The very first football club. The oldest football club in Russia

On October 24, 1857, Cambridge University graduates founded the world's first football team in Sheffield. It was called FC Sheffield. We decided to talk about the oldest football clubs in the world that still exist.

On October 24, 1857, Cambridge University graduates founded the world's first football team in Sheffield. It was called FC Sheffield.

We decided to talk about the oldest football clubs in the world that still exist.

Red and white incognito, 1878

This club was founded in 1878 in the run-down town of Stretford in Greater Manchester, and was originally called Newton Hill. Railway workers played in it, the colors were green and gold. Money was tight - we had to hold training and matches at the dilapidated North Road stadium.

And in the twentieth century, this sports squad became the most titled British club, winning the English Championship a record twenty times...

Fans have already realized that we are talking about Manchester United.

We are not on the same page with gymnasts. Bayern-Munich, 1900

This club was created at the dawn of the twentieth century, and under very unusual circumstances. Initially, football was considered a frivolous hobby - the first team in the capital of Bavaria arose as a section of the gymnastics union.

But everything comes to an end - on February 27, 1900, the discussion of the question of whether to remain under the “roof” of the gymnasts or start an independent life turned into a split. 11 people, led by Berliner Franz Jon (John), left the building and, in the Gisela tavern, decided to create the Bayern (Bavaria) football club. From this day the birth of the brand is counted by fans of one of the most titled clubs not only in Germany, but throughout the whole world, and thanks to the meeting in the tavern we can observe the most masterly football with a German sauce.

Chemists with a ball, Bayer Leverkusen, 1904

Initially, the athletes of this team had the most indirect relationship to professional sports. It’s just that the giant chemical concern Bayer, in order to maintain the prestige and health of workers who worked in hazardous industries, decided to create its own football club. The desire to show off coincided with the desire of the proletariat to run around in the open air. What came of it? One of the most famous sports teams in the world. For example, in the 2009/2010 season, Leverkusen played a series of twenty-four unbeaten matches in the Bundesliga, setting a German championship record.

Dissatisfied seminarians. Borussia-Dortmund, 1909

This happened in the city of Dortmund. Several seminarians gathered to drink beer and unwind. The thing is that their mentor, Pastor Dewald, hated football, and the young guys, future priests, had a completely different view of the relatively new sport - they simply adored kicking the ball. In addition, Dewald did not like the fact that his sponsors, almost after every game, went together to celebrate a victory or defeat in beer establishments...

“Despondency will not help grief,” says an old German proverb, and 18 guys led by Franz Jacobi, when the question arose - church or sport, chose the second. On December 19, 1909, one of the most titled football clubs in German history was founded.

In Russia, the history of football has had a jagged history. The first teams appeared back in the 1900s, although the game was not particularly popular; Russians are old-fashioned bandy fans, not without reason considering it a national sport. Everything changed after the revolution.

Soccer football has firmly taken its place among the most cultivated sports in the Land of the Soviets. At first, the principle of division was regional - they played with teams from different districts and cities, later the teams were formed according to the sectoral trade union principle. This is how the “Pishchevik” team appeared, representing trade unions in the light and food industries. Because of this, as well as because of the red and white colors of the uniform, apparently the not-so-flattering everyday nickname – “meat” – was adopted among opponents. In 1935, the team was renamed - the name “Spartak” in honor of the rebellious gladiator slave was more euphonious and reflected the revolutionary romance of the era.

Be that as it may, Spartak-Moscow is a 12-time champion of the USSR, 9-time champion of Russia, 10-time winner of the USSR Cup, 3-time winner of the Russian Cup, 6-time winner of the Commonwealth Cup, semi-finalist of three major club clubs European tournaments (Champions Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup).

Today there are not many football clubs left in the world that have existed almost since the history of this sport. Trophies, uniforms, cards, advertising brochures of some of them cost a fortune.

TOP 10 oldest football clubs will help you plunge into history.

Sheffield

It still exists today; the football club was founded in 1857 by graduates of the famous University of Cambridge. Interesting fact - the club was founded based on the cricket team.

Today it is not as famous as the Spanish “Real”, but is still in the English division. The club was founded by two former students - Nathaniel Creswick (one of the famous and talented football players) and William Prest.

Newton Heath (Manchester United)

It was founded by ordinary railway workers in 1878. Stanford is considered the founding city. Since the club’s finances were poor, the players trained first at a destroyed factory, and later at the forgotten and overgrown North Road stadium.

