Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Team History

History of the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football club based in Wolverhampton, England. Formed as St. Luke's F.C. in 1877, the club has played at Molineux Stadium since 1889 and has been competing in the Premier League, the top division of English football, since winning promotion in 2018. The 2021–22 season is the club's 67th season in total at the highest level and the eighth since the foundation of the Premier League in 1992.

The club was one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888. During 26 consecutive seasons spent in the top flight between 1932 and 1965, the team was crowned English League champions three times (in 1953–54, 1957–58, and 1958–59), all under the management of Stan Cullis. Wolves also finished English League runners-up in five other seasons between 1937–38 and 1959–60.

Wolves have won the FA Cup four times, most recently in 1960, and finished runners-up on a further four occasions. The club has also won the League Cup twice, in 1974 and 1980, and finished top of all four divisions in the English professional game.

After becoming one of the first British clubs to install floodlights at its home ground, Wolves arranged televised "floodlit friendlies" against leading overseas club sides between 1953 and 1956, which were instrumental in the launch of the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League) in 1955. Wolves reached the quarter-finals of the competition in 1959–60 as well as the semi-finals of the 1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup and the inaugural UEFA Cup Final in 1972. Following a 39-year absence from European competition, they reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in 2020.

Wolves' traditional kit consists of old gold shirts and socks with black shorts. Since 1979, the kit has also featured the club's "wolf's head" logo. Long-standing rivalries exist with other clubs from the West Midlands, the main one being the Black Country derby contested with West Bromwich Albion. The two clubs most recently faced off during the 2020–21 season for the first time since 2011–12, with the match on 16 January 2021 coming nearly nine years after the previous meeting on 12 February 2012.

Founded
1877

Location
Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Team History
1879 - Present / Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club
1877 - 1879 / St Luke's Football Club

Nickname
Wolves, The Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers, is quite a mouthful, so it’s only natural that their name would be shortened to Wolves, but their nickname is "The Wanderers." The team got their name after merging a local cricket and football club known as the Blakenhall Wanderers, blending the two clubs and names to create Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Championships
Premier League / 3
1959, 1958, 1954

FA Cup / 4
1960, 1949, 1908, 1893

Premier League - FA Cup Double / 0

Stadium
1889 - Present / Molineux Stadium
1881 - 1889 / Dudley Road
1879 - 1881 / John Harper’s Field
1877 - 1879 / Windmill Field

Current Owner
2016 - Present / Fosun International

*Blue is this team’s history