the game. These include the corner kick, crossbar, free kick and throw-ins from the ‘Sheffield Rules’. 

Sheffield adopted the FA rulebook after a couple of decades but resisted turning professional. The amateur club were eventually overtaken by fellow Sheffield clubs The Wednesday and Sheffield United. Sheffield FC now plays in the Northern Premier League Division One East, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid. The club still plays an annual ‘Rules Derby’ match with the world’s second-oldest club, Hallam FC from across Sheffield.

Wrexham (Wales, 1864)

Wrexham Association Football Club was founded by members of the Denbighshire County Cricket Club at the Turf Tavern in October 1864. They were led by a Yorkshireman called Edward Manners and their first match was against a side from the fire brigade.

The club has played at Y Cae Ras (The Racecourse Ground) since the off. Wales also played their internationals at Y Cae Ras from 1877 and it’s recognised as the world’s oldest football stadium that still hosts internationals by the Guinness Book of World Records. Famously, the club was taken over in the early 2020s by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and plays across the border in the English third tier (EFL League One).

Queen’s Park (Scotland, 1867)

Glaswegians Queen’s Park played a pivotal role in developing football, from the combination passing game to international matches, early stadium design and season tickets. The club even donated their blue shirts to Scotland to keep and switched to black and white hoops. The club were evangelists of the sport, demonstrating the game in both Denmark and Ireland, and also fielded the world’s first black football international, Andrew Watson. Queen’s Park won all ten of their Scottish Cups in the 19^th century.

The club retained its amateur status until recent years and plays in the Scottish Championship (second tier) in the national stadium, Hampden Park, while its new ground next door at Lesser Hampden is developed.

Le Havre Athletic Club (France, 1872)

‘HAC’ started out as a sports club for British expats, playing mixed rules and even played in the first cross-channel football match in 1873 against a Hampshire side. The club adopted Association football in 1894 and joined the first national championship in 1899. With a nod to its Cambridge and Oxford-educated founders, it plays in light and dark blue, Le Ciel et Marine (the Sky and the Sea). It even has a club anthem based on the tune of God Save the King.

The club plays in the French top flight, Ligue 1, and its 25,000-capacity Stade Océane was a venue for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

FC København (Denmark, 1876)

The current club FC København (FC Copenhagen – FCK) was formed through a merger of two clubs in 1992. However, one of those clubs was the Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, founded in 1876. The name Kjøbenhavns Boldklub was retained for the FCK reserve side with FCK itself is based in the Danish national stadium at Parken and enjoys a feisty rivalry with cross-town rival, Brøndby.

FC St. Gallen (Switzerland, 1879)

The Swiss took to football very early on and the country’s oldest club was founded on 19 April 1879 at the Hörnli restaurant in St. Gallen.

The club has struggled to keep up with its rivals, like Young Boys, Grasshopper, FC Zürich and FC Basel, and has just two titles to its name. FC St. Gallen still play in the top division, the Swiss Super League.

Cliftonville (Ireland/Northern Ireland, 1879)

Ireland’s oldest club is Cliftonville of Belfast, founded by Irish footballing pioneer, John McCredy McAlery, who also founded the Irish Football Association (IFA). Since Partition (1921), the club has competed in the Irish League (Northern Ireland) and was late to professionalise. 

The club’s Solitude ground is the oldest football ground on the island of Ireland. Five times champions Cliftonville still play in the top flight of the Irish League (NIFL Premiership) and won the Irish Cup in 2024, the club’s ninth triumph.

Look out for my third book, out spring 2025, which will be about Irish football and I’ll share more information soon…

Royal Antwerp (Belgium, 1880)

‘The Great Old’ can trace their roots back to the multi-sports Antwerp Athletics Club, founded in 1880 by some keen local cyclists. In 1890, Antwerp played Clapton FC of East London, the first English team to visit the continent. 

