Birmingham City F.C.

The early years (1875–1943)

Birmingham City were founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875, and from 1877 played their home games at Muntz Street. The 'Heathens' turned professional in 1885, and three years later became the first football club to become a limited company with a board of directors, under the name of Small Heath F.C. Ltd. From the 1889–90 season they played in the Football Alliance, which ran alongside the Football League. In 1892, Small Heath, along with the other Alliance teams, were invited to join the newly formed Football League Second Division. They finished as champions, but failed to win promotion via the test match system; the following season promotion to the First Division was secured after a second-place finish and test match victory over Darwen. The club adopted the name Birmingham Football Club in 1905, and moved into their new home, St Andrew's Ground, the following year. Matters on the field failed to live up to their surroundings. Birmingham were relegated in 1908, obliged to apply for re-election two years later, and remained in the Second Division until after the First World War. Frank Womack's captaincy and the creativity of Scottish international playmaker Johnny Crosbie contributed much to Birmingham winning their second Division Two title in 1920–21. Womack went on to make 515 appearances, a club record for an outfielder, over a twenty-year career. 1920 also saw the debut of the 19-year-old Joe Bradford, who went on to score a…

Birmingham City's honours include the following: League

Second Division / First Division / Championship (level 2) Champions: 1892–93, 1920–21, 1947–48, 1954–55 Runners-up: 1893–94, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1971–72, 1984–85, 2006–07, 2008–09 Play-off winners: 2002 Third Division / Second Division / League One (level 3) Champions: 1994–95, 2024–25 Runners-up: 1991–92 Cup

FA Cup Runners-up: 1930–31, 1955–56 Football League Cup Winners: 1962–63, 2010–11 Runners-up: 2000–01 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Runners-up: 1958–60, 1960–61 Associate Members' Cup / Football League Trophy / EFL Trophy Winners: 1990–91, 1994–95 Runners-up: 2024–25 Birmingham Senior Cup Winners: 1905 Small Heath first entered the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1878–79 – ten years before the foundation of the Football League – and won for the first time in 1905, defeating West Bromwich Albion 7–2 in the final. Its importance declined with the increase in League fixtures, and from the 1905–06 season onwards, Birmingham fielded teams containing reserve-team players.

Football League South (wartime) Champions: 1945–46 Preparatory to the Football League resuming in 1946–47, the First and Second Division clubs from the last pre-war season were divided geographically between the Leagues North and South for 1945–46. Going into the last day of the season, Aston Villa were top of League South but had finished their programme two points (one win) ahead of the chasers but with a worse goal average. Charlton Athletic were second, above…