Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football team located in Birmingham, England. The club was created in 1875 under the name Small Heath Alliance. It was later renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team currently plays in the Championship, which is the second level of English football.

As Small Heath, the club joined the Football Alliance and later became one of the first teams to join and win the Football League Second Division. The club's most successful years were in the 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, they finished sixth in the First Division in the 1955–56 season and reached the 1956 FA Cup final. Birmingham City played in two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals, in 1960 and 1961, becoming the first English team to reach a major European competition final. They won the League Cup in 1963 and again in 2011. The club has spent about half of its history in the top tier of English football. The longest time they were not in the top division was from 1986 to 2002, which included two short periods in the third tier, during which they won the Football League Trophy twice.

St. Andrew's, now called St. Andrew's at Knighthead Park since 2024 because of a sponsorship deal, has been the club's home stadium since 1906. Birmingham City has a long and intense rivalry with Aston Villa, their closest neighbors, in a match known as the Second City derby. The club's nickname is "Blues," named after the color of their uniforms, and their fans are called "Bluenoses."

History

Birmingham City was founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875. From 1877, the team played their home games at Muntz Street. The team, called the "Heathens," became professional in 1885. In 1888, they changed their name to Small Heath F.C. Ltd., becoming the first football club to operate as a limited company with a board of directors. From the 1889–90 season, they played in the Football Alliance, which existed alongside the Football League. In 1892, Small Heath joined the newly formed Football League Second Division. They won the division but failed to move up to the First Division through a test match. The following season, they finished second and won promotion after defeating Darwen in another test match. In 1905, the club changed its name to Birmingham Football Club and moved to St Andrew's Ground the next year. However, the team struggled on the field and was moved down to the Second Division in 1908. They had to apply for re-election in 1910 and remained in the Second Division until after World War I ended.

Frank Womack's leadership and the skills of Scottish player Johnny Crosbie helped Birmingham win their second Division Two title in 1920–21. Womack played 515 games for the club, a record for an outfield player, over 20 years. In 1920, 19-year-old Joe Bradford made his debut. He later scored 267 goals in 445 games, a club record, and played for England 12 times. In 1931, manager Leslie Knighton led the team to their first FA Cup final, where they lost 2–1 to West Bromwich Albion. Birmingham stayed in the top league for 18 seasons but struggled in matches, relying heavily on goalkeeper Harry Hibbs to compensate for weak scoring. They were moved down to the Second Division in 1939, just before the Football League paused during World War II.

In 1943, the club changed its name to Birmingham City F.C. Manager Harry Storer, who joined in 1945, led the team to win a wartime league and reach the semi-finals of the first post-war FA Cup. In 1947, they won their third Second Division title, allowing only 24 goals in 42 games. Storer’s successor, Bob Brocklebank, could not prevent relegation in 1950 but brought in players who helped the club succeed in the next decade. When Arthur Turner became manager in 1954, he improved the team’s performance. A 5–1 win in the final game of the 1954–55 season made them champions. In their first season back in the First Division, Birmingham finished sixth, their best league result. They also reached the FA Cup final, losing 3–1 to Manchester City. The match was notable because Manchester City’s goalkeeper played the last 20 minutes with a broken neck bone. The next season, Birmingham lost in the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United’s "Busby Babes."

Birmingham became the first English club to compete in European games when they played in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1956. They reached the semi-finals, drawing 4–4 with Barcelona but losing the replay 2–1. They also became the first English team to reach a European final, losing to Barcelona in 1960 and to A.S. Roma in 1961. In 1961, they beat Internazionale at home and away, a feat no other English club matched until 2003. Gil Merrick’s team excelled in cup competitions. In 1963, they defeated local rivals Aston Villa in the League Cup final, winning their first major trophy. After 10 years in the top league, Birmingham moved back to the Second Division in 1965.

