Fulham
- Location: Fulham, London, England
- Stadium: Craven Cottage
- Coach: Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva
- Premier League Titles: 0
Current Squad / Roster
- Marek Rodak
- Bernd Leno
- Kenny Tete
- Layvin Kurzawa
- Tosin Adarabioyo
- Shane Duffy
- Tim Ream
- Kevin Mbabu
- Issa Diop
- Antonee Robinson
- Stefan Parkes
- Charlie Robinson
- Luciano D’Auria-Henry
- Connor Mcavoy
- Harrison Reed
- Neeskens Kebano
- Harry Wilson
- Tom Cairney
- Nathaniel Chalobah
- Andreas Pereira
- Josh Onomah
- João Palhinha
- Luke Harris
- Adrion Pajaziti
- Kristian Sekularac
- Oliver O’Neill
- Aleksandar Mitrovic
- Manor Soloman
- Willian
- Daniel James
- Carlos Vinicius
- Terry Ablade
- Bobby De Cordova-Reid
- Martial Godo
Championships:
Second Division Championship Winners: 1948-49, 2000-01, 2021-22.
Championship Playoff Winners: 2017-18, 2019-20.
Third Division/League One Champions: 1931-32, 1998-99.
Southern League First Division Champions: 1905-06, 1906-07.
UEFA Intertoto Cup Winners: 2002.
London Challenge Cup Winners: 1909-10, 1931-32, 1951-52.
Team History
The club was founded as Fulham St. Andrews Cricket & Football Club in 1879 they are London’s oldest remaining football club. They shortened the team name to Fulham in 1888 and won the West London League in 1893.
After having a handful of early homes, Fulham moved into Craven Cottage, on the banks of the River Thames, in 1896.
Southern League’s Second Division
They gained professional status in 1898 and played in the Southern League’s Second Division. They earned a promotion to the Southern League First Division after winning the league in 1902-03. They claimed the Southern League in 1905-06 and 1906-07.
Fulham joined the Football League and played in the Second Division in 1907-08. They made the FA Cup semifinals but suffered a record loss of 6-0 to Newcastle United.
They won the London Challenge Cup in 1909-10 and stayed in the Second Division until being relegated in 1927-28.
Third Division South
In the Third Division South, they finished top 10 in each of the first three seasons and won the title in 1931-32. They finished third in the Second Division the next season and reached the 1936 FA Cup semifinals.
After World War 2, they resumed playing in the Second Division and won the league with 24 victories and nine draws. They played in the top tier for three seasons, finishing:
- 17th
- 18th
- 22nd
They were relegated after that last-place finish in 1951-52 and spent the rest of the decade in the Second Division.
That relegation season did bring the debut of Jimmy Haynes, who stayed with the team through 1970 as one of their best players ever.
Fulham lost to Manchester United in the 1958 FA Cup semifinals and won promotion in the 1958-59 season.
Comeback to First Division
They finished 10th back in the First Division, their highest finish until 2004. They escaped relegation in 1966 with nine wins in the final 13 games but eventually went back down after the 1967-68 season.
They ended up back in the Third Division after another relegation and played there for two seasons. they moved back up to Division Two in 1971 and spent money to bring in Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore.
They lost the 1975 FA Cup Final and stayed in the Second Division despite bringing in George Best and Rodney Marsh.
Fulham won just 11 games in 1979-80 and got relegated to the Third Division for two seasons. They came back to the Second Division in 1982 but went back down in 1986 and, with massive debt, almost folded.
They also nearly merged with rivals Queens Park Rangers before being saved by former player Jimmy Hill who founded Fulham FC Ltd. to run the team.
Third Division
They were relegated to the new Third Division after the 1993-94 season and stayed there until 1987. Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the club in 1997, and after two years, the team went back up to the Second Division under manager Kevin Keegan.
Paul Bracewell took over when Keegan left to coach England and Fulham returned to the top flight in 2001 for the first time since 1968.
