Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They play in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won numerous league titles, FA Cups, and other trophies. They have a long history and are considered one of the most successful clubs in English football. Arsenal was the first club from the South of England to join the Football League and have remained in the top division for a long time. They have had successful periods in the 1930s, 1970s, and 1990s-2000s. The club has had influential managers like Herbert Chapman and Arsène Wenger. They have a strong fan base and have a fierce rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur. In 2006, they moved to the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal is a financially valuable club and is highly regarded in the football world.

This article is about the men's football club based in England. For the women's team, see arsenal.fc For other teams called Arsenal, see 

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal play in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners' Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

Arsenal was the first club from the South of England to join the Football League in 1893, and they reached the First Division in 1904. Relegated only once, in 1913, they continue the longest streak in the top division,[2] and have won the second-most top-flight matches in English football history.[3] In the 1930s, Arsenal won five League Championships and two FA Cups, and another FA Cup and two Championships after the war. In 1970–71, they won their first League and FA Cup Double. Between 1989 and 2005, they won five League titles and five FA Cups, including two more Doubles. They completed the 20th century with the highest average league position.[4] Between 1998 and 2017, Arsenal qualified for the UEFA Champions League for nineteen consecutive seasons.

In 1886, munitions workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich founded the club as Dial Square. In 1913 the club crossed the city to Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, becoming close neighbours of Tottenham Hotspur, and creating the North London derby. Herbert Chapman, who changed the fortunes of Arsenal forever, won the club its first silverware, and his legacy led the club to dominate the 1930s. He helped introduce the WM formation, floodlights, and shirt numbers;[5] he also added the white sleeves and brighter red to the club's jersey.[6] Arsène Wenger is the longest-serving manager and won the most trophies. He won a record seven FA Cups, and his title-winning team set an English record for the longest top-flight unbeaten league run at 49 games between 2003 and 2004, receiving the nickname The Invincibles.

In 2006, the club moved to the nearby Emirates Stadium. With an annual revenue of £367.1m in the 2021–22 season,[7] Arsenal was estimated to be worth US$2.26 billion by Forbes, making it the world's tenth most valuable football club,[8] while it is one of the most followed on social media.[9] The motto of the club is Victoria Concordia Crescit, Latin for "Victory Through Harmony".

886–1919: from Dial Square to Arsenal[edit]

Royal Arsenal squad in 1888. Original captain David Danskin sits on the right of the bench.

In October 1886, Scotsman David Danskin and fifteen fellow munitions workers in Woolwich formed Dial Square Football Club, named after a workshop at the heart of the Royal Arsenal complex. Each member contributed sixpence and Danskin also added three shillings to help form the club.[10][a] Dial Square played their first match on 11 December 1886 against Eastern Wanderers and won 6–0.[14] The club had renamed to Royal Arsenal by January 1887,[13][15] and its first home was Plumstead Common,[13] though they spent most of their time playing at the Manor Ground. Their first trophies were the Kent Senior Cup and London Charity Cup in 1889–90 and the London Senior Cup in 1890–91; these were the only county association trophies Arsenal won during their time in South East London.[16][17] In 1891, Royal Arsenal became the first London club to turn professional.[18]

Royal Arsenal renamed for a second time upon becoming a limited liability company in 1893. They registered their new name, Woolwich Arsenal, with The Football League when the club ascended later that year.[19][20]: 5–21  Woolwich Arsenal was the first southern member of The Football League, starting out in the Second Division and reaching the First Division in 1904. Falling attendances, due to financial difficulties among the munitions workers and the arrival of more accessible football clubs elsewhere in the city, led the club close to bankruptcy by 1910.[21][20]: 112–149  Businessmen Henry Norris and William Hall became involved in the club, and sought to move them elsewhere.[22][20]: 22–42 

In 1913, soon after relegation back to the Second Division, the club moved across the river to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury.[23][24][25] In 1919, The Football League controversially voted to promote The Arsenal, instead of relegated local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, into the newly enlarged First Division, despite only finishing fifth in the Second Division's last pre-war season of 1914–15. Later that year, The Arsenal started dropping "The" in official documents, gradually shifting its name for the final time towards Arsenal, as it is generally known today.[26]

1919–1953: Bank of England club[edit]

A bronze bust of Herbert Chapman stands inside the Emirates Stadium.