In 1965, businessman Clifford Coombs became chairman and brought back Stan Cullis to manage the club. Cullis’s team reached the League Cup and FA Cup semi-finals but struggled in league matches. His successor, Freddie Goodwin, led a team that played skillful and aggressive football, winning promotion and reaching an FA Cup semi-final. Two years later, the club sold Bob Latchford to Everton for £350,000, a British record. Without his scoring, the team struggled. Sir Alf Ramsey briefly managed the club before Jim Smith took over in 1978. With relegation likely, the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest for £1 million, a record fee. Francis had scored 133 goals in 329 games for Birmingham.

Smith returned the club to the First Division, but a poor start to the 1981–82 season led to his replacement by Ron Saunders, who had recently left Aston Villa. Saunders’s team struggled to score goals and was moved down to the Second Division in 1984. They bounced back up, but the final home game of the 1984–85 promotion season against Leeds United was marred by riots. A boy was killed when a wall collapsed during the chaos. This event happened the same day as the Bradford City stadium fire and was studied by an official inquiry into stadium safety. The club faced instability on and off the field. Saunders quit after an FA Cup loss to a non-League team, staff were laid off, and the training ground was sold. By 1989, Birmingham was in the Third Division for the first time in its history.

In April 1989, the Kumar brothers, owners of a clothing chain, bought the club. However, the club faced problems, including frequent manager changes, lack of investment, and players refusing to renew contracts. A victory at Wembley in the Associate Members’ Cup helped ease tensions. Terry Cooper led the team to promotion, but the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) put the Kumars’ businesses into receivership. In November 1992, BCCI’s liquidator sold their 84% ownership of the club.

The club was in financial trouble for four months until David Sullivan, owner of Sport Newspapers, bought it for £700,000. He hired Karren Brady, then 23, as managing director and allowed Cooper to spend money on new players. The team avoided relegation to the Third Division but had a poor start to the 1993–94 season. Cooper was replaced by Barry Fry, who could not prevent relegation but led the team back to the Second Division as champions. They also won the Football League Trophy with a "golden goal" against Carlisle United, completing a "lower-league Double." After one more year, Fry was replaced by Trevor Francis.

Francis brought in experienced players, including Manchester United captain Steve Bruce. His team narrowly missed a play-off spot in 1998 and faced repeated play-off semi-final defeats. They reached the 2001 League Cup final against Liverpool at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Birmingham tied

Colours and badge

The members of the Small Heath Alliance chose blue as their team color. In the early days, they wore any blue shirts they had available. The first official uniform was a dark blue shirt with a sash over the right shoulder, which was sometimes white, yellow, or red. Over time, many different blue designs were tested. The design that became permanent was a royal blue shirt with a white "V" shape, introduced during the First World War and used until the late 1920s. Even when the design changed, the royal blue color remained. In 1971, the team wore a "penguin" style shirt—royal blue with a wide white panel in the center—which lasted for five years. Since then, the team has mostly worn plain royal blue shirts, though the exact shade has varied slightly. Shorts have been either blue or white, and socks are usually blue, white, or a mix of both. For away games, the most common colors used are white, yellow, red, and black, either alone or together.

There were some unusual examples. In 1992, the kit was made of blue fabric covered with colorful splashes that looked like a shower curtain. The home shirt had stripes only once, in 1999, when the blue shirt had a narrow blue and white stripe in the center, similar to a supermarket bag from that time.

When the club changed its name from Small Heath to Birmingham in 1905, it adopted the city’s coat of arms as its badge, though it was not always shown on shirts. The "penguin" shirt from the 1970s had the letters "BCFC" woven together in the center of the chest. In 1972, a newspaper held a competition to design a new badge. The winning design was a drawing of a globe and a ball, with a ribbon showing the club’s name and founding date in blue and white. The club used this design after it was approved by the College of Arms in 1975 and it was first worn on shirts in 1976. A later attempt to color the globe and ball was quickly stopped.

The club rarely uses the same kit supplier for more than three seasons. The first sponsor to appear on shirts was a local brewery, Ansells, in 1983. They left in mid-1985, and shirts had no sponsor until January 1987, when Co-op Milk paid a large sum to have its name on the shirts until the end of the season. This helped the club financially and improved its image. Later sponsors included car retailer PJ Evans/Evans Halshaw (1988–1989), Mark One (1989–1992), Triton Showers (1992–1995), Auto Windscreens (1995–2001), Phones 4u (2001–2003), Flybe (2003–2007), F&C Investments (2007–2011), foreign exchange company RationalFX (2011–2012), lifestyle business EZE Group (2012–2013 and 2015–2016), e-cigarette company Nicolites (2013–2014), mobile payment company Zapaygo (2014–2015), 888sport (2016–2019), and BoyleSports (2019–2023).

