Everton Football Club () is an English professional
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 based in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
that competes in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, the top tier of
English football
Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...
. The club was a founder member of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in 1888 and has competed in the top division for a
record 119 seasons, having missed only
four top-flight seasons (
1930–31,
1951–52,
1952–53 and
1953–54). Everton is the second-longest continuous serving club in English top flight football and ranks third in the all-time points rankings. The club has won nine
league titles, five
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 ...
s, one
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
and nine
Charity Shields.
Formed in 1878, Everton won their first League Championship during the
1890–91 season. After winning four more League championships and two FA Cups, the club experienced a post-
World War II
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 ...
lull until a revival in the 1960s. A period of sustained success came in the mid-1980s, when Everton won a further two League championships, one FA Cup, and the
1985 European Cup Winners' Cup. The club's most recent major trophy was the
1995 FA Cup.
The
club's supporters are colloquially known as "Evertonians" or "Blues". Everton's main rivals are
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, whose home stadium at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
is just under one mile away from Everton's home at
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...
; the two clubs contest the
Merseyside derby
The Merseyside derby is the football matches between Everton and Liverpool, the two primary clubs in Liverpool, England. Named after the county of Merseyside, in which Liverpool is located, it is the longest running top-flight derby in England ...
. Everton have been based at Goodison Park since 1892, having moved from their original home at Anfield following a disagreement over its rent. The club's home colours are royal blue shirts with white shorts and socks.
History
![Everton fc 1887](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Everton_fc_1887.jpg)
Everton was founded as St. Domingo's FC in 1878
so that members of the congregation of St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in Breckfield Road North,
Everton could play sport year round –
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
was played in summer. The club's first game was a 1–0 victory over Everton Church Club.
The club was renamed Everton in November 1879 after the local area, as people outside the congregation wished to participate.
The club was a founding member of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in 1888–89 and won its first
League Championship title in the
1890–91 season. Everton won the
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 ...
for the first time in 1906 and the League Championship again in
1914–15. The outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914 interrupted the football programme while Everton were reigning champions, which was something that would again occur in 1939.
![Everton FC League Performance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Everton_FC_League_Performance.svg)
It was not until 1927 that Everton's first sustained period of success began. In 1925 the club signed
Dixie Dean
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...
from
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...
. In
1927–28, Dean set the record for top-flight league goals in a single season with 60 goals in 39 league games, which is a record that still stands. He helped Everton win its third League Championship that season. However, Everton was relegated to the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
two years later during internal turmoil at the club. The club quickly rebounded and was promoted at the first attempt, while scoring a record number of goals in the Second Division. On return to the top flight in
1931–32, Everton wasted no time in reaffirming its status and won a fourth League Championship at the first opportunity. Everton also won its second FA Cup in 1933 with a 3–0 win against
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
in the final. The era ended in
1938–39 with a fifth League Championship.
The outbreak of 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 ...
again saw the suspension of league football, and when official competition resumed in 1946, the Everton team had been split up and paled in comparison to the pre-war team. Everton was relegated for the second time in
1950–51 and did not earn promotion until
1953–54, when it finished as the runner-up in its third season in the Second Division. The club has been a top-flight presence ever since.
![Everton seasons 1955-2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Everton_seasons_1955-2011.png)
Everton's second successful era started when
Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick (26 November 1919 – 9 March 1985) was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. ...
was made manager in 1961. In
1962–63, his second season in charge, Everton won the League Championship. In 1966 the club won the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
. Everton again reached the final in 1968, but this time was unable to overcome
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
. Two seasons later in
1969–70, Everton won the League Championship, finishing nine points clear of nearest rivals
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
. During this period, Everton was the first English club to achieve five consecutive years in European competitions – covering the seasons from 1961–62 to 1966–67.
However, the success did not last; the team finished fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and seventh in the following seasons. Harry Catterick retired, but his successors failed to win any
silverware
Silverware may refer to:
* Household silver including
**Tableware
**Cutlery
**Candlesticks
*The work of a silversmith
* Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...
for the remainder of the 1970s despite finishing fourth in
1974–75 under manager Billy Bingham, third in
1977–78 and fourth the following season under manager
Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to:
*Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials
*Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia
*Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...
. Lee was sacked in 1981.
Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager.
Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, ...
took over as manager and guided Everton to its most successful era. Domestically, Everton won the FA Cup in 1984 and two League Championships in
1984–85 and
1986–87. In Europe, the club won its first, and so far only, European trophy by securing the
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
.
The European success came after first beating
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
,
Inter Bratislava
FK Inter Bratislava () is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, temporarily playing its home matches in Stupava.
History
Inter Bratislava was founded in 1940 by the Apollo refinery (later renamed Slovnaft). Following the end of World Wa ...
and
Fortuna Sittard
Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...
. Then, Everton defeated German giants
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
3–1 in the semi-finals, despite trailing at half time (in a match voted the greatest in Goodison Park history), and recorded the same scoreline over Austrian club
Rapid Vienna
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...
in the final. Having won both the League and Cup Winners' Cup in 1985, Everton came very close to winning a
treble
Treble may refer to:
In music:
*Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass
*Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range
*Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands
*T ...
, but lost to
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
in the FA Cup
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
.
The following season,
1985–86, Everton was the runner-up to Liverpool in both the League and the
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 ...
, but did recapture the League Championship in
1986–87.
After the
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by ...
and the subsequent ban of all English clubs from continental football, Everton lost the chance to compete for more European trophies. A large proportion of the title-winning side was broken up following the ban. Kendall himself moved to
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...
after the 1987 title triumph and was succeeded by assistant
Colin Harvey
James Colin Harvey (born 16 November 1944 in Liverpool, England) is an English former footballer who is best known for his time as a player, coach and manager with Everton.
