Exeter City F.C.

This article is about the men's football club. For the women's team, see Exeter City Women F.C.

Exeter City
Exeter City Club Badge
Full nameExeter City Football Club
Nickname(s)The Grecians
Founded1901; 123 years ago (1901) (as St. Sidwell's United)[1]
GroundSt James Park
Capacity8,720[2]
OwnerExeter City Supporters' Trust
ChairmanNick Hawker
ManagerGary Caldwell
LeagueEFL League One
2023–24EFL League One, 13th of 24
Websitehttps://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/
Current season

Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to speculation and debate. The club is owned by the club's supporters through the Exeter City Supporters' Trust.

Exeter City was founded in 1901 and began playing their games at St James Park, where they remain to this day. They joined Division One of the Southern League in 1904. After a tour of South America in 1914 to generate awareness of football in the continent, the club became the first side to play a national team from Brazil.[3] As a result, City and Brazilian side Fluminense are now also partner clubs.[4] Exeter were invited to help create the Football League Third Division in 1920. They were assigned to the Third Division South the next year and won the Third Division South Cup in 1934. They remained in the division until becoming founder members of the Fourth Division in 1958. They were promoted in 1963–64, only to be relegated after two seasons. They were promoted out of the Fourth Division again at the end of the 1976–77 season and managed to stay in the Third Division for seven seasons before being relegated in 1984.

Exeter won their first league title in the 1989–90 season, gaining promotion as Fourth Division champions under the stewardship of Terry Cooper. Relegated in 1994, they lost their Football League status at the end of the 2002–03 season. They spent five seasons in the Conference and recovered from defeat in the 2007 play-off final to win promotion out of the play-offs the next year. Manager Paul Tisdale built on this success by winning promotion out of League Two in 2008–09 and Exeter survived for three seasons in League One. Returning to League Two in 2012, they have lost in the play-off finals in 2017, 2018 and most recently in 2020, under Matt Taylor. At the end of the 2021–22 season they gained automatic promotion to League One.

  1. ^ Hamilton, Aidan (12 July 2014). Have you ever played Brazil?: The story of Exeter City's 1914 tour of South America. Exeter: Exeter City FC Supporters Society. ISBN 978-0992967604.
  2. ^ "St James Park Capacity". Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Grecians paved way despite kick in teeth". The Guardian. 30 May 2004. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Ronaldinho signs for Fluminense ahead of future stars' visit to St James Park". Exeter City F. C. 13 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.