They finished 13th in their first season in the Premier League. Craven Cottage was forced to go under renovations to get rid of standing areas, so Fulham played two seasons at QPR’s Loftus Road.
They returned home and finished 13th and 12th in the next two seasons and barely stayed up in 2006-07.
Rod Hodgson took over in 2007, and the team was 15 minutes from being relegated in the spring of 2008 before Danny Murphy scored in the final game of the season.
2008-09 Season
The 2008-09 season is still the best in team history with a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and qualification for the UEFA Europa League.
The team finished 12th in 2009-10 but reached the finals of the Europa League. They lost in extra time 2-1 against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg, Germany. In the round of 16, they scored four unanswered goals to beat Juventus at Craven Cottage.
American striker Clint Dempsey scored 50 goals between 2007 and 2012 as Fulham hovered around the middle of the table.
They finished ninth in 2012 and 12th in 2013 before American Shahid Khan bought the team. Fulham was relegated in his first season, and they stayed down through 2018.
2017-18 Season
The 2017-18 season saw Fulham earn a promotion and start an every-other-year format. They played in the Premier League in 2018-19, the Championship in 19-20, the Premier League in 20-21, and scored 106 goals to win the 21-22 Championship.
Back in the Premier League in 2022-23, Fulham will be looking to avoid relegation for the first time since 2013.
No matter the records or spot in the Premier League standings, the Cottagers enjoy West London derbies with Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers, and Brentford.
Fulham Records
Looking at the Fulham stats and Premier League stats, five players have started more than 450 games with the club. Johnny Haynes leads the way with 658 career starts, and Eddie Lowe has 511 starts. The other three over 450 are Les Barrett (491), Frank Penn (459), and George Cohen (459).
Gordon Davies holds the Fulham career record for goals scored with 178. Checking the Fulham stats, Haynes has 158 goals while Bedford Jezzard scored 154, and Hill Hammond netted 150 goals.
Looking at the Fulham stats for transfers, their biggest transfer paid is £22.8 million for Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa from Marseille. They also paid £22 million for Aleksander Mitrovic from Newcastle United in 2018.
The most money they have received for a transfer is £5 million from Tottenham Hotspur in 2019 for Ryan Sessegnon. Ironically that broke the record also paid by Tottenham of £18 million for Mousa Demeble in 2012.
What are the Fulham 2022-23 Transfers?
Heading into the 2022-23 Premier League season, Fulham made a handful of additions that will help their Premier League odds for survival this year.
They added defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha from Sporting CP and attacking midfielders Andreas Pereira (Manchester United) and Kristian Sekularac (Juventus).
They also brought in right-back Kevin Mbabu from Wolfsburg and goalkeeper Bernd Leno from Arsenal.
The Cottagers made two major sales in the transfer window, with midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa going to Napoli for £15 million and midfielder Fabio Carvalho going to Liverpool for £5 million.
Who are the Fulham Best Coaches?
Fulham has had 37 managers in their professional history, with Marco Silva as the current boss. Phil Kelso has the longest run, with 15 years from 1909-24.
Harry Bradshaw was the manager when Fulham won Southern Division titles in 1905-06 and 1906-07. Jimmy McIntyre won the Third Division in 1931-32.
Frank Osborne is the only manager to be in charge at Fulham on two occasions. He worked continuously for the club from 1948-63 but only managed the team from 1948-49 and 1953-56.
Jean Tigana managed Fulham from 2000-2003, winning the Championship in 2001 to earn Premier League promotion. His 2001-02 team finished 13th in the Premier League and made the FA Cup semifinals.
Roy Hodgson led Fulham to Europa and a runner-up finish in the 2010 Europa League. In his nearly three full seasons, he had the Cottagers in 17th, seventh, and 12th in the Premier League with two FA Cup quarterfinal runs.
Marco Silva directed Fulham to 106 goals in the 2021-22 season and a Championship title. He returns to the Premier League with 29 wins from his first 50 Fulham matches.