In June 2020, the club announced a four-year partnership with Nike to supply kits. In the 2023–24 season, this partnership was upgraded to include custom-made kits instead of standard designs. The 2024–25 home kit includes a royal blue shirt with white trim and a white strip across the front showing the logo of the club’s main partner, a streetwear company called Undefeated. The shorts are white, and the socks are royal blue.

Stadiums

Small Heath Alliance played their first home games on waste ground near Arthur Street, Bordesley Green. As interest in the team grew, they moved to a fenced field on Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, where they could charge admission. A year later, they moved again to a field next to Muntz Street, Small Heath, near Coventry Road, with a capacity of about 10,000. The Muntz Street ground was suitable for matches in the 1880s, and its capacity increased to around 30,000. However, when thousands of fans climbed walls and broke turnstiles to attend a First Division match against Aston Villa, it became clear the ground could not handle the demand.

Director Harry Morris found a site for a new ground in Bordesley Green, about three-quarters of a mile from Muntz Street toward the city center. The site had once been a brickworks, and the land sloped steeply toward stagnant pools. Despite these challenges, the stadium was built in under twelve months, from land clearing to its opening on Boxing Day 1906. Heavy snow nearly stopped the opening; volunteers had to clear the pitch and terraces before a goalless draw against Middlesbrough could take place. It is said the ground was cursed by gypsies who were evicted from the site, though there is no proof of their eviction by the club.

The original capacity of St Andrew's was reported as 75,000, with 4,000 seats in the Main Stand and space for 22,000 under cover. By 1938, the official capacity was 68,000, and the attendance record was set in February 1939 during an FA Cup match against Everton, with numbers recorded as 66,844 or 67,341. When World War II began, the Chief Constable ordered the ground's closure due to air raid dangers. It was the only ground closed in this way and was reopened after being discussed in Parliament. The ground suffered damage during the Birmingham Blitz, with the Railway End and the Kop damaged by bombing, and the Main Stand burned down when a fireman used water instead of petrol.

The new Main Stand used a design with fewer pillars to block the view of the pitch. Floodlights were added in 1956 and officially used in a friendly match against Borussia Dortmund in 1957. By the early 1960s, a stand was built at the Railway End, and roofs were added to the Kop and Tilton Road End. The ground's capacity was reduced to about 55,000.

After the 1986 Popplewell Report and the 1990 Taylor Report, the capacity of St Andrew's was set at 28,235 for safety reasons. The stadium was required to meet modern all-seated standards. After the 1993–94 season, the Kop and Tilton Road terraces were demolished, with fans taking parts as souvenirs. These areas were replaced by a 7,000-seat Tilton Road Stand and a 9,500-seat Kop. A 8,000-seat Railway Stand was added in 1999 and later renamed the Gil Merrick Stand in honor of a club legend. The Main Stand has not yet been modernized. In 2021, the stadium's capacity was listed as 29,409.

In 2004, a proposal was made to build a "sports village" including a 55,000-capacity stadium, other facilities, and a casino. The plan required government approval for a casino and selection of Birmingham as the venue, but it did not proceed. The club has planning permission to redevelop the Main Stand but continues to seek funding for the stadium project.

In 2013, the Birmingham City Supporters' Trust successfully applied to list St Andrew's as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act 2011. This means any sale must be reported to the council, with a six-month delay to allow community bids. In 2018, the club's owners signed a three-year sponsorship deal, renaming the stadium St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium.

The lower tiers of the Tilton and Kop stands were closed for three years for asbestos removal and reopened in November 2023. In 2024, the stadium was renamed St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park for sponsorship reasons, marking the first step in a plan to create a "Sports Quarter" in Birmingham.

