Derry City F.C.
Also written as Derry City.
The club
Derry City were founded in 1928 in Derry, Northern Ireland, and play at the Brandywell Stadium, capacity 6,242, reduced to 2,900 for UEFA competition. They are nicknamed the Candystripes for their red-and-white striped home shirts, adopted in 1934 and inspired by Sheffield United after Billy Gillespie, a former Sheffield United player, became Derry's player-manager in 1932. The interim manager as of August 2026 is Mark Connolly.
Derry City are based in Northern Ireland but play in the League of Ireland, the Republic of Ireland's league system, and are worth explaining properly rather than assuming an error in the fixture feed. Derry won the Irish League title in 1964-65, but from September 1971 the security situation of the Troubles meant the club could not use the Brandywell; the RUC judged the ground unsafe and Derry were compelled to play home matches some thirty miles away in Coleraine for a year. A proposal to return to the Brandywell was defeated by one vote among the club's fellow Irish League clubs, and on 13 October 1972 Derry withdrew from the Irish League amid a widespread perception that they had effectively been forced out. After thirteen years playing junior football, the club applied to the reorganised League of Ireland in 1985, a move that required special dispensation from the Irish Football Association and FIFA, since it meant a Northern Ireland club leaving the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland's own football association to join that of the Republic. Derry have played in the League of Ireland ever since.
Derry City are not Institute F.C., the other senior football club based in the city, who play in the NIFL Championship under the Northern Ireland football pyramid that Derry left in 1972; the two currently groundshare the Brandywell Stadium, which makes the distinction worth stating plainly. Derry City are also not Coleraine, the club whose ground they were forced to borrow in 1971-72; the two are unrelated other than by that shared history.
Recent seasons
Derry City finished second of ten in the League of Ireland Premier Division in the 2025 season. Fuller season-by-season detail before that was not established from the sources read here.
Honours and landmarks
Irish League champions once, in 1964-65, before their 1972 departure from that league. League of Ireland Premier Division champions once, in 1996-97. FAI Cup winners five times: 1995, 2002, 2006, 2012 and 2022. Derry won a domestic treble of league, League Cup and FAI Cup in 1988-89, and have won ten further League Cups beyond that treble season.
Notable scorelines
Derry's best remembered European result is an 8-6 aggregate win over FK Lyn Oslo of Norway in the 1965-66 European Cup, the first time an Irish League team had won a European tie over two legs. In the 2006-07 UEFA Cup they beat IFK Göteborg 2-0 and beat Gretna of Scotland 7-3, before losing 0-2 to Paris Saint-Germain. In the 2014-15 Europa League they beat Aberystwyth Town of Wales 9-0 on aggregate. Their heaviest European defeats include a 5-0 aggregate loss to Steaua Bucharest in the 1964-65 Cup Winners' Cup and a 1-6 loss to Benfica in the 1989-90 European Cup.
European record
Derry's European history runs from the 1965-66 European Cup win over Lyn Oslo through the 2006-07 UEFA Cup run past IFK Göteborg and Gretna to Paris Saint-Germain, and the 2014-15 Europa League win over Aberystwyth Town, alongside the heavy defeats to Steaua Bucharest and Benfica noted above. A full round-by-round record was not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
Was not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Mark Connolly is interim manager. Derry City entered the 2026-27 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round against CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria, losing 1-2 at home and 2-3 away, out 3-5 on aggregate. Dropping into the Conference League as a result, they were drawn against HNK Rijeka of Croatia in the second qualifying round, losing 0-1 at home and 0-1 away, out 0-2 on aggregate. Exact dates and Derry's current League of Ireland Premier Division position for the 2026 season were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry_City_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_phase_and_play-off_round
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.