Gillingham Football Club is a professional association football club based in Gillingham, England. The only Kent-based club in the English Football League, the team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system, and play their home matches at Priestfield Stadium. The club was founded in 1893 as New Brompton F.C., a name retained until 1912, and played in the Southern League before joining the Football League in 1920. After 18 unsuccessful seasons, Gillingham were voted out of the league at the end of the 1937–38 season, but returned to the Football League in 1950, when it was expanded to 92 clubs. Twice in the late 1980s Gillingham came close to winning promotion to the second tier of English football, but a decline then set in and in 1992–93 they narrowly avoided relegation to non-League football. Gillingham reached the second tier of English football in 2000 and remained there for five seasons. After a number of further relegations and promotions, the team have competed in League One since 2013.