Supporters

Birmingham fans consider their main rivals to be Aston Villa, their closest neighbors, with whom they compete in the Second City derby. Other rivalries include matches against nearby West Midlands clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion. A 2003 Football Fans Census survey showed that Aston Villa fans viewed Birmingham City as their main rivals, though this was not always true.

Birmingham supporters are often called "Bluenoses" by the media and by fans themselves. This name is sometimes used in a disrespectful way by fans of other teams. A large sculpture near the St Andrew's stadium, called "Sleeping Iron Giant," has been repeatedly painted blue on its nose. From 1994 to 1997, the club’s mascot was a blue nose, but it is now a dog named Beau Brummie. The name combines "Beau Brummell," a historical figure, and "Brummie," a word for someone from Birmingham. Beau Brummie’s girlfriend is named Belle. The mascot was first introduced in 1966, with the name suggested by a club employee and the design created by an artist who also made World Cup Willie. Before Beau Brummie, the club’s mascot for 25 years was a man named Kipper, dressed in blue and white, who retired 18 months earlier.

Many supporters’ clubs are connected to the football team in England and other countries. In 1991, a group formed to protest against the club’s chairman. In 2005, the club blamed an online petition for the failure to buy a player named Lee Bowyer. Fans were unhappy with the club’s leadership, which led to loud chants and a pitch invasion after a match in 2007–08. However, when the club had financial problems, supporters helped fund the purchase of players Brian Roberts in 1984 and Paul Peschisolido in 1992. In 2012, a supporters’ trust was created with the help of a group called Supporters Direct.

Several fanzines have been published by supporters. "Made in Brum," first released in 2000, was the only one regularly sold in 2013. Another fanzine, "The Zulu," started earlier and lasted for at least 16 seasons. A group of fans called the Zulu Warriors, associated with the club, were unique because they had members from different races at a time when many similar groups were linked to racist or right-wing ideas.

The fans’ anthem is a version of Harry Lauder’s song "Keep Right On To The End of the Road." It was adopted during the 1956 FA Cup campaign. A reporter for The Times wrote about the song in a preview of the Cup final. Player Alex Govan helped make the song popular by singing it on the team bus to a quarter-final match and by saying in an interview that it was his favorite.

Ownership

Small Heath F.C. became a limited company in 1888; its first sale of shares raised £650. The board of directors included local business leaders and respected community members until 1965, when the club was sold to Clifford Coombs. By the mid-1980s, the club faced financial difficulties. Control of the club shifted from the Coombs family to Ken Wheldon, a former Walsall chairman, who reduced expenses, laid off employees, and sold assets, including the training ground. Despite these efforts, the club remained unprofitable, and Wheldon sold it to the Kumar brothers, who owned a clothing business. Financial problems worsened when the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) collapsed, causing the Kumar family’s businesses to be placed under receivership. The club remained in administrative management for four months until David Sullivan, owner of Sport Newspapers, purchased the Kumar family’s 84% ownership for £700,000 in March 1993. Birmingham City plc, which fully owned the football club, was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in 1997 after issuing 15 million new shares, raising £7.5 million. The company reported a pre-tax profit of £4.3 million in the year ending 31 August 2008.

In July 2007, Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, through his company Grandtop International Holdings Limited (GIH), purchased 29.9% of Birmingham City plc from its directors. Although Yeung initially failed to gain full control, he completed the purchase in October 2009 for £81.5 million, changed the club’s legal status to a private company, and renamed the holding company Birmingham International Holdings (BIH).

Trading of BIH shares stopped in June 2011 after Yeung was arrested for money-laundering charges. Delays in publishing financial reports led the Football League to ban the club from signing new players, and potential buyers were considered starting in 2012. After Yeung stepped down from his roles in early 2014, share trading resumed. Following his conviction, efforts to sell the club continued, with parts of the business sold to keep BIH’s stock listing active.

In 2015, the Football League expressed concerns about Yeung’s attempts to influence the board despite his legal disqualification. Tensions grew as three directors, including the club’s unofficial chief executive, failed to be re-elected but were later reinstated. On 17 February, the board voluntarily asked Ernst & Young, a group of accountants, to take over management. The company confirmed no legal action to end the business had been filed, and the company was not in liquidation.

