Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Full name	Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club
Nickname(s)	Wolves, The Wanderers, the Old Gold[1]
Founded	1877; 147 years ago (1877), as St. Luke's F.C.
Ground	Molineux Stadium
Capacity	31,750[2]
Owner	Fosun International
Chairman	Jeff Shi[3]
Head coach	Gary O'Neil
League	Premier League
2022–23	Premier League, 13th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (/ˌwʊlvərˈhæmptən/ ^ⓘ), commonly referred to as Wolves,^[1] is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which competes in the Premier League. The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's 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, including Aston Villa, and Birmingham City but the main one being the Black Country derby contested with West Bromwich Albion. Since 2016, the club has been owned by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.

Formed as St. Luke's F.C. in 1877, the club changed name to Wolverhampton Wanderers two years later and became one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888. They won the FA Cup for the first time in 1893, and again as a Second Division team in 1908 following the club's relegation two years previously. They fell to the third tier in 1923, but went on to win the Third Division North in 1923–24 and the Second Division in 1931–32. 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 won another two FA Cup finals, in 1949 and 1960. Relegated in 1965, after 26 consecutive seasons in the top flight, they secured promotion back to the First Division in 1966–67. Wolves won the League Cup in 1974 and 1980, and again won the Second Division title in 1976–77.

Wolves suffered a financial crisis during the early-1980s recession that led to the club coming close to liquidation in 1982. In the five seasons between 1981–82 and 1985–86 Wolves were relegated four times (although there was also one promotion in 1982–83), meaning the club ended up in what was then the Football League Fourth Division (now EFL League Two) for the first (and so far only) time in the club's history. However, the club immediately started a swift turn-around, and having been beaten in the inaugural Football League play-off final in 1987, Wolves won the Fourth Division and Football League Trophy titles in 1987–88, followed by the Third Division title in 1988–89.

After fourteen seasons in the second tier between 1989 and 2003, Wolves reached the Premier League, founded in 1992, for the first time with victory in the 2003 play-offs, though they were relegated after a single season in the top division on this occasion. Wolves won the Championship in 2008–09 to return to the Premier League, but endured relegation in 2011–12, followed by relegation again (to EFL League One) in 2012–13. The club then returned to the Premier League after first winning the League One title in 2013–14, followed by another Championship title in 2017–18.

After becoming one of the first British clubs to install floodlights at its home ground in 1953, 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 UEFA competitions, they reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in 2020.