Birmingham City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Birmingham. The club's involvement in European competition dates back to the 1950s.

Invitations to enter the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a football tournament set up to promote industrial trade fairs, were extended to the city hosting the trade fair rather than to clubs. Some cities entered a select team including players from more than one club, but Aston Villa, the other major club based in the city of Birmingham, rejected the opportunity to field a combined team. Thus Birmingham City became the first English club side to play in European competition when they played their first match in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on 15 May 1956. They were also the first English club side to reach a European final, the 1960 Fairs Cup final, in which they met Barcelona. The home leg, a goalless draw, was played on 29 March 1960 and the away leg, which Barcelona won 4–1, some six weeks later. In the semifinal of the 1961 Fairs Cup Birmingham beat Internazionale home and away; no other English club beat them in a competitive match in the San Siro until Arsenal did so in the Champions League more than 40 years later.

Victory in the 2011 Football League Cup Final earned Birmingham qualification for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, which they entered at the play-off round. A 3–0 aggregate victory over C.D. Nacional of Portugal qualified Birmingham for the group stage, in which they were drawn alongside last season's finalists, S.C. Braga of Portugal, Slovenian champions NK Maribor, and fourth-placed Belgian team Club Brugge. They finished third in group H, one point behind Club Brugge and Braga, so failed to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Overall record Record by season

Birmingham City's scores are given first in all scorelines.

Season Competition Round Opponent Home leg Away leg Play-off Notes Refs Country Club 1955–58Inter-Cities Fairs CupGS Internazionale2–10–0 GS Zagreb XI3–01–0SFBarcelona4–30–11–2The away goals rule did not apply when aggregate scores were level, so a playoff was staged at St. Jakob-Park, Basel, which Barcelona won 2–1 to reach the final. 1958–60 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup1RCologne XI2–02–22RZagreb XI1–03–3SFUnion Saint-Gilloise4–24–2FBarcelona0–01–4 1960–61Inter-Cities Fairs Cup1RÚjpesti Dózsa3–22–12RKB5–04–4SFInternazionale2–12–1FA.S. Roma2–20–2 1961–62Inter-Cities Fairs Cup2RRCD Espanyol1–02–5 2011–12UEFA Europa LeaguePOC.D. Nacional3–00–0GSS.C. Braga1–30–1GSNK Maribor1–02–1GSClub Brugge2–22–1

Key PO = play-off round GS = group stage 1R = first round 2R = second round SF = semifinal F = final Record by nation Nation Pld W D L GF GA GD Opponents 4310127+5Union Saint-Gilloise, Club Brugge 211094+5KB 211042+2Cologne XI 220053+2Újpest 632187+1Inter, Roma 4112440Nacional, Braga 220031+2Maribor 7214915-6Barcelona, Espanyol 431083+5Zagreb XI

European attendance records

Highest home attendance: 40,524, against Barcelona, 1960 Fairs Cup final first leg, 29 March 1960.Matthews (1995), "Blues in Europe", pp. 241–42. Lowest home attendance: 14,152, against Union Saint-Gilloise, 1958–60 Fairs Cup semifinal second leg, 11 November 1959. Highest away attendance: 75,000, against Barcelona, 1958–60 Fairs Cup final second leg, 4 May 1960. Lowest away attendance: 2,500, against KB, 1960–61 Fairs Cup second round first leg, 23 November 1960.

Notes

References General

Specific

External links Birmingham City F.C. official site