Interesting fact: in the 20th century, ordinary hard workers were able to take first place in English championships more than 20 times. Today the team is one of the most expensive and titled; fans know it as Manchester United.

Bayern München (Bavaria)

The club was founded at the beginning of the 20th century (1900). Is the pride of Germany and one of the best football clubs in the world. Interesting fact: at first the club was intended for gymnasts, but in order to attract young people, the club opened a second division for young football players.

Within 3 years, the club began to receive funds from investors to maintain a talented roster. By the way, today the club’s players cost from 60 million rubles and still show the best results on the field.

Bayer 04

Founded in 1904 as a recreational company of pharmacists. Interesting fact: in its century-long history, the club has never received gold, but has repeatedly won silver at the German championships.

Today the club is not as famous as in the mid-50s, but is still part of the regional league. And in 2010 the players showed the best results in the Bundesliga championship.

Borussia

Also included in the list of the oldest but active clubs in the world. He is a multiple winner of the German Cup and Champions League.

It was opened in 1909 by ordinary seminarians, despite the fact that their pastor strictly forbade them to do so because of his own dislike for this sport. Today the club shows the best results and is active fights for the world championship.

Spartacus

The first football clubs in Russia began to appear at the beginning of the 20th century. However, due to lack of funding and special government interest in this sport, they were never able to last more than 2 years. Despite this, the Moscow club, founded back in 1922, was able to show good results and become a real asset to the country.

The club has repeatedly taken first place in competitions in the USSR and Russia, but the athletes did not reach the UEFA semi-finals. Despite this, Spartak still produces some of the best football players, and proudly bears the cliché of the People's Club.

Slavia

A football club from ancient Prague was founded back in 1892. Interesting fact: the club was founded by medical students in order to distract themselves from the litigation of their studies.

The university liked the healthy hobby and soon the team received funding. The club still produces good players.

FC Petržalka

The oldest club from Bratislava has a rather specific name. It was founded back in 1898. As recent sources show, it still participates in national leagues.

However, in 2009 the team lost its main sponsor, which closed the door to big football for it.

Anorthosis

Football club from warm Cyprus. Was founded in 1911. The name has a historical origin, meaning "Division". This is due to the fact that during the 1900s, the Greeks actively advocated the separation of the two territories.

The club's first players were military personnel, but in 1960, after the club was bought by a new sponsor, they were replaced by athletes from major universities in the country. Thanks to government support, Anorthosis still exists and even takes places not only in the national league, but also in the Champions League (7th place in 2010).

Maccabi

The oldest Israeli club, which was founded back in 1909. Interesting fact: it was the first Jewish club to be allowed to compete in Palestine.

The FC still exists and trains talented football players. Thanks to the fact that Israel was able to join UEFA in the 90s, the team received new sponsors. However, despite decent funding, over the past few years it has not been able to enter the Champions League and show decent results.

In mid-April, the birthdays of Spartak and Dynamo were celebrated, and Soccer.ru is in a hurry to talk about the age of domestic teams - popular and forgotten in the second divisions.

The oldest clubs in Russia

"Banner of Labor" (Orekhovo-Zuevo)

Other names: KSO, “Morozovtsy”, TsPKFK, “Orekhovo-Zuevo”, “Krasnoe Orekhovo”, “Red Tekstilshchik”, “Red Banner”, “Zvezda”, “Sly Foxes”, “Orekhovo”, “Spartak-Orekhovo”.

The “oldest football club” in Russia will celebrate its 108th birthday this year. Now “Znamya Truda” occupies the penultimate place in the “West” zone of the second division and certainly cannot boast of financial well-being. The first football match in Orekhovo-Zuevo took place back in 1887, and the starting point of the team is considered to be 1909, when the “Orekhovo Sports Club” was established with the direct participation of English workers of the Morozov manufactory. “Znamya Truda” won the Moscow Football League four times back in the days of Tsarist Russia, and the 1962 USSR Cup final, in which Shakhtar Donetsk was stronger, is considered the highest achievement.

"Kolomna" (Kolomna)

Date of foundation: 1906 (111 years)

In fact, Kolomna can lay claim to the title of the oldest club in Russia, but this Moscow region team has a very complicated history, which included ups and downs, deprivation of professional status and years spent in amateur leagues. In its current form, the club has existed since 1997, when Avangard (the same successor to the Kolomna Gymnastic Society, founded in 1906) and Oka, which dates back to 1923, were merged. Now two clubs that can be considered the oldest in the country are outsiders of the second division: “Kolomna” is only a couple of points ahead of “Znamya Truda” in the “West” zone.