Playing career
Harvey was born in Liverpool and joined Everton as ...
. Harvey took Everton to the
1989 FA Cup Final, but lost 3–2 after extra time to Liverpool.
Everton was a founding member of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
in 1992, but struggled to find the right manager. Howard Kendall had returned in 1990, but could not repeat his previous success. His successor,
Mike Walker, was statistically the least successful Everton manager to date. When former Everton player
Joe Royle
Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...
took over in 1994, the club's form started to improve; his first game in charge was a 2–0 victory over derby rivals Liverpool. Royle dragged Everton clear of relegation and led the club to the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history by defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
. The cup triumph was also Everton's passport to the Cup Winners' Cup, its first European campaign in the post-Heysel era. Progress under Royle continued in
1995–96 as the team climbed to sixth place in the Premiership.
A fifteenth-place finish the following season saw Royle resign towards the end of the campaign, and he was temporarily replaced by club captain
Dave Watson
David Watson (born 20 November 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a defender from 1980 to 2001. He played his entire career for Norwich City and Everton. With the Toffees he played in ...
.
Howard Kendall was appointed Everton manager for the third time in 1997, but the appointment proved unsuccessful as Everton finished seventeenth in the Premiership. The club only avoided relegation due to its superior
goal difference
Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...
over
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. Former
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
manager
Walter Smith
Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish association football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers.
A defender, Smith's playing car ...
then took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998, but only managed three successive finishes in the bottom half of the table.
The Everton board finally ran out of patience with Smith, and he was sacked in March 2002 after an FA Cup exit at
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
and with Everton in real danger of relegation. His replacement,
David Moyes
David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...
, guided Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place.
In
2002–03 Everton finished seventh, which was its highest finish since 1996. It was under Moyes' management that
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...
broke into the first team before being sold to Manchester United for a club record fee of £28 million in the summer of 2004. A fourth-place finish in
2004–05 ensured that Everton qualified for the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
qualifying round. The team failed to make it through to the
Champions League group stage and was then eliminated from the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
. Everton qualified for the
2007–08 and
2008–09 UEFA Cup
The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...
competitions, and was the runner-up in the
2009 FA Cup Final
The 2009 FA Cup Final was the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 30 May 2009 and marked the third time that the final has been staged at the stad ...
. During this period, Moyes broke the club record for highest transfer fee paid on four occasions: signing
James Beattie for £6 million in January 2005,
Andy Johnson for £8.6 million in summer 2006,
Yakubu Yakubu is an English transliteration of a West African name and is a cognate of Jacob and James. Notable people with the name include:
;Given name
* Yakubu (born 1982 as Yakubu Ayegbeni), Nigerian footballer
* Yakubu (Gobir ruler), historical ruler ...
for £11.25 million in summer 2007, and
Marouane Fellaini
Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui (born 22 November 1987) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chinese club Shandong Taishan.
Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini played youth football for Anderlecht, R.A.E.C. ...
for £15 million in September 2008.
At the end of the 2012–13 season, Moyes left his position at Everton to take over at
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, bringing in staff from Everton to join him in July (assistant manager Steve Round, goalkeeping coach Chris Woods and coach Jimmy Lumsden), with Everton players
Phil Neville
Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammate ...
and
Marouane Fellaini
Marouane Fellaini-Bakkioui (born 22 November 1987) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chinese club Shandong Taishan.
Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini played youth football for Anderlecht, R.A.E.C. ...
also leaving for United, the former joining the coaching staff. Moyes was replaced by
Roberto Martínez
Roberto Martínez Montoliu (born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, currently as head coach of the Portugal national team.
Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Real Zaragoza ...
, who led Everton to 5th place in the Premier League in his
first season while amassing the club's best points tally in 27 years with 72. The following season, Martínez led Everton to the last 16 of the
2014-15 UEFA Europa League, where it was defeated by
Dynamo Kyiv
Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...
, whilst domestically finishing 11th in the Premier League. Everton reached the semi-finals of both the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
and the
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 ...
in 2015–16, but was defeated in both. After a poor run of form in the Premier League, Martínez was sacked following the penultimate game of the season, with Everton lying in 12th place.
Martínez was replaced in the summer of 2016 by
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...
, who left
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
to sign a three-year contract with Everton. In
his first season at the club, he qualified for the Europa League, but a poor start to the 2017–18 season left Everton in the relegation zone after nine games, and Koeman was sacked on 23 October following a 5–2 home defeat to
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
.
Sam Allardyce
Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English association football, football manager and former professional player.
Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent most ...
was appointed Everton manager in November 2017,
but he resigned at the end of the season amid fan discontent at his style of play.
Marco Silva
Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of club Fulham.
He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at ...
was named Everton manager in May 2018. In November that year, the club was banned from signing academy football players from its youth clubs for two years. Silva led Everton to finish 8th in his first season in charge, but after a poor start to the following season which left the team in the relegation zone on 14 points, he was sacked on 5 December 2019.
His last league match was a 5–2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Former player and first-team coach
Duncan Ferguson
Duncan Cowan Ferguson (born 27 December 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Ferguson was the caretaker manager of Everton in 2019 and 2022. He began his career at Dundee United in 1990, and moved to Rangers in 1993 for what was ...
stepped in as caretaker manager for the next three games before his replacement,
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...
; Ferguson stayed as assistant manager.
Ancelotti left the club in June 2021 to rejoin former club
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
as manager, having led the club to a 10th place finish in his only full season at the club. Former Liverpool manager
Rafael Benítez
Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton.
Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-1 ...
was appointed as his replacement, subsequently becoming only the second person to manage both Liverpool and Everton. He was dismissed in January 2022 following 9 losses in his last 13 games in charge at the club, and was replaced by former Chelsea boss
Frank Lampard
Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...
.
Colours
Everton's traditional home colours are royal blue shirts, white shorts and white socks. However, during the first decades of its history, Everton had several different kit colours. The team originally played in white and then blue and white stripes, but as new players arriving at the club wore its old team's shirts during matches, confusion soon ensued. It was decided that the shirts would be dyed black, both to save on expenses and to instill a more professional look. However, the kit appeared morbid, so a scarlet sash was added.
When the club moved to Goodison Park in 1892, the colours were salmon pink and dark blue striped shirts with dark blue shorts. The club later switched to ruby shirts with blue trim and dark blue shorts. Royal blue jerseys with white shorts were first used in the
1901–02 season.
The club played in sky blue in 1906; however, the fans protested, and the colour reverted to royal blue. Occasionally, Everton have played in lighter shades than royal blue (such as in
1930–31 and
1997–98). The home kit today is royal blue shirts with white shorts and socks. The club may also wear all blue to avoid any colour clashes.
Everton's traditional away colours were white shirts with black shorts, but from 1968 amber shirts and royal blue shorts became common. Various editions appeared throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Black, white, grey, and yellow away shirts have also been used.
Crest
![Everton Lockup 2019-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Everton_Lockup_2019-1.jpg)
At the end of the
1937–38 season, Everton secretary
Theo Kelly
Theo Kelly (17 January 1896 – 30 April 1964) was manager of Everton Football Club from 1939 to 1948.
Biography
Theo Kelly was born Louis Alford Theodore Kelly in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on 17 January 1896. His father, Louis Theophilus ...
, who later became the club's first manager, wanted to design a club necktie. It was agreed that the colour be blue, and Kelly was given the task of designing a crest to be featured on the necktie. He worked on it for four months until deciding on a reproduction of
Everton Lock-Up
Everton Lock-Up, sometimes referenced by one of its nicknames such as Prince Rupert's Tower or Prince Rupert's Castle is a village lock-up located on Everton Brow in Everton, Liverpool. The 18th-century structure is one of two Georgian lock-up ...
, which stands in the heart of the
Everton district.
The Lock-Up has been inextricably linked with the Everton area since its construction in 1787. It was originally used as a
bridewell
Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...
to incarcerate mainly drunks and minor criminals, and it still stands today on Everton Brow. The Lock-Up was accompanied by two laurel wreaths on either side and, according to the
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
in London, Kelly chose to include the
laurels
''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, Glossary of botanical terms#glabrous, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as ...
as they were the sign of winners. The crest was accompanied by the club motto, ''"
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum"'', meaning "Nothing but the best is good enough".
The ties were first worn by Kelly and the Everton chairman, Mr. E. Green, on the first day of the
1938–39 season.
The club rarely incorporated a badge of any description on its shirts. An interwoven "EFC" design was adopted between 1922 and 1930 before the club reverted to plain royal blue shirts until 1972 when bold "EFC" lettering was added. The crest designed by Kelly was first used on the team's shirts in 1978 and has remained there ever since, while undergoing gradual change to become the version used today.
In May 2013, the club launched a new crest to improve the reproducibility of the design in print and broadcast media, particularly on a small scale. Critics suggested that it was external pressure from sports manufacturer
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
that evoked the redesign as the number of colours had been reduced and the radial effect was removed, which made the kit more cost efficient to reproduce. The redesign was poorly received by supporters, with a poll on an Everton fan site registering a 91% negative response to the crest. A protest petition reached over 22,000 signatures before the club offered an apology and announced a new crest would be created for the 2014–15 season with an emphasis on fan consultation. Shortly afterwards, the Head of Marketing left the club. The latest crest was revealed by the club on 3 October 2013. After a consultation process with the supporters, three new crests were shortlisted. In the final vote, the new crest was chosen by almost 80% of the supporters that took part and began being used in July 2014.
File:Everton FC Crest (2000–13).svg, Monochrome Everton crest (2000–2013)
File:Everton F.C. (2013).svg, 2013–14 season crest
Nickname
Everton's most widely recognised nickname is "The Toffees" or "The Toffeemen", which came about after Everton had moved to Goodison. There are several explanations for how this name came to be adopted with the best known being that there was a business in
Everton village, between Everton Brow and Brow Side, named Mother Noblett's, which was a
toffee
Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee is ...
shop that sold sweets including the
Everton Mint. It was also located opposite the
lock up which Everton's club crest is based on. The Toffee Lady tradition in which a girl walks around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd symbolises the connection. Another possible reason is that there was a house named ''Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House'' in nearby Village Street, Everton, run by Ma Bushell. The toffee house was located near the Queen's Head hotel in which early club meetings took place.
Everton has had many other nicknames over the years. When the black kit was worn, the team was nicknamed "The Black Watch" after the
famous army regiment. Since going blue in 1901, the team has been given the simple nickname "The Blues". Everton's attractive style of play led to
Steve Bloomer
Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at ...
calling the team "scientific" in 1928, which is thought to have inspired the nickname "The School of Science". The battling 1995 FA Cup winning side was known collectively as "The Dogs of War". When David Moyes arrived as manager, he proclaimed Everton as "The People's Club", which has been adopted as a semi-official club nickname.
Stadium
![John Houlding](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/John_Houlding.jpg)
Everton originally played in the southeast corner of
Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and Coal ...
