Prince of Wales Football Club was a

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

ian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club. It had been founded by 1892 as one of the first civilian

football clubs in Gibraltar 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 ...

. Although no longer in existence, up until 2014 it held the record for the most national championships in Gibraltar.

History

Football in Gibraltar Football has been a popular part of sport in Gibraltar since its introduction by British military personnel in the 19th century. The Gibraltar Football Association, founded in 1895, is one of the ten oldest active football associations in the w ...

was initially played only by members of the British military forces stationed there. Prince of Wales F.C. had been established by 1892 by Gibraltar citizens as one of the first football club for civilians as opposed to the military-only clubs that existed at the time. Two more civilian clubs were founded in 1893, Gibraltar F.C. and Jubilee F.C. Interest in the sport became strong enough that the Gibraltar Civilian Football Association was founded in 1895, and the first national football championship, the Merchants Cup, took place that year. In 1907, the

Gibraltar Football League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the R ...

was established, beginning with eight teams, and Prince of Wales F.C., having already won several championships, were the inaugural league winners. Prince of Wales were national champions nineteen times, including seven of eight consecutive Gibraltar Football League seasons from 1920–21 to 1927–28. Their league championships record was eventually overtaken, however, and is now held by

Lincoln Red Imps F.C. Lincoln Red Imps Football Club is a professional association football club from Gibraltar. They play in the Gibraltar National League, and share Victoria Stadium with all other clubs in the territory. They are the country's record champion wit ...

, which as of 2016 has won 22 in all, including the past fourteen in a row. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, most football played in Gibraltar focussed on matches between Prince of Wales F.C. and Britannia F.C. Prince of Wales F.C. won the

Rock Cup The Rock Cup is Gibraltar's premier cup association football, football competition, and is organised annually by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA). From 1894/95 Gibraltar's Cup Competition was known as "The Senior Merchant's Cup". In 1935 ...

, Gibraltar's national cup competition, in 1949. Their final League championship victory was in 1953. The club later disbanded. In 2023, the Prince of Wales name was revived for a veteran's football team, winning the John Shephard Memorial Cup ahead of a new organized Veterans League.John Shephard Memorial Cup kicks off new era for veterans football
Gibraltar Chronicle. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.

Footnotes

References

{{reflist Defunct football clubs in Gibraltar 19th-century establishments in Gibraltar 20th-century disestablishments in Gibraltar 1892 establishments in Gibraltar Association football clubs established in 1892 Association football clubs disestablished in 1953