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Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The team will compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system in the 2024–25 season after winning the 2023–24 EFL League One title. Portsmouth are nicknamed Pompey, a local nickname used by both His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth. Founded on 5 April 1898, Pompey began their early history in the Southern and Western leagues, before being elected into the English Football League and newly formed Third Division in 1920. Portsmouth won two promotions in 1924 and 1927 to reach the First Division, becoming the first football club south of London to do so. After finishing runners-up in two FA Cup finals in 1929 and 1934, Portsmouth won for the first time in 1939. Portsmouth became League Champions of England in two successive 1948–49 and 1949–50 First Division seasons. However, Portsmouth's 32 consecutive years in the First Division ended with relegation to the Second Division in 1959 and was followed by another relegation to the Third Division in 1961. In 1978, Portsmouth were relegated to the Fourth Division (formed in 1958) for the first time before earning three promotions in 1980, 1983 and 1987. After one brief season in the 1987-88 First Division, Portsmouth would remain in the second tier between 1988 until 2003. After winning promotion to the Premier League in 2003, Portsmouth won the FA Cup for a second time in 2008. Portsmouth's seven year stay in the Premier League ended in 2009–10 with relegation, signalling the beginning of a difficult period where the club entered financial administration twice and were relegated three times. After the club was purchased by the Pompey Supporters Trust in 2013, Pompey would begin to recover financially as well as winning the League Two title in 2016–17 and the League One title in 2023–24. Portsmouth are one of only five English football clubs to have been champions of all four tiers of the professional English football pyramid. Portsmouth's arch-rivals are Southampton, a rivalry based in part on geographic proximity and both cities' respective maritime histories. Portsmouth are also the only professional football club in England which is not located on mainland Great Britain, as the city of Portsmouth and their Fratton Park home football ground are located on Portsea Island. History 1898–1920: Founding of Portsmouth F.C. and early years Portsmouth F.C. were formed on 5 April 1898, at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, as "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company", with John Brickwood as chairman. Although the founding of Portsmouth F.C. had been agreed on 5 April 1898, a football ground or a team of players did not exist until 1899. In 1899, work began on developing a plot of former agricultural land near Goldsmith Avenue, Milton, Portsmouth into a new football ground, bought in 1898 from the local Goldsmith farming family. The new football ground was to be named Fratton Park after the nearby and convenient Fratton railway station. Frank Brettell was announced as Portsmouth Football Club's first manager-secretary in February 1899. A bold and ambitious application for Portsmouth's direct entry into the Southern League First Division, without the usual probationary period in the lower divisions, was accepted, and the club joined the Southern Football League Division One for the 1899–1900 season. The Southern League were very keen to see a professional team from Portsmouth join the Southern League. On 6 September 1899, the first-ever home match at Fratton Park was played; a friendly against local team Southampton, which Portsmouth won 2–0. Portsmouth's first competitive Southern League home match followed on 9 September, a 2–0 win against Reading. Portsmouth's first 1899–1900 season in the Southern Football League Division One was successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the table behind champions, Tottenham Hotspur. In their second 1900–01 Southern Football League Division One season, Portsmouth finished in third place and joined the 1900–01 Western Football League, where they finished as Division One champions. Portsmouth won the 1901–02 Southern Football League championship title but were not promoted. In the 1901–02 Western Football League, Portsmouth also won the Division One championship for a second consecutive season. In the 1902–03 Western Football League, Portsmouth won the Division One championship for a third consecutive season. In the 1906–07 Western Football League, the top Division One was split into equal 'A' and 'B' sections, with a play-off between the two section winners to decide a Division One champion. The 1906–07 season was highlighted by the visit of Manchester United to Fratton Park in the FA Cup, which generated a record attendance of 24,329. A 2–2 draw meant a replay in Manchester, where Portsmouth recorded a famous 2–1 win. In their last Western Football League appearance, Portsmouth finished in fourth position of the 'B' section of Division One. At the end of the season, all fourteen members of the split 'A' and 'B' sections of Division One resigned from the Western Football League. Portsmouth ended their season in sixth place before the following season saw the team relegated. A severe financial crisis struck between seasons and a public appeal for funds in May 1911 kept the club afloat. With the recruitment of manager Robert Brown from Sheffield Wednesday the team finished second place in the 1911–12 Southern Football League Division Two and were promoted as runners-up. However, the club's finances were in trouble again, with losses and debts increasing to £10,000. A shareholders meeting was called on 8 May 1912, where George Lewin Oliver, one of the original founders and directors, proposed that "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company" should be wound up and replaced with a more business orientated company. The original company was then liquidated to remove the debt and on 27 July 1912, the "Portsmouth Football Company Ltd" was formed as the new parent company of Portsmouth F.C., with substantial financial guarantees given by the board of directors. The original 1898 founding director George Lewin Oliver became the new Portsmouth F.C. chairman. For the new 1912–13 Southern Football League season back in Division One, Portsmouth, now under new ownership, wore new home colours of blue shirts, white shorts and black stockings. Portsmouth finished the season in 11th position. Football was suspended during the First World War. Many with connections to Portsmouth F.C. joined the "Pompey Pals Battalions", which formed parts of the Hampshire Regiment, many never returned home. In 1915, the Fratton End terrace was upgraded to accommodate 8,000 standing supporters and covered with a roof for the first time. Following the resumption of matches in the 1919–2.... Discover the Andy Fratton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Andy Fratton books.