AFC Whyteleafe is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Whyteleafe, Surrey. The club was established in 2021 and plays at the Whyteleafe Stadium in Church Road, Whyteleafe following the demise of Whyteleafe FC and is currently a member of the .

History

AFC Whyteleafe was formed in 2021 by Kelly Waters, replacing another club, Whyteleafe FC, which had existed immediately before. Waters had hoped to purchase the Church Road premises before it was sold to Irama Sports in February 2021, but he discovered the auction a week too late, and the sale to Irama went through. Following the withdrawal of Whyteleafe FC from the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

, and inspired by the story of

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

in 2002, AFC Whyteleafe was born. The new club was granted a position in the Surrey South Eastern Combination League for the 2021/22 season, having formed a merge of registration with Balham FC B Team. This still left the club with less than one month to build a squad from scratch, ready for their debut match on 4th September 2021 at home to Earlsfield 2018. A crucial part of the successful formation of the club was securing a ground. Church Road was the preferred choice and a 4-year deal was reached with Irama to play at what is considered the spiritual home of football in Whyteleafe. Following a successful first season, AFC Whyteleafe merged with Whyteleafe Youth FC and Whyteleafe Women ahead of the 2022/23 season to form one AFC Whyteleafe club comprising a men's first team, U23's, women's team and 28 Youth teams from U7 to U18. In May 2022, the club was admitted into the

Southern Counties East League The Southern Counties East Football League is an English football league established in 1966, which has teams based in Kent and Southeast London. Until 2013, it was known as the Kent League. There was a previous Kent League, that existed from ...

Division One which sits at Step 6 in the National League System. The club achieved a respectable 8th-place finish in their debut season at Step 6.

Ground

AFC Whyteleafe play their home games at Church Road, Whyteleafe, Surrey, CR3 0AR. The site of Church Road was formerly farmland, and the farm's existing buildings were converted into the clubhouse and dressing rooms. Whyteleafe FC originally planned to add a running track and cricket pitch to the complex, but these plans were abandoned. Floodlights were added in the early 1980s and a new main stand added in 1999 for the club's first round

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match against Chester City, which saw a record attendance of 2,164. Some of the turnstiles added at the ground were purchased from

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

's Victoria Ground after they moved to the Britannia Stadium in 1997. In June 2021, following the purchase of the ground by Singaporean-based company Irama, Whyteleafe FC left Church Road due to no agreement being reached with Irama for a new lease with the club. In August 2021 a new club, AFC Whyteleafe, was formed under new management and a 4 year agreement was reached to play at Church Road.

Off the pitch Management

Team Management

Men's First Team Squad

Records

Men's first team: *Best League Performance: 8th - SCEFL Division One (2022/23) *Best SCEFL League Challenge Cup Performance: 2nd Round (2022/23) *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

Performance: 2nd Round (2022/23) *Record Attendance: 515 v Wimbledon Casuals - Surrey South Eastern Combination League Intermediate Division One, 9th April 2022 *Biggest Win: AFC Whyteleafe 7-1 Snodland Town -

First Round, 24th October 2022 *Biggest Defeat: FC Tooting Bec Reserves 6-2 AFC Whyteleafe - Surrey South Eastern Combination League Intermediate Division One, 11th September 2021 *Highest Scoring Match: Bermondsey Town 2-7 AFC Whyteleafe - SCEFL Division One, 10th December 2022 *Most Appearances: 63 - Kane Orlebar *All-time Top Goalscorer: 28 - Joe Condon *Most Goals by a Player in a Season: 22 - Joe Condon (2021/22) *Most League Goals by a Player in a Season: 16 - Joe Condon (2021/22) *Most goals in a single match: 5 - Daniel Adjei vs. Bermondsey Town - SCEFL Division One, 10th December 2022

References

{{coord, 51, 18, 16.98, N, 0, 4, 46.62, W, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title Association football clubs established in 2021 2021 establishments in England Football clubs in England Football clubs in Surrey Surrey South Eastern Combination Southern Counties East Football League