In June 2015, Ernst & Young reached agreements with major shareholders, allowing them to avoid legal action if they agreed not to block the sale to Trillion Trophy Asia (TTA), a company owned by Chinese businessman Paul Suen Cho Hung. TTA was required to keep ownership of the club for at least two years. The sale was completed in October 2016, giving TTA control of 50.64% of BIH’s shares, which required them to make an offer to buy the remaining shares.

To keep the company running, TTA arranged loans and repaid them by issuing new shares, which reduced the ownership percentages of all shareholders. Efforts to expand the company’s investments beyond the football club were also funded this way. To reduce losses caused by breaking EFL rules about financial sustainability, the stadium was sold to Birmingham City Stadium Ltd, a new company fully owned by the football club’s parent, and leased back to the club. In December 2020, 21.64% of the club and 25% of the stadium were sold to Oriental Rainbow, owned by Vong Pech. In April 2021, the remaining 75% of the stadium was sold.

In June 2022, a plan to buy the club led by former Watford owner Laurence Bassini failed. In July 2023, a group including fashion businessman Paul Richardson and former footballer Maxi López announced they were close to buying a share of the club but later withdrew due to disagreements over terms. In April 2023, Richardson, López, and their proposed chief executive were punished by the EFL for taking control of the club without approval.

In April 2023, Birmingham Sports Holdings confirmed agreements to sell 24% of Birmingham City plc shares held by itself and 21.64% owned by Oriental Rainbow, along with all of Birmingham City Stadium Ltd, to Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of Knighthead Capital Management. The deal required approval from the EFL and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. An extraordinary general meeting in July 2023 voted strongly to accept the sale. Although Birmingham Sports Holdings retained 51% of the shares, Shelby Companies Ltd confirmed they would manage the club’s operations. In November 2025, the remaining 51% of shares was sold to Shelby Companies Ltd.

Honours

Birmingham City's honors include the following:

• Second Division / First Division / Championship (level 2) Champions: 1892–93, 1920–21, 1947–48, 1954–55
• Runners-up: 1893–94, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1971–72, 1984–85, 2006–07, 2008–09
• Play-off winners: 2002

• Third Division / Second Division / League One (level 3) Champions: 1994–95, 2024–25
• Runners-up: 1991–92

• FA Cup Runners-up: 1930–31, 1955–56
• Football League Cup Winners: 1962–63, 2010–11
• Runners-up: 2000–01
• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Runners-up: 1958–60, 1960–61
• Associate Members' Cup / Football League Trophy / EFL Trophy Winners: 1990–91, 1994–95
• Runners-up: 2024–25
• Birmingham Senior Cup Winners: 1905

Small Heath first joined the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1878–79, ten years before the Football League was created. The team won the cup for the first time in 1905, beating West Bromwich Albion 7–2 in the final. Over time, the competition became less important as more league games were played. Starting in the 1905–06 season, Birmingham used players from their reserve team in these matches.

• Football League South (wartime) Champions: 1945–46

Before the Football League restarted in 1946–47, clubs from the First and Second Divisions were split into two groups—League North and League South—for the 1945–46 season. At the end of the season, Aston Villa led League South but had a worse goal average than the team chasing them, Charlton Athletic. Charlton was second, just 0.002 goals behind Birmingham. On the final day, Charlton drew at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Birmingham won away at Luton Town. This gave Birmingham the title by 0.3 goals.

Records and statistics

Birmingham reached their best position in the top league, finishing sixth in the 1955–56 First Division. Frank Womack has the record for the most league appearances by a Birmingham player, playing 491 matches from 1908 to 1928. Gil Merrick is next, with 485 matches between 1946 and 1959. If all senior competitions are counted, Merrick has 551 total appearances, while Womack has 515, which is the highest for a non-goalkeeper. The player with the most international caps while playing for Birmingham is Maik Taylor, who earned 58 caps for Northern Ireland.

The goalscoring record belongs to Joe Bradford, who scored 249 league goals and 267 total goals between 1920 and 1935. No other player comes close to this number. Walter Abbott holds the record for the most goals in a single season, scoring 34 league goals and 42 total goals during the 1898–99 season in the Second Division.