. The first official match took place in 1879. In 1882, a man named J. Cruitt donated land at Priory Road which became the club's home. In 1884 Everton became tenants at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
, which was owned by John Orrell, a land owner who was a friend of Everton F.C. member John Houlding. Orrell lent Anfield to the club in exchange for a small rent. Houlding purchased the land from Orrell in 1885 and effectively became Everton's landlord by charging the club rent, which increased from £100 to £240 a year by 1888 – and was still rising until Everton left the ground in 1892.
The club regarded the increase in rent as unacceptable.
A further dispute between Houlding and the club's committee led to Houlding attempting to gain full control of the club by registering the company, "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd". Everton left Anfield for a new ground,
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...
, where the club has played ever since. Houlding attempted to take over Everton's name, colours, fixtures and league position, but was denied by
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
. Instead, Houlding formed a new club,
Liverpool F.C
Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
.
Goodison Park, the first major football stadium to be built in England, was opened in 1892. Goodison Park has staged more top-flight football games than any other ground in the United Kingdom and was the only English club ground to host a semi-final at the
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...
. It was also the first English ground to have under-soil heating and the first to have two tiers on all sides. The church grounds of St Luke the Evangelist are adjacent to the corner of the Main Stand and the Howard Kendall Gwladys Street End.
On match days, in a tradition going back to 1962, players walk out to the tune "
Johnny Todd", played in the arrangement used when it was the theme song for ''
Z-Cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...
''. It is a traditional Liverpool children's song collected in 1890 by
Frank Kidson
Frank Kidson (15 November 1855 – 7 November 1926) was an English folksong collector and music scholar.
Career
He was born in Leeds, where he lived for most of his life.Palmer (2004). He worked briefly with his brother in an antique busine ...
and tells the story of a sailor betrayed by his lover while away at sea. On two occasions in 1994, the club walked out to different songs. In August 1994, the club played
2 Unlimited
2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the a ...
's song "
Get Ready For This
"Get Ready for This" is a song recorded by Belgian/Dutch music group 2 Unlimited. It was released in 1991 as the lead single from their debut album, '' Get Ready!'' (1992). Originally, the single was produced as an instrumental, titled the "Orc ...
". A month later, the club used a reworking of the
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...
classic "
Bad Moon Rising
"Bad Moon Rising" is a song written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was the lead single from their album ''Green River'' and was released in April 16, 1969 four months before the album. The song peaked at No. 2 ...
". Both songs were met with complete disapproval by Everton fans.
Training facilities
From 1966 to 2007, Everton trained at
Bellefield
Bellefield, in West Derby, Liverpool, is Everton FC's former training ground.
Bellefield had been Everton FC's training ground since 1946. It was purchased in 1965 and officially opened on 12 July 1966.
The Brazil national football team used ...
in the
West Derby
West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382.
History West Derby
Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...
area of Liverpool. The club moved to the
Finch Farm
Finch Farm is the training ground for Everton F.C., in Halewood, in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside within the Liverpool City Region.
The School of Science is the nickname given to the complex by some supporters, referring to a ...
training complex in
Halewood
Halewood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton.
Historically a part of Lancashire, ...
in 2007. The training ground houses both the Everton first team and the youth academy.
Everton Stadium
There have been indications since 1996 that Everton will move to a new stadium. The original plan was for a new 60,000-seat stadium, but in 2000 a proposal was submitted to build a 55,000-seat stadium as part of the
King's Dock regeneration. This proposal was unsuccessful as Everton failed to generate the £30 million needed for a half stake in the stadium project, and the city council rejected the proposal in 2003. Late in 2004, driven by the Liverpool Council and the Northwest Development Corporation, the club entered talks with
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
about sharing a proposed stadium on
Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and Coal ...
. However, negotiations broke down as Everton failed to raise 50% of the costs. On 11 January 2005, Liverpool announced that ground-sharing was not a possibility and proceeded to plan its own
Stanley Park Stadium
Stanley Park was a proposed Association football, football stadium in Stanley Park, Liverpool, Stanley Park, Liverpool that if built, would have become home to Liverpool F.C., Liverpool Football Club, replacing their current stadium Anfield. The ...
.
Following a unanimous approval by Liverpool City Council to grant planning permission in July 2021, work by contractors, Laing O'Rourke, began on the new stadium on 10 August 2021. The first phase involved infilling the dock with 500,000 cubic metres of sea-dredged sand, and so 2,500 vertical concrete piles have been inserted. Its capacity will be 52,888. It is due to open for the start of the 2024-25 season, replacing Goodison Park.
Supporters and rivalries
Everton has a large fanbase, with the eighth-highest average attendance in the Premier League in the
2008–09 season. The majority of Everton's matchday support comes from the
North West of England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the th ...
, primarily
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
, Cheshire,
West Lancashire
West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town in the borough is Skelmersdale. At the 2011 Census, the population of the borough was 110,685 ...
and parts of Western
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
along with many fans who travel from
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
, Ireland, and Scotland. Within the city of Liverpool, support for Everton and city rivals Liverpool is not determined by geographical basis with supporters mixed across the city. Everton also has many supporters' clubs worldwide in places such as North America, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Australia.
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
is one of the more recognizable Everton supporters. The official supporters club is ''FOREVERTON'', and there are also several
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
s including ''When Skies are Grey'' and ''Speke from the Harbour'', which are sold around Goodison Park on match days.
![Luis Suarez runs at Distin 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Luis_Suarez_runs_at_Distin_3.jpg)
Everton regularly take large numbers away from home both domestically and in European fixtures. The club implements a loyalty points scheme offering the first opportunity to purchase away tickets to season ticket holders who have attended the most away matches. Everton often sell out the full allocation in away grounds, and tickets sell particularly well for
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
away matches. In October 2009, Everton took 7,000 travelling fans to
Benfica, which was its largest ever away crowd in Europe since the
1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final.