With a new home and First Division football, attendances were more than double those at the Manor Ground, and Arsenal's budget grew rapidly.[27][28] Their location and record-breaking salary offer lured star Huddersfield Town manager Herbert Chapman in 1925.[29][30] Over the next five years, Chapman built a new Arsenal. He appointed an enduring new trainer Tom Whittaker,[31] implemented Charlie Buchan's new twist on the nascent WM formation,[32][33] captured young players like Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, and lavished Highbury's income on stars like David Jack and Alex James. With record-breaking spending and gate receipts, Arsenal quickly became known as the Bank of England club.[34][35]

Transformed, Chapman's Arsenal claimed their first national trophy, the FA Cup in 1930, and League Championships followed in 1930–31 and 1932–33.[36] Chapman also presided over off the pitch changes: white sleeves and shirt numbers were added to the kit;[b] a Tube station was named after the club;[40][41] and the first of two opulent, Art Deco stands was completed, with some of the first floodlights in English football.[28] Suddenly, in the middle of the 1933–34 season, Chapman died of pneumonia.[42] His work was left to Joe Shaw and George Allison, who saw out a hat-trick with the 1933–34 and 1934–35 titles, and then won the 1936 FA Cup and 1937–38 title.

World War II meant The Football League was suspended for seven years, but Arsenal returned to win it in the second post-war season, 1947–48. This was Tom Whittaker's first season as manager, after his promotion to succeed Allison, and the club had equalled the champions of England record. They won a third FA Cup in 1950, and then won a record-breaking seventh championship in 1952–53.[43] However, the war had taken its toll on Arsenal. The club had had more players killed than any top flight club,[44] and debt from reconstructing the North Bank Stand bled Arsenal's resources.[45][28]

1953–1986: mediocrity, Mee and Neill[edit]

Alan Ball (left) and Bertie Mee (who led Arsenal to their first double in 1971), pictured in 1972

Arsenal were not to win the League or the FA Cup for another 18 years. The '53 Champions squad had aged, and the club failed to attract strong enough replacements.[46] Although Arsenal were competitive during these years, their fortunes had waned; the club spent most of the 1950s and 1960s in mid-table mediocrity.[47] Even former England captain Billy Wright could not bring the club any success as manager, in a stint between 1962 and 1966.[48]

Arsenal tentatively appointed club physiotherapist Bertie Mee as acting manager in 1966.[49][50] With new assistant Don Howe and new players such as Bob McNab and George Graham, Mee led Arsenal to their first League Cup finals, in 1967–68 and 1968–69. Next season saw a breakthrough, with Arsenal's first competitive European trophy, the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The season after, Arsenal achieved an even greater triumph with their first League and FA Cup double, and a new champions of England record.[51] This marked a premature high point of the decade; the Double-winning side was soon broken up and the rest of the decade was characterised by a series of near misses, with Arsenal finishing as FA Cup runners up in 1972, and First Division runners-up in 1972–73.[50]

Former player Terry Neill succeeded Mee in 1976. At the age of 34, he became the youngest Arsenal manager to date.[52] With new signings like Malcolm Macdonald and Pat Jennings, and a crop of talent in the side like Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton, the club reached a trio of FA Cup finals (1978 FA Cup, 1979 FA Cup and 1980 FA Cup), and lost the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final on penalties. The club's only trophy during this time was the 1979 FA Cup, achieved with a last-minute 3–2 victory over Manchester United, in a final is widely regarded as a classic.[53][54]