"Chernomorets" (Novorossiysk)

Date of foundation: 1907 (110 years)

Other names:“Olympia”, “Dynamo”, “Builder”, “Cement”, “Trud”, “Gekris”, “Novorossiysk”.

The affairs of “Chernomorets” in the “South” zone are not so deplorable - the Novorossiysk team takes sixth place. Chernomorets was created in 1907, but the team began to compete in the USSR championships only in 1960. The “sailors” flourished already in the Russian Championship, where they twice took sixth place and even took part in the European Cup. In 2005, the club lost its professional license, and even bore the name “Novorossiysk” for some time, until it returned to its usual name.

Who is older from the popular Russian teams?

CSKA (Moscow)

As you may have guessed, the age of Russian clubs is a flexible concept. There are too many historical troubles, take for example the transition from Tsarist Russia to the USSR, and then to Russia, the peculiar structure of sports clubs. This is not England, where clubs do not change their names for a century and a half and are “registered” at the same address. All in all, CSKA, according to the official version, originated from the football section within OLLS(Society of Ski Lovers). Therefore, the army team will celebrate its 106th birthday at the end of summer.

"Spartak Moscow)

Spartak celebrated its 95th birthday yesterday, although enthusiasts dream of linking the history of the popular Moscow club with the RGO (Russian Gymnastics Society), so as to consider 1883 as the year of its founding. You can count anything, though closest to the truth is an as yet unnamed date - 1935, when the chairman of the Komsomol Central Committee, Alexander Kosarev, created a physical culture and sports society, which received the name “Spartak” at the suggestion of Nikolai Starostin. Today’s club’s connection with this “Spartak” is obvious and beyond doubt, but 80-odd years is somehow not enough, don’t you think?

Dynamo (Moscow)

The bitter rivals Spartak and Dynamo have the same birthday – April 18. Only Dynamo seems to be a year younger. But the “blue and white” have an absolutely undeniable date of formation, because it was on that day that a sports society called “Dynamo” was created. Everything here is fair and no flirting with history, although the “blue and white” could, if they wished, also go back to the imperial period, associate themselves with the KFS (or some other abbreviation) and declare 1907 as the founding date.

Lokomotiv (Moscow)

The team that later became Lokomotiv was founded at the Moscow-Kazan Railway under the name “Kazanka”. This version became official about a year ago, when Loko suddenly “aged” by 14 years, because before that the founding date was considered to be 1936.

Zenit (St. Petersburg)

At one time, controversy flared up around the date of birth of Zenit. The commission was asked to choose from five proposed dates, the earliest of which was 1914, when the Murzinka team appeared. However, the connection was not proven, and at first the commission decided to consider 1936 as the date of birth of Zenit, when the first union championship took place, and the voluntary sports societies Zenit and Stalinets appeared. Soon this decision was revised, and Zenit added 11 years to itself, because in 1925 the first football teams appeared at the Stalin Metal Plant. Funny argument, as in many other cases. It is possible that in a few generations Russian clubs will give up looking for opportunities to give themselves a few years to gain respectability, and will begin to strive for the integrity of history, but now this is the fashion.

Have you ever wondered which football club boasts the longest age? No, this is not some kind of “Barcelona” or “Real Madrid”, and we are most likely not talking about representatives of the “top” of the modern football hierarchy. In this article we will look at the true “old men”, veterans of the football battles of the world.

Great Britain

Where is the oldest FC in the world located, except in the homeland of football - in England? " Sheffield is rightfully recognized as the oldest club in the world; its founding date is considered to be 1857. However, the first club had no one to play official matches with, so the debut game for its roster was held three whole years later, in 1860.

Reference! Sheffield can easily be confused with Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. Sheffield FC still exists today, playing in the lower divisions of football in their homeland.

The founding fathers of Sheffield were William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick. Like most other clubs of the time, FC was formed from a former cricket club.

Russia

If everything is clear with the “ancient British” sports clubs, then which of the domestic football clubs is considered the most “ancient dinosaur”?

Unfortunately for many fans of Zenit, CSKA and Spartak, the oldest Russian club is considered to be the little-known Znamya Truda from Orekhovo-Zuevo. Despite the rather “communist” name, this organization was founded long before the socialist system was officially recognized on the territory of present-day Russia (back in 1909).