Everton's biggest rivalry is with neighbours
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, against whom the club contests the
Merseyside derby
The Merseyside derby is the football matches between Everton and Liverpool, the two primary clubs in Liverpool, England. Named after the county of Merseyside, in which Liverpool is located, it is the longest running top-flight derby in England ...
. The rivalry stems from an internal dispute between Everton officials and the owners of Anfield, which was then Everton's home ground. The dispute resulted in Everton moving to Goodison Park and the subsequent formation of Liverpool F.C. in 1892. Following these events, a fierce rivalry has existed between Everton and Liverpool, albeit one that is generally perceived as more respectful than many other
derbies in English football. This was illustrated by a chain of red and blue scarves that were linked between the gates of both grounds across Stanley Park as a tribute to the Liverpool fans killed in the
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...
. The derby is usually a sellout fixture and has been known as the "friendly derby" because both sets of fans can often be seen side by side dressed in red and blue inside both
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
and Goodison Park. Recently, on the field, matches have tended to be extremely stormy affairs; the derby has had more
red cards than any other fixture in Premier League history.
Coaching staff
First team
Under-21s and Under-18s
Players
First-team squad
Out on loan
Reserves and Academy
Notable former players
''See also
List of Everton F.C. international players
Everton Football Club, an association football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, was founded in 1878 and competes in the top flight of English football the Premier League. Everton have a storied history winning nine League titles, five FA Cup ...
.''
Everton Giants
The following players are considered "Giants" for their great contributions to Everton. A panel appointed by the club established the inaugural list in 2000 and a new inductee is announced every season.
![Dixie Dean Monument](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Dixie_Dean_Monument.jpg)
;Player of the Year
Winners of the club's end of season award
* 2005–06
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of club Arsenal.
Arteta began his senior career at Barcelona in 1999 but limited playing time led to a loan to Paris ...
* 2006–07
Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of club Arsenal.
Arteta began his senior career at Barcelona in 1999 but limited playing time led to a loan to Paris ...
* 2007–08
Joleon Lescott
Joleon Patrick Lescott (born 16 August 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He currently works as a coach with the England U21s.
Lescott is a graduate of the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy. H ...
* 2008–09
Phil Jagielka
Philip Nikodem Jagielka ( or ; born 17 August 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Stoke City.
Jagielka started his career with Sheffield United in 2000, where he played mainly as a central midfielder ...
* 2009–10
Steven Pienaar
Steven Jerome Pienaar (; born 17 March 1982) is a South African former professional footballer and current assistant coach of the U18 team of the Ajax Youth Academy.
He was a captain of the South African national team. He primarily played as ...
* 2010–11
Leighton Baines
Leighton John Baines (born 11 December 1984) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a left back. He is currently U-18s manager at Everton F.C., Everton.
Baines started his career with Wigan Athletic F.C ...
* 2011–12
John Heitinga
John Gijsbert Alan "Johnny" Heitinga (born 15 November 1983) is a Dutch football coach and a former player who played as a centre back. He manages Jong Ajax, the reserves team of AFC Ajax.
A product of the Ajax Youth Academy, he played for their ...
* 2012–13
Leighton Baines
Leighton John Baines (born 11 December 1984) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a left back. He is currently U-18s manager at Everton F.C., Everton.
Baines started his career with Wigan Athletic F.C ...
* 2013–14
Séamus Coleman
Séamus Coleman (; born 11 October 1988) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a right-back and captains both Premier League club Everton and the Republic of Ireland national team.
Originally a Gaelic footballer, Coleman started hi ...
* 2014–15
Phil Jagielka
Philip Nikodem Jagielka ( or ; born 17 August 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Stoke City.
Jagielka started his career with Sheffield United in 2000, where he played mainly as a central midfielder ...
* 2015–16
Gareth Barry
Gareth Barry (born 23 February 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made 653 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion, the highest number of ap ...
* 2016–17
Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, on loan from club Chelsea, and the Belgium national team.
Lukaku began his senior club career playing for Ander ...
* 2017–18
Jordan Pickford
Jordan Lee Pickford (' Logan; born 7 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Everton and the England national team.
Pickford has previously played for Sunderland's academy, reserve, and senior te ...
* 2018–19
Lucas Digne
Lucas Digne (; born 20 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Aston Villa and the France national team.
Digne began his career at Lille before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2013. After spending a sea ...
* 2019–20
Richarlison
Richarlison de Andrade (born 10 May 1997), known mononymously as Richarlison (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Tottenham Hotspur and the Brazil national team.
He began his professional career with A ...
* 2020–21
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Dominic Nathaniel Calvert-Lewin (born 16 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Everton and the England national team.
Calvert-Lewin began his career at local team Sheffield United, making his seni ...
* 2021–22
Jordan Pickford
Jordan Lee Pickford (' Logan; born 7 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Everton and the England national team.
Pickford has previously played for Sunderland's academy, reserve, and senior te ...
;Greatest ever team
At the start of the 2003–04 season, as part of the club's official celebration of its 125th anniversary, supporters cast votes to determine the greatest ever Everton team.
*
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.
He joined Bury from Winsford U ...
(1981–97)
*
Gary Stevens (1982–89)
*
Brian Labone
Brian Leslie Labone (23 January 1940 – 24 April 2006) was an English footballer who played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship ...
(1958–71)
*
Kevin Ratcliffe
Kevin Ratcliffe (born 12 November 1960) is a Welsh former professional footballer who spent most of his career playing for Everton.
