Dunfermline Athletic

Also written as Dunfermline.

The club

Dunfermline Athletic were founded on 2 June 1885 and play at East End Park in Dunfermline, Fife. The ground holds 11,480, and the club drew an average home crowd of 5,487 last season, the sort of support that has kept them a second-tier club with first-tier expectations. They are known as the Pars and play in black and white striped shirts.

The club's own site at dafc.co.uk returns 403 to automated requests and the Dunfermline Press could not be reached, so nothing below comes from club releases or the local paper. The head-to-head figures are taken from Fitbastats, an independent Dunfermline record archive covering every match since 1885.

Recent seasons

Dunfermline finished fourth in the Championship in 2020/21 with 39 points from a Covid-shortened 27 games, reaching the Premiership play-off quarter-final. The following year collapsed: ninth in 2021/22 with 35 points, only seven wins from 36, and relegation confirmed in the play-off against Queen's Park, a goalless draw at Firhill on 4 May 2022 followed by a 1-0 home defeat on 7 May, Simon Murray scoring in the 89th minute. They went straight back up as League One champions in 2022/23 under James McPake, 81 points from 36 games with 23 wins, 12 draws and a single defeat, including a 24-game unbeaten run. Back in the Championship they were sixth in 2023/24 with 45 points and seventh in 2024/25 with 35, a poor season of nine wins and 19 defeats.

Last season was much better. Dunfermline finished fourth in 2025/26 with 51 points from 36 games, 14 wins, nine draws and 13 defeats, and reached the Scottish Cup final. In the Premiership play-offs they got past Arbroath in the quarter-final, then lost the semi-final to Partick Thistle, drawing 1-1 at East End Park and losing 2-1 away, 3-2 on aggregate.

Honours and landmarks

Dunfermline have won the Scottish Cup twice, in 1960/61 and 1967/68, and were runners-up in 2025/26. They have been League Cup runners-up three times, in 1949/50, 1991/92 and 2005/06. Second-tier champions in 1925/26, 1988/89, 1995/96 and 2010/11; third-tier champions in 1985/86, 2015/16 and 2022/23.

Jock Stein was appointed manager on 14 March 1960, kept the club up, and won the Scottish Cup within thirteen months. The club's best European run came under George Farm in 1968/69, when they reached the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final and went out to Slovan Bratislava by a single goal on aggregate.

Record attendance is 27,816 against Celtic on 30 April 1968. Norrie McCathie made 576 appearances between 1981 and 1996, 497 of them in the league. Charlie Dickson scored 212 goals between 1955 and 1964, 154 in the league. The 1957/58 side scored 141 goals in all competitions. Record fee received is £650,000 from Celtic for Jackie McNamara in 1995; record fee paid is £540,000 to Bordeaux for Istvan Kozma in 1989.

Notable scorelines

Record victory: 10-1 against APOEL Nicosia at East End Park in the first round of the Cup Winners' Cup on 18 September 1968. The biggest league win is 11-2 against Stenhousemuir on 27 September 1930, still Stenhousemuir's record defeat; Dunfermline also beat Partick Thistle 10-1 on 18 April 1959 and Wigtown and Bladnoch 9-0 in the Scottish Cup on 27 January 1962. Record defeat: 0-10 against Dundee on 22 March 1947. The heaviest home defeat is 1-8 against Celtic on 19 February 2006. The most recent big occasion was the Scottish Cup final of 23 May 2026, lost 3-1 to Celtic, after Dunfermline had beaten Aberdeen 3-0 in the quarter-final. In the league last season they won 5-0 at Arbroath on 13 September 2025.

Head-to-head notes

All-time records against the other 2026/27 Championship clubs, from Fitbastats. Against Arbroath, 116 played, Dunfermline 54, Arbroath 37, 25 draws. Against Ayr United, 145 played, Dunfermline 63, Ayr 45, 37 draws. Against Greenock Morton, 135 played, Dunfermline 55, Morton 45, 35 draws. Against Livingston, 68 played, Dunfermline 29, Livingston 18, 21 draws. Against Partick Thistle, 130 played, Dunfermline 54, Partick 42, 34 draws. Against Queen's Park, 77 played, Dunfermline 33, Queen's Park 21, 23 draws. Against Stenhousemuir, 95 played, Dunfermline 49, Stenhousemuir 24, 22 draws, the best record of the lot at plus 74 on goals. Against Raith Rovers, the Fife derby, 139 played, Dunfermline 57, Raith 51, 31 draws; Raith Rovers publish the same fixture as 55-51 to Dunfermline with 31 draws, so the two archives disagree on the win totals while agreeing on the draws and on which club leads. The one bad record is against Inverness Caledonian Thistle: 53 played, Dunfermline 11, Inverness 19, 23 draws. Dunfermline and Inverness meet on the opening day.

Right now (2026/27)

Neil Lennon is the manager, appointed on 21 March 2025 on a short-term deal and signed to a two-year contract in May 2025 once Championship status was secure. He took the club to a Scottish Cup final and a play-off semi-final in his first full season.

Summer transfer business could not be established. The club website blocks automated access, there is no Wikipedia article for the 2026/27 Dunfermline season, and no accessible transfer listing carried the club's 2026 window. The one confirmed arrival is Samuel Cleall-Harding, on loan from Dundee United, recorded on Dundee United's side of the deal. A reviewer should fill this section in from dafc.co.uk directly.

Dunfermline came second in Premier Sports Cup Group C with nine points and went through to the last 16 as one of the best runners-up. They lost their opener 3-0 away to East Kilbride on 11 July, then beat Dumbarton 4-1 at home on 14 July, Cove Rangers 5-0 at home on 21 July, and St Mirren 1-0 in Paisley on 26 July, the win that took them through at the group winners' expense on goal difference alone. The Championship season begins against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 1 August 2026; the source consulted did not state the venue.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.