The “Banner of Labor” was created by the Charnock brothers, ordinary workers in the ranks of the Morozov manufactory. The team was initially called “KSO”, and in 1962 even reached the final of the USSR Cup, losing only to Shakhtar from Donetsk.

Reference! Even before the revolution, Orekhovo-Zuevo became the champion of Moscow four times.

Spain

Spain is known for its talented football players and professional teams, but the oldest football club in this country at the moment was not founded by indigenous people.

"Recreativo" was officially registered in December 1889 by two Scottish citizens: Robert Russell Ross and Alexander Mackay. Both of them were doctors who worked with miners in the mines and mines, and decided to open a football “section” to provide workers with active recreation.

Despite their long “experience”, the team was unable to achieve any significant results even within the national championship: at best, they managed to place themselves in eighth place in the standings.

Germany

When it comes to football, where would we be without the Germans (unless, of course, this is the final of the last World Cup)? FC Hamburg is considered an honored veteran of football battles in Germany. It was founded in September 1887, by merging two ready-made teams. In 1919, the composition of the organization expanded even more, “pulling in” 2 more teams.

Hamburg's track record is impressive: the team is a six-time winner of the national championship and also has 4 German Cups on its shelf. The team’s active participation in most domestic championships and the professional level of the coaching staff have helped it stay afloat for almost a century and a half, sometimes achieving impressive results on the domestic and world stage.

Ukraine

Ukraine, like Russia, came to big-time football somewhat later than most Western European countries. The oldest FC in Ukraine is considered to be the “Odessa British Athletic Club” (abbr. “OBAC”), founded back in 1907. The organization was founded at the personal request of one of the British consuls, but it did not “live” for long: after 9 years it was disbanded.

France

French football is also considered one of the strongest and most technically developed, which, perhaps, the country owes to the rich history of the development of this sport on its territory. FC Le Havre, which officially began its existence in 1872, is considered the oldest club in France. It is noteworthy that initially the team included not only professional football players, but also rugby players.

In 1857, Cambridge University graduates founded the world's first football team, which was named Sheffield FC. This club is considered one of the best in England, and it also went down in history as “the oldest football club in the world.”

Despite the fact that Sheffield is not currently a giant in English football, this club has something to be proud of. It featured English national team player Charles Cleg, who played the first official international match in football history in 1872. Among other famous people of the club, it is worth noting John Owen and John Hudson, who played for the Three Lions team in the 80s and 90s of the 19th century. Now Sheffield is a regular participant in the Football League Championship and is trying to break into the Premier League in order to once again declare itself to the whole world.

You learned that the first club to appear in world football was Sheffield FC. Now we invite you to read about the oldest football clubs in Spain, Germany, Italy and Russia.

In 1889, Scottish doctors Robert Russell Rossom and Alexander Mackay, working in Spanish mines, created the Huelva Recreation Club. Thus, Recreativo became the first professional football team in Spain.

Recreativo plays its home matches at the 22,000-seat Nuevo Colombino stadium.

Unlike Sheffield, the Spanish record holder failed to collect many trophies and gain popularity in Spain. Perhaps the single most significant achievement of the team from Andalusia is that Recreativo became the first Spanish club to defeat a club from Portugal.

The first football club in the history of German football was created in 1887. This is Hamburg, which over the long period of its operation has managed to become one of the most titled clubs in Germany. Hamburg has a unique achievement. This is the only club that has played full-time in the Bundesliga since its creation in 1863.

In its history, Hamburger SV has won the following trophies: German Championship and Cup, German League Cup, German Super Cup, European Champions Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup.

In Italy, the oldest football club is a team from the province of Liguria called Genoa. The club was founded in 1893. The star era of the Genoese was at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when the first Italian amateur football championships were held. Between 1898 and 1900, Genoa won the first 3 editions of the Italian Championship.

During its long existence, Genoa won the Italian Championship (Serie A, B and C) and the national cup.

The first football club created on the territory of Russia was not Spartak, nor CSKA and Lokomotiv, but the little-known Znamya Truda team. This club was created back in 1909 by the English workers of the Morozov manufactory, the Charnock brothers. This is where the team’s nickname “Morozovtsy” came from.

The Znamya Truda team became the champion of Moscow in 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913, and the highest achievement of the oldest club in Russia was reaching the final of the USSR Cup in 1962. In that final, the Morozovites lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 2:0.

Nowadays, “Znamya Truda” performs in the second division of Russia, the “West” zone.