Club career
Ratcliffe was born in Mancot, near Queensferry in Flintshire, Wales. He joined Everton as an appren ...
(1980–91)
*
Ray Wilson (1964–69)
*
Trevor Steven
Trevor McGregor Steven (born 21 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-sided midfielder. He progressed through the ranks at Burnley, making his debut in 1981 and becoming a regular supplier of goals o ...
(1983–90)
*
Alan Ball (1966–71)
*
Peter Reid
Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player.
A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...
(1982–89)
*
Kevin Sheedy (1982–92)
*
Dixie Dean
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...
(1925–37)
*
Graeme Sharp
Graeme Marshall Sharp (born 16 October 1960) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Sharp played as a forward for Dumbarton, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Bangor City. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them wi ...
(1980–91)
;English Football Hall of Fame members
A number of Everton players have been inducted into the
English Football Hall of Fame
The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...
:
*
Dixie Dean
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...
''(2002 inductee)''
*
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...
''(2002 inductee)''
*
Alan Ball ''(2003 inductee)''
*
Pat Jennings
Patrick Anthony Jennings (born 12 June 1945) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 119 international matches for Northern Ireland in an international career which lasted for over 22 years. D ...
''(2003 inductee)''
*
Tommy Lawton
Thomas Lawton (6 October 1919 – 6 November 1996) was an English football player and manager. A strong centre-forward with excellent all-round attacking skills, he was able to head the ball with tremendous power and accuracy.
Born in Fa ...
''(2003 inductee)''
*
Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...
''(2003 inductee)''
*
Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager.
Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, ...
''(2005 inductee)''
*
Peter Beardsley
Peter Andrew Beardsley MBE (born 18 January 1961) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder between 1979 and 1999.
In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game and represented his coun ...
''(2007 inductee)''
*
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...
''(2007 inductee)''
*
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.
He joined Bury from Winsford U ...
''(2008 inductee)''
[Southall was inducted along with Liverpool F.C.'s ]Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
at a special European night to celebrate the city's successful European Capital of Culture bid.
*
Ray Wilson ''(2008 inductee)''
*
Joe Mercer
Joseph Mercer, OBE (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English football player and manager. Mercer, who played as a defender for Everton and Arsenal in his footballing career, also went on to manage Aston Villa, Manchester City and Engl ...
''(2009 inductee)''
*
Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick (26 November 1919 – 9 March 1985) was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. ...
''(2010 inductee)''
*
Peter Reid
Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player.
A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...
''(2014 inductee)''
*
Gary Speed
Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...
''(2017 inductee)''
;Football League 100 Legends
The
Football League 100 Legends
The Football League 100 Legends is a list of 100 great association football players who played part or all of their professional career in English Football League and Premier League football. The players were selected in 1998 by a panel of journa ...
is a list of "100 legendary
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 ...
players" produced by the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in 1998 to celebrate the 100th season of League football.
*
Alan Ball
*
Dixie Dean
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...
*
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...
*
Tommy Lawton
Thomas Lawton (6 October 1919 – 6 November 1996) was an English football player and manager. A strong centre-forward with excellent all-round attacking skills, he was able to head the ball with tremendous power and accuracy.
Born in Fa ...
*
Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...
*
Joe Mercer
Joseph Mercer, OBE (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English football player and manager. Mercer, who played as a defender for Everton and Arsenal in his footballing career, also went on to manage Aston Villa, Manchester City and Engl ...
*
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.
He joined Bury from Winsford U ...
*
Alex Young
Honours
Domestic
League
*
First Division/
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
**Champions (9):
1890–91,
1914–15,
1927–28,
1931–32,
1938–39,
1962–63,
1969–70,
1984–85,
1986–87
*
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
/
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
**Winners (1):
1930–31
Cups
*
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 ...
:
**Winners (5):
1905–06
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
,
1932–33,
1965–66,
1983–84,
1994–95
*
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
**Runners-up (2):
1976–77,
1983–84
*
FA Charity Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
**Winners (9):
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
,
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
,
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
,
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
,
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
,
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
,
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
''(shared)'',
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
,
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
*
Full Members Cup
The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992.
The ...
:
**Runners-up (2):
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
,
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
*
Football League Super Cup
The Football League Super Cup (known for sponsorship reasons as the ScreenSport Super Cup) was a one-off football club competition held in England in the 1985–86 season. It was organised by the Football League and was intended as a form of fina ...
**Runners-up (1): 1985–86
European
*
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
**Winners: (1):
1984–85
Doubles
*
1984–85:
League
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
and
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
European competitions
Overall record
Ownership and finance
Everton F.C. is a
limited company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...
with the board of directors holding a majority of the shares. The club's most recent accounts, from May 2014, show a net total debt of £28.1 million, with a turnover of £120.5 million and a profit of £28.2 million. The club's overdraft with
Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
is secured against the Premier League's "Basic Award Fund", which is a guaranteed sum given to clubs for competing in the Premier League. Everton agreed to a long-term loan of £30 million with
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...
and
Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people.
Prudential has dual primary list ...
in 2002 for a duration of 25 years. The loan was a consolidation of debts at the time as well as a source of capital for new player acquisitions.
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...
is secured as collateral. On 27 February 2016, it was announced that
Farhad Moshiri
Farhad Moshiri ( fa, اردوان فرهاد ﻣﺸﻴﺮى; born 18 May 1955) is a British-Iranian businessman based in Monaco. He is the chairman and a shareholder of USM, a diversified Russian holding company with significant interests acros ...
would buy a 49.9% stake in the club.
Figures taken from 2013 to 2014 accounts.