Birmingham’s largest league victory was 12–0, which happened once in the Football Alliance against Nottingham Forest in 1899 and twice in the Second Division, against Walsall Town Swifts in 1892 and Doncaster Rovers in 1903. The club has lost league matches by eight goals on eight occasions: twice in the Football Alliance, five times in the First Division (all away games), and once at home, when they were defeated 8–0 by AFC Bournemouth in the Championship in 2014. Their biggest FA Cup win was 10–0 against Druids in the fourth qualifying round of the 1899 competition. Their worst FA Cup loss was 7–0 at home to Liverpool in the 2006 quarter-final.

Birmingham’s highest home attendance record was set during an FA Cup fifth-round match against Everton on February 11, 1939. This attendance is reported as either 66,844 or 67,341. The highest transfer fee received for a Birmingham player was £25 million upfront, as reported by Sky Sports in July 2020, when Jude Bellingham joined Borussia Dortmund. This made him the most expensive 17-year-old in world football, with additional payments worth several million more. The highest transfer fee paid by Birmingham was for English forward Jay Stansfield, who joined from Fulham in August 2024. This fee is reported as between £10 million and £15 million, including bonuses and a sell-on clause.

Players

Note: Flags show the national team a player is eligible for, as set by FIFA rules. Some exceptions exist. Players may have more than one nationality that is not recognized by FIFA. The team list is correct as of February 3, 2026.

Note: Flags show the national team a player is eligible for, as set by FIFA rules. Some exceptions exist. Players may have more than one nationality that is not recognized by FIFA.

In recognition of Jude Bellingham’s achievements during his time with the first team, the club honored him. At 16 years and 38 days, he was the youngest player to make his first team debut and the youngest player to score a goal. Before joining the senior team, he completed a full season in the Championship. He later became Birmingham’s most expensive transfer and the world’s most expensive 17-year-old. His success showed the value of talent, effort, and dedication. He also remained kind and friendly outside of football. The club retired his number 22 shirt to honor him and encourage others.

Birmingham City Ladies Football Club was created in 1968. The team moved up through the leagues and was promoted to the FA Women’s Premier League in 2002. When Birmingham City F.C. stopped providing financial support in 2005, the club continued only because of a personal donation. The team reconnected with Birmingham City in 2010 and became part of the FA WSL in 2011. They won the FA Women’s Cup in 2012. A second-place finish in the 2012 FA WSL allowed them to qualify for the 2013–14 Champions League, where they reached the semi-finals. After TTA took control of Birmingham City F.C. in November 2016, the women’s team became an important part of the organization. In 2018, the team was officially renamed Birmingham City Women. They are now called Birmingham City, except when that name might cause confusion with the men’s team.

Club officials

• Birmingham Sports Holdings owns 51.7%
• Shelby Companies Ltd owns 45.96%

• Chairman: Tom Wagner
• Chief Executive Officer: Jeremy Dale
• Directors: Matthew Alvarez, Andrew Shannahan, Kyle Kneisly, Wenqing Zhao, Gannan Zheng

• Director of Football: Craig Gardner
• Manager: Chris Davies
• Assistant Manager: Ben Petty
• Coaching Staff: Tom Huddlestone, Nathan Gardiner
• Goalkeeper Coach: Maik Taylor
• Head of Physical Performance: Sean Rush

Managers

Gil Merrick became the first manager of Birmingham to win a major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963. He also guided the club to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in 1961, following Pat Beasley, who had reached the same final in 1960. Leslie Knighton took the club to the FA Cup final in 1931. Arthur Turner also led the club to the FA Cup final in 1956 and oversaw its highest league finish, sixth place in the 1955–56 First Division. Birmingham reached the 2001 Football League Cup Final under Trevor Francis. His successor as permanent manager, Steve Bruce, helped the club achieve promotion to the Premier League twice. Birmingham won the League Cup for the second time in 2011 under Alex McLeish. Sir Alf Ramsey, the manager of the 1966 World Cup-winning England team, briefly managed Birmingham in 1977.