Cambridge United
Also written as Cambridge, Cambridge U.
The club
Cambridge United were founded in 1912 as Abbey United and took their present name in 1951. They play at the Abbey Stadium on Newmarket Road in Cambridge, which holds 7,937, of which 4,321 are seated. The club are the U's and play in amber and black.
Recent seasons
Cambridge finished 16th in League Two with 45 points in 2019/20, a season curtailed by the pandemic. They went up the following year, finishing second in League Two in 2020/21 with 80 points. Four seasons in League One followed: 14th with 58 points in 2021/22, 20th with 46 in 2022/23, 18th with 48 in 2023/24, and then bottom of the division in 2024/25, 23rd of 24 with 38 points, relegated.
The return to League Two lasted one season. In 2025/26 Cambridge finished third with 82 points from 46 games, 22 wins, 16 draws and eight defeats, scoring 66 and conceding 33, and went up automatically. The record splits sharply by venue: 15 wins, six draws and two defeats at the Abbey with 43 goals scored and 15 conceded, against seven wins, ten draws and six defeats on the road. Ben Knight was top league scorer with 11, and Sullay Kaikai led all competitions with 12. The biggest win was 5-0 against Gillingham on 14 March 2026, and the largest home crowd was 7,983 against Notts County on 11 April 2026. In the cups Cambridge beat Bristol Rovers 2-0 in the League Cup first round on 12 August 2025 and reached the third round before losing to Fulham on 23 September 2025; they went out of the FA Cup in the third round to Birmingham City on 10 January 2026, and of the EFL Trophy in the second round to Bristol Rovers.
Honours and landmarks
Cambridge were Third Division champions in 1990/91 and Fourth Division champions in 1976/77, the two league titles in the club's history. Before joining the Football League they won the Southern League in 1968/69 and 1969/70. They won the FA Trophy in 2013/14 and came up through the Conference Premier play-offs in 2014 to regain league status. Record attendance is 14,000 against Chelsea in May 1970. Steve Spriggs holds the appearance record with 416 between 1975 and 1987. The record fee received is £1.5m for Trevor Benjamin to Leicester City in July 2000; the record paid is £190,000 for Steve Claridge from Luton Town in November 1992.
Notable scorelines
Biggest league win: 7-0, achieved three times, against Weymouth in 2007, Forest Green Rovers in 2009 and Morecambe in 2016. Biggest league defeat: 0-7 against Luton Town in League Two in November 2017. Record win and record defeat across all competitions, as distinct from league matches, were not established from the sources consulted.
Head-to-head notes
All-time head-to-head records against 2026/27 opponents could not be established; 11v11, which publishes them, refused automated access. Recent meetings are limited by the fact that Cambridge spent last season in the division below most of this season's opponents. The exceptions are the three clubs promoted alongside them. Cambridge beat Bromley 2-1 at the Abbey on 18 October 2025, lost 2-0 at Notts County on 25 October 2025 and drew 1-1 at Milton Keynes Dons on 13 December 2025. They also drew 0-0 at home with Barnet on 15 November 2025, which matters because Barnet are the League Cup first round opponents this August. Against the rest of League One, including the clubs relegated from the Championship, no record from last season exists and none is claimed here.
Right now (2026/27)
Neil Harris is head coach, appointed on 19 February 2025 on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with Mark Bonner returning as director of football on the same day. It is Harris's second spell: he had joined the club the previous season and left within two months to take the Millwall job. He kept Cambridge up on his return and then took them straight back out of League Two.
The summer has been mostly about clearing out. George Munday went to Brighton and Hove Albion on 19 June 2026 for an undisclosed fee. A group of players left when their contracts expired on 30 June: James Brophy to Gillingham, James Gibbons to Notts County, Ben Purrington to Bristol Rovers and Jahrel McKoy to Wycombe Wanderers. Goalkeeper Blade Earley joined Aston Villa on 2 July, Zeno Ibsen Rossi joined Glentoran on 9 July and Jahkyah Ebanks-Blake joined Huddersfield Town on 28 July. Coming the other way, winger Isaac Heath signed from Everton on 15 June 2026 for an undisclosed fee, forward Callum Stead arrived from Barnet on a free on 1 July, and centre-back Patrick Bauer signed from AFC Wimbledon on 3 July. Two loans have been added: forward Gassan Ahadme from Charlton Athletic on 1 July and centre-back Callum Perry from Coventry City on 21 July.
Pre-season went well. Cambridge won 3-1 at Cambridge City on 11 July, beat Southend United 2-1 at the Abbey behind closed doors on 14 July, won 1-0 against Preston North End in Spain on 24 July and drew 0-0 at home with Northampton Town on 28 July. The League Cup first round is at home to Barnet on 8 August 2026, kicking off at 13:00. League One opens at home to Wigan Athletic on 15 August 2026, then away to Bromley on 22 August and at home to Huddersfield Town on 29 August.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_United_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cambridge_United_F.C._seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Cambridge_United_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Cambridge_United_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_League_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_Cup https://www.cambridgeunited.com/news/neil-harris-appointed-head-coach-mark-bonner-appointed-director-football https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/sport/cambridge-united-appoint-neil-harris-as-new-head-coach-9343450/
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.