Shirt sponsors and manufacturers
Since the 2020-21 season the club's primary shirt sponsor has been
Cazoo
Cazoo is a British online car retailer based in London, England which was founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman.
History
Cazoo was founded in 2018 by British internet entrepreneur Alex Chesterman. It launched an online marketplace for used cars in ...
, after the club announced the early termination of the previous deal with
SportPesa
SportPesa is a sports news technology and sports betting brand with operations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Italy, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the UK, where it operates in conjunction with TGP Europe.
Ownership
SportPesa in Kenya is ...
in February 2020.
The sponsorship does not extent to the club's
women's team
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
, who for the first time are able to sign their own shirt sponsor.
Previous sponsors include SportPesa (2017–20),
Chang Beer
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
(2004–17) Hafnia (1979–85),
NEC
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...
(1985–95), Danka (1995–97),
one2one
T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, wh ...
(1997–2002) and
Kejian
Shenzhen Kejian Group Co., Ltd. (), better known as Kejian (), was a Chinese telecommunications company.
During the 2002–03 FA Premier League season, the company sponsored Everton F.C.
Kejian was responsible for the club's signing of Chines ...
(2002–04). For the
2008–09 season, Everton sold junior replica jerseys without the current name or logo of its main sponsor
Chang beer
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
, which followed a recommendation from the
Portman Group
The Portman Group is a trade group composed of alcoholic beverage producers and brewers in the UK.
History
It was set up in 1989 as part of a campaign to raise awareness on alcohol-related issues, and its members account for the majority of a ...
that alcoholic brand names be removed from kits sold to children.
Everton's current kit manufacturers since the 2020–21 season are
Hummel, after a previous deal with
Umbro
Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 100 c ...
was terminated early by the club. Umbro have been the club's kit manufacturer four times (1974–83, 1986–2000, 2004–09, and 2014–20). Other previous manufacturing firms are
Le Coq Sportif
Le Coq Sportif (, "the athletic rooster") is a French manufacturing company of sports equipment. Founded in 1882 by Émile Camuset and located in Entzheim, the company first issued items branded with its now-famous rooster trademark in 1948. The ...
(1983–86, 2009–12),
Puma
Puma or PUMA may refer to:
Animals
* ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae
** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat
Businesses and organisations
* Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company
* Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...
(2000–04) and
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...
(2012–14).
The club currently has two 'megastores': one located near Goodison Park on Walton Lane named 'Everton One' and one located in the
Liverpool One
Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by the department store ...
shopping complex named 'Everton Two', which gives the second store the address 'Everton Two, Liverpool One'.
Managers
The club's current manager,
Frank Lampard
Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...
, is the twentieth permanent holder of the position since it was established in 1939. There have also been four caretaker managers, and before 1939 the team was selected by either the club secretary or by committee. The club's longest-serving manager has been
Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick (26 November 1919 – 9 March 1985) was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. ...
, who was in charge of the team from 1961 to 1973 for 594 first team matches.
The Everton manager to win the most domestic and international trophies is
Howard Kendall
Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager.
Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, ...
, who won two
First Division championships, the
1984 FA Cup, the
1985 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and three
FA Charity Shields.
Records and statistics
Neville Southall
Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985.
He joined Bury from Winsford U ...
holds the record for the most Everton appearances with 751 first-team matches between 1981 and 1997. The late centre half and former captain
Brian Labone
Brian Leslie Labone (23 January 1940 – 24 April 2006) was an English footballer who played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship ...
comes in second with 534 matches. The longest serving player is goalkeeper
Ted Sagar
Edward Sagar (7 February 1910 – 16 October 1986) was an English footballer who played for Everton and England.
He was a goalkeeper who joined Everton as an apprentice in 1929 after playing for Thorne Colliery in Yorkshire and made his deb ...
, who played for 23 years between 1929 and 1953. This tenure covered both sides of 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 ...
and included a total of 495 appearances. Southall also previously held the record for the most league clean sheets during a season with 15. However, this record was beaten during the
2008–09 season by American goalkeeper
Tim Howard, who ended the season with 17 clean sheets. The club's top goalscorer, with 383 goals in all competitions, is
Dixie Dean
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...
; the second-highest goalscorer is
Graeme Sharp
Graeme Marshall Sharp (born 16 October 1960) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Sharp played as a forward for Dumbarton, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Bangor City. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them wi ...
with 159. Dean still holds the
English national record of most goals in a season with 60.
The record attendance for an Everton home match is 78,299 against Liverpool on 18 September 1948. Remarkably, there was only one injury at this game, which occurred when Tom Fleetwood was hit on the head by a coin thrown from the crowd whilst he marched around the perimeter and played the
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
with St Edward's Orphanage Band. Goodison Park, like all major English football grounds since the recommendations of the
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...
were implemented, is now an all-seater and only holds just under 40,000, meaning it is unlikely that this attendance record will ever be broken at Goodison.
Everton's record transfer paid was to Swansea City for the
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic midfielder
Gylfi Sigurðsson
Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson (; transliterated as Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson; born 8 September 1989) is an Icelandic professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Everton.
Gylfi began his professional caree ...
for a sum of £45m in 2017. The sale of
Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, on loan from club Chelsea, and the Belgium national team.
Lukaku began his senior club career playing for Ander ...
to
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
was for an initial sum of £75m, a record fee between two English clubs and the largest sum Everton has received for a player.
Everton holds the record for the most seasons in England's top tier (Division One/Premier League), with 119 seasons out of 123, as of completion of the 2021-22 season (the club played in Division 2 in 1930–31 and from 1951 to 1954). It is one of six teams to have played in every season of the Premier League since its inception in August 1992 – the others being
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, and
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
. Everton against Aston Villa is the most played fixture in England's top flight. As of the 2012–13 season, the two founding members of the Football League have played a record 196 league games.
