| Full name | Wanderers Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Rovers | |
| Founded | 1859 (as Forest F.C.) | |
| Dissolved | c.1887 | |
| ||
Wanderers Football Club was an English association football club. It was founded as "Forest Football Club" in 1859 in Leytonstone. In 1864, it changed its name to "Wanderers", a reference to it never having a home stadium, instead playing at various locations in London and the surrounding area. Comprising mainly former pupils of the leading English public schools, Wanderers was one of the dominant teams in the early years of organised football and won the inaugural Football Association Challenge Cup (now known as the FA Cup) in 1872. The club won the competition five times in total, including three in succession from 1876 to 1878, a feat which has been repeated only once.
The club was a founder member of The Football Association (as Forest F.C.) in 1863 and played friendly matches only until the advent of the FA Cup in 1871. Prior to the standardised Laws of the Game, Wanderers played matches under various rules, and continued to do so even after the formation of the FA. Among the players who represented the club were C. W. Alcock, the so-called "father of modern sport", and Arthur Kinnaird, regarded as the greatest player of his day. By the 1880s the club's fortunes had declined and it was reduced to playing a single annual match against Harrow School, the alma mater of many of its founders. The club had dissolved by around 1887.