Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943. They compete in League One, the third tier of league football in England.
As Small Heath, they played in the Football Alliance before becoming founder members and first ever champions of the Football League Second Division. The most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division in the 1955–56 season and reached the 1956 FA Cup Final, progressed to the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won their first major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate. They won the latter competition for the second time in 2011. They have played in the top tier of English football for the majority of their history. Their longest period spent outside the top division, between 1986 and 2002, included two brief spells in the third tier of the English League, during which time they twice won the Football League Trophy.
St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Second City derby. The club's nickname is Blues, due to the colour of their kit, and their fans are known as Bluenoses.
In appreciation of Jude Bellingham's contribution in a short time with the first team – the club's youngest debutant, at 16 years and 38 days, and youngest goalscorer, he completed a full season in the Championship before becoming Birmingham's record transfer and the world's most expensive 17-year-old, "showing what can be achieved through talent, hard work and dedication" while retaining a "caring, humble and engaging off-the-field demeanour" – the club retired his number 22 shirt "to remember one of our own and to inspire others."
Birmingham City Ladies Football Club was formed in 1968. The first team worked their way through the leagues until promoted to the FA Women's Premier League in 2002. After Birmingham City F.C. withdrew financial support in 2005, the club were only able to continue because of a personal donation. They re-affiliated with Birmingham City in 2010, were founder members of the FA WSL the following year, and won the FA Women's Cup in 2012. A second-place finish in the 2012 FA WSL earned them qualification for the 2013–14 Champions League, in which they reached the semi-final. After TTA took over Birmingham City F.C. in November 2016, the women's club became an integral part of the organisation. It was formally renamed Birmingham City Women in 2018, and would be known as plain Birmingham City except where that would cause confusion with the men's team.
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