Founded: 1880, Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium, Capacity: 55,017
Founded as St. Mark’s (West Gordon), the club was renamed Ardwick in 1887 and become a founding member of the second division in 1892, two years before they took the name Manchester City. In 1899 they were the first club in history to be promoted to the first division, then the first club in Manchester to win a major trophy: the 1904 FA Cup. It had its first major period of success in the late 1960s, winning the League, FA Cup and League Cup. In 1970 the club won the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup. In the 1980s the club went through a period of decline, which eventually saw them relegated as far down as third tier of English football by the end of the 1997-98 season. They promoted again to the top tier in 2001-2002 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since 2002-03. In 2008, history took a fresh turn when City were bought by investors from Abu Dhabi for £210 million, making the club one of the wealthiest in the world, with buying power to sign major players. After decades of waiting Manchester City become league champions in 2012, 2014. 2018 and 2019. Manchester City’s biggest rivalry is with neighbors Manchester United against whom they contest the Manchester derby. Man City also has a very notable rivalry with Liverpool FC. City have previously worn three other badges on their shirts, prior to their current badge which was implemented in 2016. The first, introduced in 1970, was based on designs which had been used on official club documentation since the mid-1960s. It consisted of a circular badge which used the same shield as the current badge, inside a circle bearing the name of the club. In 1972, this was replaced by a variation which replaced the lower half of the shield with the red rose of Lancashire. A new club badge was adopted in 1997, as a result of the previous badge being ineligible for registration as a trademark. This badge was based on the arms of the city of Manchester and consisted of a shield in front of a golden eagle. The eagle is an old heraldic symbol of the city of Manchester; a golden eagle was added to the city’s badge in 1958 (but has since been removed), representing the growing aviation industry. The shield features a ship on its upper half representing the Manchester Ship Canal and three diagonal stripes in the lower half symbolise the city’s three rivers – the Irwell, the Irk and the Medlock. The bottom of the badge bears the motto “Superbia in Proelio“, which translates as “Pride in Battle” in Latin. Above the eagle and shield are three stars, which are purely decorative. On 15 October 2015, following years of criticism from the fans over the design of the 1997 badge, the club announced they intended to carry out a fan consultation on whether to disregard the club badge and institute a new design. After the consultation, the club announced in late November 2015 the current club badge would be replaced in due course by a new version which would be designed in the style of the older, circular variants. The new design was officially unveiled end of 2015.
