Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The team is currently competing in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. The club's home football ground is Fratton Park, located in the Milton area of the city and has an all-seated capacity for 20,867 supporters. Portsmouth are nicknamed Pompey, a local nickname used by both His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth. The club adopted blue shirts in 1912 and have mostly used a combination of white shorts and red socks since 1946.
Founded on 5 April 1898, Portsmouth began their early history in the Southern and Western leagues, before being elected into the English Football League and newly formed Third Division in 1920. Portsmouth won two promotions in 1924 and 1927 to reach the First Division, becoming the first football club south of London to do so. After finishing runners-up in two FA Cup finals in 1929 and 1934, Portsmouth won for the first time in 1939. Normal professional football in England was suspended in September 1939 because of the outbreak of World War II, meaning Portsmouth retained the FA Cup trophy for seven consecutive years (the record) until the 1946 FA Cup final.
After World War II, Portsmouth became League Champions of England in two successive 1948–49 and 1949–50 First Division seasons. However, Portsmouth's 32 consecutive years in the First Division ended with relegation to the Second Division in 1959 and was followed by another relegation to the Third Division in 1961. In 1978, Portsmouth were relegated to the Fourth Division (formed in 1958) for the first time before earning three promotions in 1980, 1983 and 1987. After one brief season in the 1987-88 First Division, Portsmouth would remain in the second tier for fifteen consecutive years until 2003.
Portsmouth became champions of the 2002–03 Football League First Division (restructured as the second tier in 1992) and were promoted to the first tier, now known as the Premier League. Portsmouth won the FA Cup for a second time in the 2008 FA Cup final. Portsmouth's seven-year stay in the Premier League ended in 2009–10 with relegation, signalling the beginning of a difficult period during which the club entered financial administration twice and were relegated three times in 2010, 2012 and 2013. After the club was purchased by the Pompey Supporters Trust in 2013, Pompey would begin to recover financially and won the League Two title in 2016–17 and the League One title in 2023–24.
Portsmouth are one of only five English football clubs to have been champions of all four tiers of the professional English football pyramid. Portsmouth's arch-rivals are Southampton, a rivalry based in part on geographic proximity and both cities' respective maritime histories. Portsmouth are also the only professional football club in England which is not located on mainland Great Britain, as the city of Portsmouth and their Fratton Park home football ground are located on Portsea Island.
History
1898–1920: Founding of Portsmouth F.C. and early years
Portsmouth F.C. were formed on 5 April 1898, at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, as "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company", with John Brickwood as chairman. Although the founding of Portsmouth F.C. had been agreed on 5 April 1898, a football ground or a team of players did not exist until 1899.
In 1899, work began on developing a plot of former agricultural land near Goldsmith Avenue, Milton, Portsmouth into a new football ground, bought in 1898 from the local Goldsmith farming family. The new football ground was to be named Fratton Park after the nearby and convenient Fratton railway station. Frank Brettell was announced as Portsmouth Football Club's first manager-secretary in February 1899. A bold and ambitious application for Portsmouth's direct entry into the Southern League First Division, without the usual probationary period in the lower divisions, was accepted, and the club joined the Southern Football League Division One for the 1899–1900 season.
Portsmouth's first 1899–1900 season in the Southern Football League Division One was successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the table behind champions, Tottenham Hotspur. In their second 1900–01 Southern Football League Division One season, Portsmouth finished in third place and joined the 1900–01 Western Football League, where they finished as Division One champions. Portsmouth won the 1901–02 Southern Football League championship title but were not promoted. In the 1902–03 Western Football League, Portsmouth won the Division One championship for a third consecutive season.
In the 1906–07 Western Football League, the top Division One was split into equal 'A' and 'B' sections, with a play-off between the two section winners to decide a Division One champion. In their last Western Football League appearance, Portsmouth finished in fourth position of the 'B' section of Division One. At the end of the season, all fourteen members of the split 'A' and 'B' sections of Division One resigned from the Western Football League. Portsmouth ended their season in sixth place before the following season saw the team relegated. A severe financial crisis struck between seasons and a public appeal for funds in May 1911 kept the club afloat.
The team finished second place in the 1911–12 Southern Football League Division Two and were promoted as runners-up. However, the club's finances were in trouble again, with losses and debts increasing to £10,000. A shareholders meeting was called on 8 May 1912, where George Lewin Oliver, one of the original founders and directors, proposed that "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company" should be wound up and replaced with a more business orientated company. The original company was then liquidated to remove the debt and on 27 July 1912, the "Portsmouth Football Company Ltd" was formed as the new parent company of Portsmouth F.C., with substantial financial guarantees given by the board of directors. The original 1898 founding director George Lewin Oliver became the new Portsmouth F.C. chairman.
