Oxford United
Also written as Oxford U.
The club
Oxford United were founded on 27 October 1893 as Headington F.C. and took the present name in 1960. They left the Manor Ground in 2001 for the Kassam Stadium, which holds 12,573 and is unusual in having only three sides. The club are the U's, or the Yellows, and play in yellow shirts with navy shorts and socks.
The stadium is the club's defining off-field story. Planning permission was granted in August 2025 for a new 16,000-seat, all-electric ground at the Triangle site in Kidlington, with a lease extension at the Kassam through 2028 conditional on that approval, so the club expect to leave their present home before the end of the decade.
Recent seasons
Six seasons of near misses, one promotion and one relegation. Oxford were fourth in League One in 2019/20 with 60 points from a curtailed 23-club season, sixth in 2020/21 with 74, losing the play-off semi-final 6-3 on aggregate to Blackpool, and eighth in 2021/22 with 76. 2022/23 was much worse, 19th with 47 points. They recovered to fifth in 2023/24 with 77 points and won promotion through the play-offs, beating Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at Wembley. The Championship lasted two years: 17th with 53 points in 2024/25, then 22nd with 47 points in 2025/26 and relegation. 2026/27 is their first season back in League One.
Honours and landmarks
The League Cup of 1986, won 3-0 against Queens Park Rangers at Wembley, is the club's only major trophy and remains the reference point for everything else. The sources read did not enumerate the club's divisional championships, so those are not established here. Ron Atkinson holds the appearance record with 560 between 1959 and 1971, and his brother Graham Atkinson is the record goalscorer with 107. Record attendance is 22,750 against Preston North End in the FA Cup sixth round on 29 February 1964, set at the Manor Ground and therefore unbeatable at the Kassam. The record fee received is £3m from Leeds United for Kemar Roofe in July 2016; the record fee paid is in the region of £1m to £1.5m to Birmingham City for Siriki Dembele in August 2024.
Notable scorelines
Record win: 9-0 against Wisbech Town in the Southern League on 10 December 1960, before the club reached the Football League. Record defeat: 0-7, suffered twice, against Sunderland in 1998 and against Wigan Athletic in 2017. The 3-0 League Cup final win over QPR in 1986 is the famous match.
Head-to-head notes
No published all-time head-to-head records against 2026/27 League One opponents were found; Oxford do not carry them on their own match pages in a form the sources read reached. Leyton Orient, drawn as EFL Cup first-round opponents, were a League One rival in 2025/26 only in the sense that Oxford were a division above; the last meeting between the clubs was not established. Milton Keynes Dons, the opening-day visitors, came up from League Two as runners-up in 2025/26, and no all-time record between the two was established. Bolton Wanderers, whom Oxford beat in the 2024 play-off final, went up to the Championship in 2026 and are not in the division.
Right now (2026/27)
Aaron Ramsey was appointed manager on 23 June 2026, replacing Matt Bloomfield, who left before the season. Ramsey took the squad to Spain in mid-July for a training camp.
Business has been light. Left-back Ruben Roosken joined from Huddersfield Town for an undisclosed fee on 15 June and centre-back Frankie Kent arrived on a free from Heart of Midlothian on 1 July. The club published a first Oxford United interview with Chris Gunter on 20 July 2026, but the sources read did not carry the terms of that move and a reviewer should confirm it before using it. Striker Nik Prelec left for Jagiellonia Bialystok for an undisclosed fee on 10 July and forward Ole Romeny went on loan to Fortuna Sittard on 11 July with an option to make the move permanent. Goalkeeper Matt Ingram was released and joined West Bromwich Albion, and centre-back Stuart Findlay left for Heart of Midlothian, the club Kent came from.
Pre-season has been productive, with 7-1 at home to Wealdstone on 11 July, 3-1 at Aldershot Town on 21 July, 2-1 at Barnet on 25 July and 3-1 at home to Crawley Town on 28 July. Gatlin O'Donkor scored in both the Aldershot and Crawley wins. Ipswich Town visit the Kassam on 1 August in the last friendly.
Oxford open competitively away to Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road in the EFL Cup first round on 8 August 2026 at 3pm, an all-League One tie. The league campaign starts at home to Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday 15 August 2026 at 12.30pm.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_United_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oxford_United_F.C._records_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Oxford_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://www.fchd.info/OXFORDU.HTM https://www.oufc.co.uk/news
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.