Full name | West Ham United Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Irons The Hammers The Academy of Football |
Short name | WHU |
Founded | 29 June 1895Thames Ironworks 5 July 1900 , as West Ham United |
, as
Ground | London Stadium |
Capacity | 60,000 |
Owner(s) |
David Sullivan (51.1%) David Gold (35.1%) Other Investors (13.8%) |
Manager | Slaven Bilić |
League | Premier League |
2015–16 | Premier League, 7th |
Website | Club home page |
West Ham United Football Club is a professional football club based in Stratford, East London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In 2016 the club re-located to the London Stadium.
The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. They moved to the Boleyn Ground in 1904, which remained their home ground for more than a century. The team initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the Football League in 1919. They were promoted to the top flight in 1923, when they also losing finalists in the first FA Cup Final held at Wembley. In 1940, the club won the inaugural Football League War Cup.
West Ham have been winners of the FA Cup three times, in 1964, 1975, and 1980, and have also been runners-up twice, in 1923, and 2006. The club have reached two major European finals, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and finishing runners up in the same competition in 1976. West Ham also won the Intertoto Cup in 1999. They are one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 59 of 91 league seasons in the top flight, up to and including the 2016–17 season. The club's highest league position to date came in 1985–86 when they achieved third place in the then First Division.