Football was suspended during the First World War. Following the resumption of matches in the 1919–20 season, Portsmouth won the Southern League championship for the second time. Portsmouth were then elected to the Football League Third Division as founder members.
1920–1939: Establishment in Football League, FA Cup triumph Competing in the Football League Third Division, Portsmouth claimed the title in the 1923–24 season. Debuting in the Second Division for the first time, they finished in fourth place. Portsmouth won promotion to the First Division by finishing runners-up in the 1926–27 season and in the process, recording their club record win in a 9–1 victory over Notts County. Portsmouth's debut season in the 1927–28 First Division was a struggle, finishing one point and one place above relegation. Despite their difficulties in the top flight, Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers in 1929.
From 1929 to 1934, Portsmouth had become a regular top-half table finisher in the First Division. The 1933–34 season saw Portsmouth again reach the FA Cup final for a second time but lost to Manchester City. Having established themselves in the top flight, the 1938–39 season saw Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final. This was indeed third time lucky, as Portsmouth managed to defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1. The start of World War II in 1939 resulted in the suspension of the FA Cup competition for the duration, so Portsmouth held the trophy until it resumed in 1945–46.
The new 1939–40 season was cut short with the start of World War Two. However, football competitions did take place during the war, with the Football League being split into ten regional mini leagues, with Portsmouth in 'League South' along with an annual national cup competition, the Football League War Cup. In 1942, Portsmouth reached the London War Cup final. Portsmouth progressed to the 1942 London War Cup final at Wembley Stadium, but were beaten by Brentford. During his wartime visits to Portsmouth, Field Marshal Montgomery became interested in Portsmouth Football Club and was made honorary President of Portsmouth F.C. in 1944 (until 1961).
1946–1979: Post-war years The Football League finally resumed in 1946–47. Portsmouth won the First Division title in the 1948–49 season. Bob Jackson's Portsmouth side beat Aston Villa 5–1 on the last day of the following 1949–50 season, winning the Football League title again for a second consecutive season – on goal average. In the following 1950–51 season, Portsmouth finished in 7th position. After narrowly avoiding relegation in previous seasons, Portsmouth finished bottom of the First Division at the end of the 1958–59 season, ending their 32-year stay in the First Division.
In the 1960–61 season Portsmouth finished second-to-last place in the Second Division relegation zone and were relegated once again to the Third Division. Under the guidance of George Smith, Portsmouth were promoted back to the Second Division at the first time of asking, winning the Third Division title. Despite limited financial means, manager George Smith maintained Portsmouth's Second Division status throughout the rest of the 1960s. Portsmouth finished bottom of the Second Division in the 1975–76 season and were relegated down to the Third Division. In November of the 1976–77 Third Division season, the club found itself needing to raise £25,000 to pay off debts and so avoid bankruptcy. With players having to be sold to ease the club's financial situation, and no money available for replacements, Portsmouth were forced to rely on inexperienced young players and ended the 1976–77 season only one place and one point above the Third Division's relegation zone but were relegated at the end of the new 1977–78 season, finishing in bottom place.
1979–2003
Under Frank Burrows' new management, Portsmouth gained promotion back to the Third Division after finishing in 4th place in the 1979–80 season. Portsmouth would take three seasons before in 1983, Portsmouth claimed their Third Division championship title, gaining promotion back into the Second Division. In the 1986–87 Second Division season, Portsmouth finished as runners-up behind Derby County, gaining promotion back to the First Division for the first time since the 1958–59 season. By the middle of the new 1987–88 First Division season, the club was again in financial trouble with the ground in a poor condition. Portsmouth were relegated straight back down to the Second Division. The summer of 1988 saw chairman John Deacon sell the club to London-based businessman and former Queens Park Rangers chairman, Jim Gregory.
The club's parent company had a name change from 'Portsmouth Football Company Limited' to 'Portsmouth Football Club Limited' on 23 January 1989. Portsmouth ended the season only two places above the relegation zone. The 1992–93 Football League season saw a major restructuring of the English football "pyramid" system, with the new FA Premier League becoming the new first tier and the First Division becoming the second tier. Therefore, Portsmouth played in the new "First Division" but missed out on automatic promotion by virtue of scoring only one fewer goal than second-placed West Ham United. In the subsequent promotion play-offs, Portsmouth lost 3–2 on aggregate to Leicester City.