 | ||||
| Full name | Reading Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Royals The Ding[1] The Biscuitmen (Historic) | |||
| Founded | 25 December 1871 | |||
| Ground | Madejski Stadium | |||
| Capacity | 24,161[2] | |||
| Owner | Dai Yongge | |||
| Head coach | Rubén Sellés | |||
| League | EFL League One | |||
| 2023–24 | EFL League One, 17th of 24 | |||
| Website | readingfc.co.uk | |||
|
| ||||
Reading Football Club (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. They compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Reading are nicknamed The Royals, due to Reading's location in the Royal County of Berkshire, though they were previously known as The Biscuitmen, due to the town's association with biscuit maker Huntley & Palmers. Established in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join The Football League until 1920, and first played in the top tier of English football league system in the 2006–07 season. The club competed in the 2012–13 Premier League season, having gained promotion at the end of the 2011–12 season after winning the Championship, but were relegated after just one season back in the top flight.
Reading won the 1987–88 Full Members' Cup and were one of only two Second Division clubs to lift the trophy, beating Luton Town 4–1 in the final at Wembley. The club's best performance in the FA Cup was reaching the semi-finals which they achieved twice: in 1926–27 and 2014–15.
The club played at Elm Park for 102 years, from 1896 to 1998. In 1998, the club moved to the new Madejski Stadium, which was named after the club's former chairman Sir John Madejski. In 2021, the club announced that the ground would be known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for the subsequent decade for sponsorship reasons.
The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985–86 Third Division campaign and also the record for the highest number of points gained in a professional league season: 106 points in the 2005–06 Football League Championship campaign. Reading then achieved their highest finish of eighth in the 2006–07 Premier League, their first season as a top flight club.
- ^ Low, Jonathan (4 July 2021). "John O'Shea wishes Reading luck and says 'up the ding' after Royals exit". Berkshire Live. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "Madejski Stadium information". Reading F.C. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.