Coventry City F.C.

Coventry City

Full name	Coventry City Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Sky Blues
Founded	13 August 1883; 141 years ago (1883-08-13) (as Singers F.C.)[1]
Ground	Coventry Building Society Arena
Capacity	32,609
Owner	Doug King
Chairman	Doug King
Manager	Rhys Carr (interim)[2]
League	EFL Championship
2023–24	EFL Championship, 9th of 24
Website	ccfc.co.uk
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Coventry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed after the sky blue colours that were part of the club's early years, before making a return in 1962.^[3]

Coventry City formed as Singers F.C. in 1883 following a general meeting of the Singer Gentleman's club. They adopted their current name in 1898 and joined the Southern League in 1908, before being selected into the Football League in 1919. Relegated in 1925, they returned to the Second Division as champions of the Third Division South and Third Division South Cup winners in 1935–36. Relegated in 1952, they won promotion in the inaugural Fourth Division season in 1958–59. Coventry reached the First Division after winning the Third Division title in 1963–64 and the Second Division title in 1966– 67 under the management of Jimmy Hill. In the 1970–71 season, the team competed in the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, reaching the second round. Despite beating Bayern Munich 2–1 in the home leg, they had lost 6–1 in the first leg in Germany, and thus were eliminated.

Coventry's only period in the top division to date lasted 34 consecutive years between 1967 and 2001, and the club were inaugural members of the Premier League in 1992. They won the FA Cup in 1987, the club's only major trophy, when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3–2.^[4] They experienced further relegations in 2012 and 2017, though did manage to win the EFL Trophy in 2017.

Coventry returned to Wembley in 2018, beating Exeter City in the League Two play-off final. Manager Mark Robins built on this success guiding the Sky Blues to eighth in League One the next season and then led the club to promotion back to the EFL Championship as League One champions in 2020. In the 2022–23 season, Coventry secured a play-off place in the Championship, before losing the play-off final to Luton Town on penalties.

For 106 years, from 1899 to 2005, Coventry City played at Highfield Road. The 32,609-capacity Coventry Arena was opened in August 2005 to replace Highfield Road, but the club has struggled with the new stadium lease since moving.