Founded: 1875, Stadium: St. Andrew’s, Capacity: 29,409
Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905 and Birmingham City in 1943. The most successful period in history of Birmingham City FC was in the early 1950s and 1960s. They won the League Cup in 1963 and 2011. St. Andrew’s has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Second City derby. The club’s nickname is Blues, after the colour of their kit, and the fans are known as Bluenoses. When the club changed its name from Small Heath to Birmingham in 1905 it adopted the city’s coat of arms as its crest. The 1970s “penguin shirt” carried the letters “BCFC”. The Sports Angus newspaper ran a competition in 1972 to design a new badge for the club. The winning entry, a line-drawn globe and ball, with ribbon carrying the club name and date of foundation, in plain blue and white was adopted by the club but not worn on playing shirts until 1976. An experiment was made in the early 1990s with coloring in the globe and ball, but the club soon reverted to the plain version.