Everton's community department
Everton's community department, Everton in the Community (EitC), is a charity that provides sports and other social activities for the local community including for people with disabilities. EitC represents the club in the
European Multisport Club Association
The European Multisport Club Association (EMCA) is a sports organization representing the interests of multisport clubs in Europe. It was created with an initiative of the multisport club S.S. Lazio.
EMCA is also a partner of the House of Sport ...
.
Relationships with other clubs
Everton is connected to many other sports clubs and organisations. It has links with Irish football academy Ballyoulster United in
Celbridge
Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...
, the Canadian
Ontario Soccer Association
The Ontario Soccer Association, founded in 1901, is one of the oldest and largest sport organizations in Canada. The OSA currently has more than 500,000 registered participants and provides development opportunities for players, coaches, refere ...
, and the Thai
Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
(where there is a competition named the Chang-Everton Cup, competed for by local schoolboys). The club also has a football academy in the Cypriot city of
Limassol
Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
and a partnership agreement with American club
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...
.
Everton has links with Chilean team
Everton de Viña del Mar
Everton de Viña del Mar is a Chilean football club based in the city of Viña del Mar.
The club was founded 24 June 1909 after a group of Anglo-Chilean teenagers formed a football club and named it after the English team Everton who had re ...
, who were named after the club. On 4 August 2010, the two Evertons played each other in a friendly match at Goodison Park named the "Copa Hermandad" to mark the centenary of the Chilean team. The occasion was organised by the Ruleteros Society, which was founded to promote connections between the two clubs. Other Everton clubs also exist in
Colonia in Uruguay,
La Plata
La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...
and
Río Cuarto in Argentina,
Elk Grove in the U.S. state of California, and
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
in Ireland. There was also a team named
Everton in Trinidad and Tobago. There was an Everton club in Auckland, New Zealand from 1907 to 1915 named because of the first FA Cup win.
The club owned and operated a professional basketball team by the name of the
Everton Tigers
The Mersey Tigers were a professional basketball team based in the city of Liverpool, England. The club was established in 2007 as a start-up franchise of the British Basketball League, the country's elite competition. The Tigers started compe ...
, who competed in the top-tier
British Basketball League
The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
. The team was launched in the summer of 2007 as part of the club's Community programme and played its home games at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool's
Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 at t ...
suburb. The team was an amalgam of the
Toxteth
Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside.
Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill.
The area w ...
Tigers community youth programme, which started in 1968. The team quickly became one of the most successful in the league by winning the BBL Cup in 2009 and the play-offs in 2010. However, Everton withdrew funding before the 2010–11 season and the team was re-launched as the Mersey Tigers.
In popular culture
Film and TV
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...
's 1969 television film ''The Golden Vision'' combined improvised drama with documentary footage to tell the story of a group of Everton fans for whom the main purpose of life—following the team—is interrupted by such inconveniences as work and weddings. Everton forward
Alex Young, whose nickname was also the title of the film, appeared as himself.
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass (born 13 August 1955) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of historic events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.
His early film ' ...
's 1997 television film ''
The Fix'' dramatised the true story of a match-fixing scandal in which the club's newest player
Tony Kay
Anthony Herbert Kay (born 13 May 1937) is an English former footballer who became notorious after being banned from the professional game for life following the British betting scandal of 1964.
Kay played for Sheffield Wednesday before beco ...
(played by
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor.
Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...
) is implicated in having helped to throw a match between his previous club
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
and
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
. The majority of the story is set during Everton's 1962–63 League Championship winning season, with then-manager
Harry Catterick
Harry Catterick (26 November 1919 – 9 March 1985) was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. ...
played by
Colin Welland
Colin Welland (born Colin Edward Williams; 4 July 1934 – 2 November 2015) was an English actor and screenwriter. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Mr Farthing in '' Kes'' (1969) and the Academy A ...
.
In the 2015
''Rocky'' film ''
Creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
'', Goodison Park serves as the venue of the climactic fight scene. Footage of the stadium and crowd during a home game against
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
was used for the scene. Liverpool-born boxing champion
Tony Bellew
Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, and challeng ...
, a lifelong Everton fan, plays Creed's opponent and wore the Everton badge on his training gear and shorts.
Music
The club entered the UK singles chart on four occasions under different titles during the 1980s and 1990s, when many clubs each released a song to mark reaching the
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
. "The Boys in Blue", released in 1984, peaked at No. 82. The following year, the club scored its biggest hit when "Here We Go" peaked at No. 14. In 1986, Everton released "Everybody's Cheering the Blues", which reached No. 83. "All Together Now", a reworking of a song by Liverpool band
The Farm, was released for the
1995 FA Cup Final
The 1995 FA Cup Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium in London on 20 May 1995 to determine the winner of the 1994–95 FA Cup. The 50th FA Cup Final to be played at Wembley since the Second World War, it was contested by Everton ...
and reached No. 27.
By the time the club reached the
2009 FA Cup Final
The 2009 FA Cup Final was the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 30 May 2009 and marked the third time that the final has been staged at the stad ...
, the tradition had largely been abandoned by all clubs and no song was released.
See also
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
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Everton News – Sky SportsEverton F.C. – Premierleague.com
{{Authority control
1878 establishments in England
Association football clubs established in 1878
FA Cup winners
Football clubs in England
Football clubs in Liverpool
The Football League founder members
Former English Football League clubs
Premier League clubs
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winning clubs