West Ham United

Also written as West Ham.

The club

West Ham United were founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and were reformed under the present name on 5 July 1900. The ironworks origin is why they are the Irons and the Hammers. They played at the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park from 1904 to 2016 and have played at the London Stadium in Stratford since; capacity there is 62,500. Claret, sky blue and white have been the colours since 1903.

Recent seasons

West Ham spent 14 consecutive seasons in the Premier League before 2025/26. They finished seventh in 2021/22, 14th in 2022/23 and 14th again in 2023/24, and 18th in 2024/25. In 2025/26 they were relegated, finishing 18th with 39 points, going down on the final day after losing to Leeds United. Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers went down with them, on 22 and 20 points. West Ham therefore start 2026/27 in the Championship, in a division containing Burnley and Wolves as well.

Nuno Espírito Santo was appointed head coach on 27 September 2025 on a three-year contract, midway through the relegation season. Results improved after the winter break but the start had been too poor to recover. On 27 May 2026 he confirmed he would stay to try to win promotion.

Honours and landmarks

West Ham have never won the league. Their highest finish is third in the First Division in 1985/86. They have won the FA Cup three times, in 1964, 1975 and 1980, and were runners-up in 1923 and 2006. In Europe they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1965 and were runners-up in 1976, won the Intertoto Cup in 1999, and won the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023, which remains the club's most recent trophy. They also won the Football League War Cup in 1940.

Vic Watson is the club's leading scorer with 326 goals between 1920 and 1935. No all-time appearance record, record attendance figure or record transfer fee was established from the sources available; Wikipedia's records article does not carry those sections and the club site was not readable. The best-known modern number is the £85,000,000 Tottenham Hotspur paid for Mateus Fernandes on 2 July 2026, which is a club sale record if not a confirmed one.

Notable scorelines

Record victory: 10-0 against Bury in the Football League Cup on 25 October 1983. Biggest league wins are two 8-0 results, against Rotherham United on 8 March 1958 and against Sunderland on 19 October 1968. Record defeat: 0-7, suffered three times, against Barnsley on 1 September 1919, against Everton on 22 October 1927 and against Sheffield Wednesday on 28 November 1959.

Head-to-head notes

West Ham do not publish all-time head-to-head records and none was established for any 2026/27 opponent. The EFL Cup first round is at home to Portsmouth, who finished 18th in the Championship in 2025/26 with 55 points, and who are now league rivals as well. The league opens away at Burnley, who came down from the Premier League on the same afternoon as West Ham, so the first Championship fixture is a meeting of two of the three relegated clubs.

Right now (2026/27)

Nuno Espírito Santo is the head coach and 2026/27 is his first full season.

The summer has been about selling. Midfielder Mateus Fernandes went to Tottenham Hotspur on 2 July for £85,000,000. Winger Crysencio Summerville joined Al Hilal on 24 July for £55,000,000 plus £5,000,000 in add-ons. Centre-forward Callum Wilson left for Brentford on a free transfer on 9 July. Goalkeeper Krisztián Hegyi joined Sparta Prague for an undisclosed fee on 1 July, and centre-forward Callum Marshall went to Luton Town for an undisclosed fee on 30 July.

Against about £145,000,000 of sales, incomings have been almost nothing. Left winger Keiber Lamadrid signed from Deportivo La Guaira for £1,000,000 on 20 June, and centre-forward Jett Murphy joined from Chelmsford City on a free transfer on 1 July. That is the entire recorded intake as of 31 July. A squad assembled for the Premier League is being asked to win the Championship largely as it stands, minus its two most saleable attackers.

Pre-season took in the sort of fixtures the club has not played in a generation. West Ham beat Colchester United 3-2 on 14 July, drew 1-1 at Southend United on 18 July, won 5-0 at Stevenage on 22 July and drew 0-0 with Rangers on 26 July. They were at 1. FC Magdeburg on 1 August.

The season starts with the EFL Cup first round at home to Portsmouth at the London Stadium on Saturday 8 August 2026 at 3pm. The Championship campaign opens away at Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday 16 August 2026 at 4pm.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ham_United_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_West_Ham_United_F.C._records_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_West_Ham_United_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Premier_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuno_Esp%C3%ADrito_Santo

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