Bury F.C.

Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester. Their home ground since 1885 has been Gigg Lane, one of the world's oldest football stadiums. The team most recently competed in the 2025–26 season of the Northern Premier League (NPL) Division One West, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid. Having won promotion as champions, they will play in the seventh tier NPL Premier Division in the 2026–27 season. Before expulsion from the English Football League in August 2019, Bury FC had played in EFL League Two, the fourth tier, in the 2018–19 season. The team are known as "The Shakers", and play in white shirts and navy blue shorts. Bury have a traditional rivalry with their neighbours Bolton Wanderers.

Established in 1885, Bury was a founder member of the Lancashire League in 1889, and champions in 1890–91 and 1891–92, before being elected to the Football League in 1894. Bury won the Second Division in 1894–95, and promotion to the First Division in which they played for 17 seasons. They won the FA Cup in 1900 with a 4–0 victory over Southampton, and again in 1903 with a record 6–0 win over Derby County. Bury were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1911–12 season, and were there for twelve years until securing promotion as runners-up in 1923–24. They were relegated in 1928–29, their last top-flight season. In 1956–57, they dropped into the third tier for the first time but won promotion as champions of the Third Division under Dave Russell in 1960–61. From 1967 to 1971, they had one promotion and three relegations, the last of which was from the Third to the Fourth Division.

Bury won promotion at the end of the 1973–74 campaign, and remained in the Third Division until 1979–80. Under manager Martin Dobson, Bury won promotion back to Division Three in 1984–85. In 1990 and 1991, the club qualified for the Third Division playoffs, but were then relegated in 1992. In 1995, Stan Ternent became team manager, leading the team back to the second tier for the first time in 28 years after securing two consecutive promotions in 1995–96 and 1996–97. The club stayed there for just two seasons before being relegated twice in four seasons. They secured promotion out of League Two in 2010–11. After that, Bury switched between Leagues One and Two, being twice relegated (in 2012–13 and 2017–18) and twice promoted (in 2014–15 and 2018–19). Bury finished the 2018–19 season as runners-up in League Two, earning promotion to League One for the 2019–20 season. However, the club was unable to begin the season because of longstanding financial difficulties, and was expelled from the Football League on 27 August 2019.

In November 2020, the club was placed in administration. A phoenix club, Bury AFC, owned by the Shakers Community Society, competed in the North West Counties Football League, the tenth tier of the English football league system, in the 2020–21 season. In February 2022, a Bury FC fans' group called Est.1885 completed the purchase of Gigg Lane from the administrator, and acquired the trading name, history and memorabilia of Bury FC. Est.1885 became the Bury Football Club Supporters' Society. The two societies merged in May 2023. As a result, Bury AFC adopted the Bury FC playing name ahead of the 2023–24 season, and returned to Gigg Lane, following Football Association approval on 5 June 2023. Upon merging, the two teams' histories were combined—retroactively counting Bury AFC's seasons as seasons for Bury FC. Since then, Bury have successfully progressed from the tenth tier to the seventh.