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Oldest Football Clubs in the World

Can you name the 50 oldest professional association (league) football clubs in the world?
Includes only professional clubs that play according to association football rules at present.
Clubs are dated according to the year when they adopted association football rules.
An asterisk (*) denotes some debate regarding official date of founding.
A dagger (†) denotes a club that folded and reformed in 1907.
Quiz by elijahwade
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Last updated: June 2, 2021
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First submittedJuly 31, 2018
Times taken334
Average score32.0%
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Pos
Year
Country
Club
1
1863*
England
Stoke City
2
1865
England
Nottingham Forest
3
1867
Scotland
Queen's Park
4
1867
England
Sheffield Wednesday
5
1869
Scotland
Kilmarnock
6
1870
Scotland
Stranraer
7
1871
England
Reading
8
1872
Scotland
Dumbarton
9
1872
Scotland
Rangers
10-14
1874
England
Aston Villa
1874
England
Bolton Wanderers
1874
Scotland
Greenock Morton
1874
Scotland
Hamilton Academical
1874
Scotland
Heart of Midlothian
15-17
1875
England
Birmingham City
1875
England
Blackburn Rovers
1875
Scotland
Hibernian
18-22
1876
Wales
Bangor City
1876
Scotland
Falkirk
1876
England
Middlesbrough
1876
Scotland
Partick Thistle
1876†
England
Port Vale
23-26
1877
Scotland
Clyde
1877
England
Crewe Alexandra
1877
Scotland
St Mirren
1877
England
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Pos
Year
Country
Club
27-32
1878
Scotland
Alloa Athletic
1878
Scotland
Arbroath
1878
England
Everton
1878
England
Ipswich Town
1878
England
Manchester United
1878
England
West Bromwich Albion
33-39
1879
Northern Ireland
Cliftonville
1879
England
Doncaster Rovers
1879
England
Fulham
1879
Scotland
Montrose
1879
Switzerland
St Gallen 1879
1879
England
Sunderland
1879
England
Swindon Town
40-42
1880
England
Manchester City
1880
England
Preston North End
1880
Belgium
Royal Antwerp
43-44
1881
Scotland
Cowdenbeath
1881*
England
Watford
45-48
1882
Scotland
Albion Rovers
1882
England
Burnley
1882
England
Queens Park Rangers
1882
England
Tottenham Hotspur
49-50
1883
England
Bristol Rovers
1883
England
Coventry City
+1
Level 28
Jul 31, 2018
1866 - Chesterfield?
+1
Level 95
Jul 31, 2018
Thanks for the comment. As Chesterfield were relegated from League Two last season, they are no longer a 'league' side and are therefore not included in the list above. (Other clubs in the same situation—such as Sheffield and Cambridge University, both established in 1857—have also been left off this list) I'll amend the description to make this more clear.
+1
Level 33
Jul 27, 2020
Le Havre AC, the oldest french club, was founded in 1872. Also, Girondins de Bordeaux, an another old french club, was founded in 1881. They're both playing in a french profesional championship (Ligue 1 for Bordeaux, Ligue 2 for Le Havre).
+1
Level 95
Jul 27, 2020
Thanks for the comment. As I mention in the caveat above, 'Clubs are dated according to the year when they adopted association football rules.' La Havre began as a rugby club in 1872, but only began playing by association football rules on a regular basis in 1894. Girondins de Bordeaux did not begin to play association football until 1910.
+1
Level 57
Oct 2, 2020
I feel it is best not to let Rangers be accepted for QPR
+1
Level 95
Oct 2, 2020
I would tend to agree, but the 'Rangers' type-in was actually an automatic type-in generated by JetPunk. Obviously, this can be changed, but I would want to change it back to accept 'Rangers' if I found that this was the custom of most quizzes on JetPunk.