Exeter City
Also written as Exeter.
The club
Exeter City were founded in 1901 and play at St James Park in Exeter, Devon, capacity 8,720. The club are known as the Grecians, a nickname whose origin is disputed but is usually traced to the parish of St Sidwell's. They play in red and white stripes, adopted in 1910. Exeter are majority-owned by the Exeter City Supporters' Trust, which has held control since 2003 after the club's financial collapse, and are one of the few fan-owned clubs in the EFL. The 2026/27 season is the club's 125th anniversary, marked with a commemorative third kit released on 29 July 2026.
Recent seasons
Exeter spent three seasons in League One and have just come back down. They were fifth in League Two in 2019/20 with 65 points and ninth in 2020/21 with 70. In 2021/22 they finished second with 84 points and went up automatically. League One brought 14th with 56 points in 2022/23, 13th with 61 in 2023/24 and 16th with 56 in 2024/25. The 2025/26 season ended in relegation: 21st of 24 with 49 points from 46 games, twelve wins, thirteen draws and twenty-one defeats. Jayden Wareham was top scorer with 19 goals in all competitions, nine of them in the league. Gary Caldwell left on 16 February 2026 after 180 matches in charge to join Wigan Athletic, and Matt Taylor returned on 3 March 2026 for the remainder of the season, having managed the club from 2018 to 2022.
Honours and landmarks
Exeter's principal honour is the Fourth Division championship of 1989/90. They were Fourth Division runners-up in 1976/77, Third Division South runners-up in 1932/33, and League Two runners-up in 2021/22, when they went up on goal difference. They won the Conference play-off in 2008 to return to the Football League after five years out. Arnold Mitchell holds the appearance record with 495 games, and Tony Kellow is the club's record goalscorer. The most distinctive thing in the club's history is the 1914 tour of South America, on which Exeter became the first side to play a Brazil national team; the two clubs' link led to a partnership with Fluminense. The academy has produced Ollie Watkins, Ethan Ampadu and Matt Grimes among others. The club's record attendance could not be established from any source consulted.
Notable scorelines
Record victory: 14-0 against Weymouth in the FA Cup on 3 October 1908. The Football Club History Database also records a 9-1 win over Aberdare Athletic in the FA Cup first round in 1927/28. Record defeat: the heaviest result in the Football Club History Database's Exeter record is a 0-10 defeat away to Manchester City in the FA Cup third round of 2025/26. Exeter's 2025/26 FA Cup run is separately recorded as two wins and one defeat ending at the third round, which is consistent, but no other source consulted confirmed the scoreline and it should be checked before use.
Head-to-head notes
Exeter do not publish all-time head-to-head records, and none could be established for any 2026/27 League Two opponent. The division contains Accrington Stanley, Barnet, Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham Town, Chesterfield, Colchester United, Crawley Town, Crewe Alexandra, Fleetwood Town, Gillingham, Grimsby Town, Newport County, Northampton Town, Oldham Athletic, Port Vale, Rochdale, Rotherham United, Salford City, Shrewsbury Town, Swindon Town, Tranmere Rovers, Walsall and York City. Port Vale, Rotherham United and Northampton Town came down from League One with Exeter. Two of Exeter's summer departures went to clubs in the same division, Danny Andrew to Fleetwood Town and, from the other direction, Taylor Perry arrived from Shrewsbury Town, so those fixtures have an obvious angle. No published record was found for any individual pairing.
Right now (2026/27)
Matt Taylor was appointed permanent manager on 14 May 2026 after his interim spell at the end of the relegation season. It is his second period in charge. Jack Fitzwater was named club captain and Jake Doyle-Hayes vice-captain on 27 July 2026; Doyle-Hayes wears the number 31 shirt as part of the club's 1931 Fund.
Summer signings: winger Gwion Edwards from Morecambe on a free transfer on 1 July, striker Josh Gordon from Walsall on 1 July, and midfielder Taylor Perry from Shrewsbury Town on 17 July. Fees for the Gordon and Perry deals were not published. Departures were all on free transfers: Jack Aitchison to Bristol Rovers, Danny Andrew to Fleetwood Town and Josh Magennis to Stevenage. Johnly Yfeko left the club on 31 July 2026.
Pre-season has been mixed. Exeter lost 0-1 at Truro City on 18 July and won 2-0 at Weston-super-Mare on 25 July. They played Torquay United away on the evening of 31 July and host Bristol City on Saturday 1 August. Three of the club's early-season fixtures were moved to 12.30pm kick-offs for television, announced on 30 July.
League Two begins on 15 August 2026. Exeter's opening fixture is away to Grimsby Town at Blundell Park on Saturday 15 August at 3pm. The EFL Cup first round follows in the same month; Exeter went out at that stage last season, losing 0-2.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_City_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Exeter_City_F.C._seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Exeter_City_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Exeter_City_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_League_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_League_Two https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/news/ http://www.fchd.info/EXETERC.HTM
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.