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

is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The club was formed in 1863 as Stoke Ramblers F.C., and played their first competitive match in November 1883, when they entered the First Round of the

1883–84 FA Cup The 1883–84 Football Association Challenge Cup was the 13th staging of the FA Cup, England's oldest football tournament. One hundred teams entered, sixteen more than the previous season, although three of the one hundred never played a match. P ...

. In 1888 they joined the inaugural Football League thus becoming founding members. The club was renamed Stoke City F.C. in 1925, and they moved to

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

in 1997. Since playing their first competitive match, more than 1000 players have made a competitive first-team appearance for the club, many of whom have played 100 matches+ (including substitute appearances); those players are listed here. Despite a lack of success Stoke have had a number of famous players over the years such as

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

Jimmy Greenhoff James Greenhoff (born 19 June 1946) is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward and although capped five times at under-23 level, once as an over-age player, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest Englis ...

and Denis Smith. Stoke City's record appearance-maker is

Eric Skeels Eric Thomas Skeels (born 27 October 1939) is an English former Association football, footballer. He played 512 games in the English Football League, Football League, 507 for Stoke City F.C., Stoke City. He is Stoke's record appearance holder ha ...

who made 596 appearances between 1959 and 1976. Stoke's top senior goalscorer is John Ritchie with 176 goals.

List of players

*Appearances and goals are for first-team competitive matches only, including

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 Fo ...

, Football League,

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

, Birmingham & District League, Southern League,

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 ...

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 ...

League Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

, UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, Anglo-Italian Cup, Birmingham League Cup,

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. Th ...

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

and

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

. Wartime matches are regarded as unofficial and are excluded. *The list is ordered first by number of appearances in total. *Highlighted players members of the current squad. ''Statistics correct as of match played 29 January 2023'' ;Table headers * Nationality – If a player played international football, the country/countries he played for are shown. Otherwise, the player's nationality is given as their country of birth. * Stoke City career – The year of the player's first appearance for Stoke City to the year of his last appearance. * Starts – The number of games started. * Sub – The number of games played as a substitute. * Total – The total number of games played, both as a starter and as a substitute.

Notes

* A utility player is one who is considered to play in more than one position.

References

* * {{Lists of football players in England Players Stoke City Association football player non-biographical articles