Stoke City are an English professional football club which currently plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the country's pyramid.
Stoke, nicknamed "the Potters", had a long and fairly successful spell in the Premier League from 2008 to 2018 before dropping back down to the Championship.
The club's biggest major trophy to date is the 1972 League Cup, they've also won the second tier of English football twice.
They made life so tough for major clubs in the Premier League that "doing it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke" is a major achievement for the most skilful players in the league.
In the 1860s, Stoke City were formed under the name Stoke Ramblers. It is generally claimed that the formation of the club took place in 1863. Research has suggested, however, that the club might only have been formed in 1868.
A group of apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway works in Stoke-upon-Trent, who were former students at Charterhouse School, reportedly formed the club that would go on to become Stoke City.
Stoke were among the 12 founding members of the Football League upon its formation in 1888. However, they finished bottom of the table in both of their first two seasons, 1888/89 and 1889/90.
In 1890, Stoke failed to gain re-election to the Football League and then joined the Football Alliance. After winning that, they were eventually re-admitted into the Football League.
Stoke made the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1898/99 and spent 15 seasons in the top flight of English football until they were relegated in 1907.
In the 1907/08 season, the club went bankrupt. They entered non-League soccer structures and were only readmitted into the Football League in August 1919, when soccer resumed following the end of the First World War.
In the 1930s, the most celebrated Stoke City player in their history, Sir Stanley Matthews, made his debut for the club. The former Stoke apprentice made his debut for the Potters in March 1932 against Bury at the age of 17.
In the 1932/33 season, Stoke secured promotion back to the top flight by winning the Second Division title.
In the 1930s, Stoke were one of the best teams in the country following their promotion. The 1936/37 season saw Freddie Steele score 33 league goals for the club, a Stoke City record.
Football was put on hold during the Second World War, but even after it resumed, Stoke City were struck by tragedy.
In an FA Cup sixth round match against Bolton Wanderers in 1946, 33 fans died and 520 were injured in the Burnden Park disaster.
On the field of play, Stoke City continued to play exciting football. They were serious title contenders in the 1946/47 season and needed to win their last game of the season to wrap up the title.
However, Stoke were beaten 2-1 by Sheffield United and it was ultimately Liverpool who snapped up the prize.
With three games left in the season, Matthews left Stoke City, moving to Blackpool at the age of 32.
In 1952/53, Stoke City suffered relegation from the First Division. Matthews returned to the club at the age of 46 in 1961 and Stoke City won promotion back up to the top flight of English football in 1962/63.
In 1964, Stoke City reached the final of the Football League Cup, which they lost to Leicester City over the course of two legs.
On 4 March 1972, Stoke City won its first major trophy as they beat Chelsea 2-1 in front of a crowd of 97,852 at Wembley Stadium thanks to goals from Terry Conroy and George Eastham in order to finally lift the League Cup.
Stoke participated in the UEFA Cup in 1972 and 1974 but were beaten at the first hurdle by FC Kaiserslautern and Ajax respectively.
In January 1976, the roof was blown off the Butler Street Stand of Stoke City's home stadium and the repair bill of £250,000 put the club in a perilous position. Key players had to be sold in order to cover costs and Stoke City ended up relegated after the conclusion of the 1976/77 campaign.
Stoke had another spell in the top flight from 1979 to 1985, but a disastrously poor 1984/85 season set the club on a downward trend and they were in the third tier by 1990. The 1990/91 season saw Stoke finish an embarrassing 14th in the table.
In 1992, Stoke won the Football League Trophy with Mark Stein's winner in the 1-0 victory over Stockport County clinching the cup at Wembley Stadium.
In 1993, the Potters were promoted to the second tier again.
Stoke City dropped back into the third tier in 1998, but a 2-0 win over Brentford at the Millennium Stadium saw the Potters promoted to the second tier once again in 2002 after near misses in prior seasons.
Under Tony Pulis, Stoke City secured promotion to the Premier League in 2008. Largely under his guidance, they surprised onlookers and critics by maintaining a position as a solid mid-table club for many years.
Stoke played a bruising brand of physical soccer, with the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Rory Delap making life difficult for opponents.
Pulis left the club in 2013 and was replaced by Mark Hughes, who guided Stoke to three successive ninth-place finishes in his first three seasons. However, the 2016/17 season saw them drop to 13th place.
Hughes was sacked in January 2018 after a poor run of form and replaced by Paul Lambert, who was unable to keep the club in the Premier League.
In their first three seasons back down in the Championship, Stoke City finished 16th, 15th and 14th respectively, whilst cycling through several managers.
Former Norwich, Preston and Sunderland manager Alex Neil took charge in late August 2022. He guided them to 16th place in the Championship in the 2022/23 season.
But his tenure was short-lived as Neil was sacked in early December 2023, with the club sitting 20th in the Championship.
The Potters were beaten 1-0 at home by fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday in Neil's last match, which was a fourth-straight defeat in a six-match winless run.
Just over a week later Steven Schumacher was named as the new manager after leaving Plymouth on a three-and-a-half year deal, and he steered the team to Championship safety with a 17th-placed finish in the 2023/24 campaign.
But in September 2024, Schumacher was also sacked after a 1-0 defeat to Oxford which left Stoke 13th in the table after two wins and three defeats from their opening five matches.
On September 18, Stoke appointed Spaniard Narcis Pelach as their new head coach.
Pelach left his first-team coaching role at Norwich to take the job and was previously assistant to Carlos Corberan at Huddersfield.
But he only lasted three months in the job, winning only three times in the Championship and leaving the Potters 19th in the table.
Former Coventry City boss Mark Robins was appointed Stoke's new manager on a three-and-a-half-year deal on January 1, 2025.
"At Coventry, Mark built something successful with a real identity and longevity," said Stoke sporting director Jon Walters.
"He left the club in a significantly better place than he found it. That's exactly what we want to achieve at Stoke City, and he has all the pedigree and experience to help us do that.
"With a record like that behind him, Mark was always going to be in great demand. So we're delighted that he sees an exciting opportunity to build something special in the Potteries.
"The immediate mission is to climb as high as we can up the Championship table during the second half of this season, whilst also laying foundations for a long-term successful future for our club."
Much of Stoke City's support is from locals in the Stoke-on-Trent area, although they do have backing from elsewhere in the world.
In 2003, the BBC said that Stoke had "one of the most active and organised football hooligan firms in England", but this problem does not appear to be as severe anymore.
Peter Coates completed his takeover in 2006, ending an era of chairmanship from the Icelandic Gunnar Gislason.
Stoke posted a loss of £26.3m in the year up to March 2022.
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