Stoke City
Also written as Stoke.
The club
Stoke City were founded in 1863 as Stoke Ramblers and are among the oldest professional clubs in the world. They play at the bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, capacity 30,089, having left the Victoria Ground in 1997. The club are the Potters, after the local pottery industry, and play in red and white vertical stripes with white shorts.
Recent seasons
Stoke have been a Championship club since relegation from the Premier League in 2017/18, and 2026/27 is their ninth consecutive season in the second tier and their 50th in that division overall. They were 15th in 2019/20 with 56 points, 14th in 2020/21 with 60, 14th again in 2021/22 with 62, 16th in 2022/23 with 53, 17th in 2023/24 with 56, 18th in 2024/25 with 51, and 17th in 2025/26 with 55. That is seven mid-to-lower table finishes in a row without a serious promotion challenge or a relegation scare. Mark Robins was appointed manager on 1 January 2025 and steered the 2024/25 side clear before the 17th-place finish last season.
Honours and landmarks
The League Cup of 1971/72 is the club's only major trophy, won 2-1 against Chelsea at Wembley. They were FA Cup runners-up in 2010/11, losing 1-0 to Manchester City, which took them into the Europa League. League titles: Second Division champions in 1932/33 and 1962/63, Third Division North champions in 1926/27, and Football Alliance champions in 1890/91. They won the Football League Trophy in 1991/92 and 1999/2000. Record attendance at the Victoria Ground was 51,130 against Arsenal on 29 March 1937; at the bet365 Stadium it is 30,022 against Everton on 17 March 2018. John McCue holds the appearance record with 675 games including wartime matches, and John Ritchie is the leading scorer with 176 goals in all competitions. Record fee paid is £18.3m for Giannelli Imbula from Porto in 2016; record fee received is £20m for Marko Arnautović to West Ham United in 2017. Stoke's Premier League record win was 6-1 against Liverpool on 24 May 2015 and their heaviest Premier League defeat 7-0 at Chelsea on 25 April 2010.
Notable scorelines
Record league win: 10-3 against West Bromwich Albion on 4 February 1937. Record defeat: 0-10 against Preston North End on 14 September 1889, in the Football League's second season. The 6-1 win over Liverpool on the final day of 2014/15 is the most-cited modern result, and the 1972 League Cup final win over Chelsea remains the defining match in the club's history.
Head-to-head notes
No published all-time head-to-head records were established for Stoke against their 2026/27 Championship opponents; the club's own website did not return usable content to an automated fetch, and 11v11 blocks such requests. Stoke and Swansea City, the opening-day visitors, have met regularly in the Championship over the past nine seasons, both having finished mid-table in 2025/26, Swansea 11th on 64 points to Stoke's 17th on 55, but an all-time record is not established. Stoke sold Ethan Galbraith from Swansea for £10m on 1 July 2026, so the two clubs did business immediately before meeting. Their EFL Cup first round tie is at home to Oldham Athletic of League Two; an all-time record against Oldham is not established.
Right now (2026/27)
Mark Robins is manager, appointed 1 January 2025, with Max Porter joining as assistant manager on 9 June 2026. John Coates is chairman. This has been an expensive summer by Championship standards, with roughly £21.2m spent. Forward Milan Smit arrived from Go Ahead Eagles for £4.8m on 15 June 2026. Midfielder Djibril Soumaré came from Braga for £3.4m and goalkeeper Josh Griffiths from West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee, both on 25 June. Midfielder Ethan Galbraith joined from Swansea City for £10m on 1 July, the largest outlay of the window, and Svante Ingelsson came from Sheffield Wednesday for £1m the same day. Defender Luke Graham signed from Dundee for £2m on 2 July. A late group arrived on 28 July: Paul Makavore free from Walsall, George Morrison from Fleetwood Town, Jack Newall free from Burton Albion and Will Thompson from Nottingham Forest.
Departures were mostly releases and clear-outs. Lewis Baker left for Bursaspor and Steven Nzonzi was released, both on 30 June 2026; Jake Griffin joined Chester on 26 June and Darius Lipsiuc Notts County on 27 June; Nikola Jojić left by mutual consent on 7 July. A long list went out on loan, including goalkeeper Tommy Simkin to Doncaster Rovers, striker Nathan Lowe to Hibernian on 14 July and Emre Tezgel to Wycombe Wanderers on 23 July, all until the end of the season.
Pre-season: lost 1-0 to Braga at St George's Park on 10 July 2026, drew 1-1 at Crewe Alexandra on 18 July, won 1-0 at Chester on 21 July, beat Sheffield Wednesday twice in Vienna on 25 July (2-0 and 4-0), and beat Everton 1-0 at the bet365 Stadium on 28 July, with Valencia visiting on 1 August. The EFL Cup first round tie at home to Oldham Athletic is on 8 August 2026 at 3pm. The Championship season opens at home to Swansea City on 15 August 2026 at 3pm.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoke_City_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stoke_City_F.C._seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Stoke_City_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Cup
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.