Nottingham Forest Football Club, often referred to as Forest, are a professional football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Founded in 1865, Forest are considered to be the oldest football league club since the relegation of Notts County to the National League in 2019. Since 1898 Forest have played their home matches at the City Ground. They currently compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system.
Forest have won one League title, two FA Cups, four League Cups, one FA Charity Shield, two European Cups, and one UEFA Super Cup. The club has competed in the top two tiers of English football since their admission to the Football League, except for five seasons spent in the third tier. Their most successful period was under the management of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In Clough's last decade at the club, Forest won the 1989 and 1990 League Cups and were losing finalists in the 1991 FA Cup Final, before relegation from the Premier League in 1993. Upon an immediate return Forest finished third in the Premier League in 1995, before the club suffered relegation again in 1997 and, after a brief return, once more in 1999. Forest have not been back in the Premier League since.
Forest contest the Nottingham derby with city rivals Notts County, however, as Forest have predominantly played in higher leagues than their neighbours fixtures between the two clubs have been rare in recent history. The club's fiercest rivalry is with Derby County, with whom they contest the East Midlands derby.
Since 1898 Nottingham Forest have played their home games at the City Ground in West Bridgford, on the banks of the River Trent. Prior to moving to the City Ground, Forest played their home games at Forest Recreation Ground, then Trent Bridge, and finally the purpose-built Town Ground. Since 1994 the City Ground has been all-seater, a preparation that was made in time for the ground to be a venue for Euro 96, and currently has a capacity of 30,445.
The City Ground is 300 yards away from Notts County'sMeadow Lane stadium on the opposite side of the Trent, meaning the two grounds are the closest professional football stadia geographically in England. In 1898 the City Ground was within the boundaries of Nottingham, which had been given city status the year before and gave rise to the name of the stadium, however a boundary change in the 1950s means that the City Ground now stands just outside of the city's boundaries in the town of West Bridgford.
On 28 February 2019 Nottingham Forest announced plans to redevelop the City Ground and surrounding area, including the "creation of a new, world-class Peter Taylor Stand". It is expected this will increase the capacity of the stadium to 38,000, making it the largest football stadium in the East Midlands. The club are hopeful that building work can begin at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Evangelos Marinakis
Tom Cartledge
Current season
Premier League 2025–26