Royal Antwerp were the last Belgian side to feature in a European trophy final in the Cup Winners’ Cup final of 1993, losing 3-1 to Parma. After an absence, the club is now established in the top flight of Belgian football, winning the title in 2022/23 season.

Koninklijke Haarlemsche FC (Netherlands, 1879/80)

Haarlemsche FC was set up by Dutch footballing pioneer Willem ‘Pim’ Mulier, who had seen some English people playing cricket and football in Noordwijk. Mulier was a key driver of the game in the Netherlands and the club gained the royal title Koninklijke on its 80^th anniversary in 1959. 

The semi-professional club won the KNVB Cup three times in the early decades before the emergence of the ‘Dutch big three’ (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV), but now plies its trade in the third tier of Dutch football.

Quilmes Atlético Club (Argentina, 1887)

You might recognise the name as that of a famous Argentinian beer brand, but the district of Quilmes in Buenos Aires is also home to the country’s oldest surviving football club.

Quilmes was among the first participants in the Argentine Association Football League in 1893, winning the title in 1912. Quilmes currently play in the second tier of Argentine football.

Germania Berlin (Germany, 1888)

Germany’s oldest club, BFC Germania 1888, still plays in the area where it started – Tempelhofer Feld in the south of Berlin. While much of the area is now an airport made famous by the Berlin Airlift, in the previous century it had been a military parade ground where aspiring footballers could kick about on a Sunday when there were no drills.

The club is the oldest still playing in Germany. It was not the first club in Germany, that was an English club in Dresden, which has long since folded. BFC Germania 1888 plays in the lower realms of German football in the Kreisliga Berlin B Staffel 2 (X) league.

For more, read my recent post on how football got started in Germany.

Albion FC (Uruguay, 1891)

While several other sports clubs were playing football in Uruguay before Albion was founded in 1891, it was the first club set up purely to play soccer. Its founder was German Henry Lichtenberger and other members of Montevideo’s English High School. Its name comes from the Greek-Latin word for Britain and the club played in red, white and blue as a nod to the Old Country.

Albion’s Bromley-born player William Leslie Poole is considered by many to be the ‘father of Uruguayan football’. Despite being an early influential force on the River Plate game, Albion declined and is currently in the second tier of Uruguayan football.

Recreativo de Huelva (Spain, 1889)

‘Recre’ was the first football club to be founded in Spain and it was a Scottish doctor, William Alexander Mackay, who set it up. Their influence was limited as Huelva is far from the industrial and commercial centres of Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, where the game took off a decade later. 

Recre nearly went bust in 2016 and was saved by a fan movement that captivated and united fans from across Spain. The club now plays in Spain’s third-level Primera Federación – Group 2.

Genoa Cricket & Football Club (Italy, 1893)

To those of a certain age in the UK, the name ‘James Richardson’ is synonymous with Italian football. But it was his namesake James Richardson Spensley who pioneered the game on the peninsula, setting up the footballing wing of the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club in 1897 and inviting nascent clubs from Turin to play. He also founded what is now the FIGC (Italian FA).

Genoa won nine Scudetti in their first three decades but have been one short of the covered ten-title star for a century. The club has had strong spells, most recently in the 1990s, but has yo-yoed a lot in recent years between Serie A and B. Il Grifone (The Griffin) is now back as a mid-table Serie A side. 

First Vienna (Austria, 1894)

First Vienna was founded in 1894 by group of gardeners working for the Rothchild estate and adopted the family’s racing colours of blue and yellow matched with a Manx three-legged (triskelion) flag as one of the founders was from the Isle of Man.

The club played the ‘Bankers’ of a team called Cricketer in the first Austrian match. The rich Danubian football scene would follow, but First Vienna have not won the Austrian championship since 1955 and now play in Austria’s second division, the 2. Liga. 

If you’re interested in more stories like this and far more detail on how the game got started around the world, please grab a copy of my first book, The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World. If you enjoy my blog and podcast, do please consider buying me a coffee to support my work.