List of Southampton F.C. players

This article is about Southampton players with at least 100 appearances. For Southampton players with between 25 and 99 appearances, see List of Southampton F.C. players (25–99 appearances). For Southampton players with fewer than 25 appearances, see List of Southampton F.C. players (1–24 appearances).
Matt Le Tissier is the second-highest all-time goalscorer and fourth-highest appearance-maker for Southampton.

Southampton Football Club is an English association football club based in Southampton, Hampshire. Founded in 1885 as St Mary's YMA, they became a professional club in 1891 and co-founded the Southern Football League in 1894.[1] Southampton won the Southern League Premier Division championship six times between 1896 and 1904,[2] and were later elected to the Football League Third Division in 1920.[3] The Saints finished as runners-up in their first Football League season,[4] and the following year received promotion to the Second Division as Third Division South champions.[5] The club first entered the First Division in 1966,[6] and currently play in its modern-day counterpart, the Premier League.[7] Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976, reached the final of the League Cup in 1979 and 2017, and won the League Trophy in 2010.[7]

Since the club's formation, a total of 220 players have made 100 or more appearances for Southampton. Winger Terry Paine holds the record for the highest number of appearances for the Saints, having played 816 times for the club between 1957 and 1974,[8] while ten other players have made more than 400 appearances for Southampton. The club's top goalscorer is Mick Channon, who scored 228 goals in all competitions in two spells with the club, between 1966 and 1977, and from 1979 to 1982.[9] Matt Le Tissier is the only player to have won the Southampton F.C. Player of the Season award three times, while six other players (Peter Shilton, Tim Flowers, James Beattie, Rickie Lambert, José Fonte and James Ward-Prowse) have received the accolade twice.[10] Le Tissier is also the only player besides Channon to have scored over 200 goals for Southampton.

  1. ^ Chalk & Holley 1987, pp. 9–16
  2. ^ Chalk & Holley 1987, pp. 21–35
  3. ^ Chalk & Holley 1987, p. 64
  4. ^ Chalk & Holley 1987, p. 5
  5. ^ Chalk & Holley 1987, p. 67
  6. ^ Chalk & Holley 2003, p. 86
  7. ^ a b "Southampton". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  8. ^ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 424
  9. ^ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, pp. 270–271
  10. ^ Kerins, Dan (12 May 2016). "Previous winners of the Daily Echo Southampton FC Player of the Season Award". Southern Daily Echo. Newsquest. Retrieved 28 January 2017.