Wolverhampton Wanderers

Also written as Wolves.

The club

Wolverhampton Wanderers were founded in 1877 as St Luke's and took their present name in 1879. They have played at Molineux since 1889; the ground currently holds 31,750. They are known as Wolves or the Old Gold, and play in old gold shirts with black shorts. The club has been owned by Fosun International since 2016.

Recent seasons

Wolves finished 13th in the Premier League in 2020/21, tenth in 2021/22 and 13th in 2022/23. The run ended in 2025/26, when they went down. Note a discrepancy in the sources: the main Wolverhampton Wanderers Wikipedia article tabulates a 20th-place relegation in 2024/25, but the season articles are consistent that Wolves were a Premier League club in 2025/26 and were relegated at the end of it, and the 2026/27 EFL Championship article describes them as relegated from the Premier League. The season pages have been followed here.

The 2025/26 campaign was extreme. Wolves took three points from their first 19 fixtures, the worst start to a Premier League season by a club without a points deduction. Vítor Pereira was dismissed on 2 November 2025, Jamie Collins took interim charge and Rob Edwards was appointed on 12 November 2025. Relegation was confirmed on 20 April 2026. Wolves finished 20th with 20 points from 3 wins, 11 draws and 24 defeats, scoring 27 and conceding 68, and became only the second club to lose to all 19 opponents in a single Premier League season, after Sheffield United in 2023/24. Average home attendance was 29,833. They reached the fifth round of the FA Cup and the fourth round of the EFL Cup. Tolu Arokodare and Jørgen Strand Larsen were joint top scorers with six goals each in all competitions; in the league, four players managed three.

Honours and landmarks

Wolves have won the First Division three times, in 1953/54, 1957/58 and 1958/59. They have won the FA Cup four times, in 1893, 1908, 1949 and 1960, and the League Cup twice, in 1974 and 1980. They were Second Division champions in 1931/32 and 1976/77 and Third Division North champions in 1923/24. In Europe they reached the European Cup quarter-finals in 1959/60 and the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals in 1960/61, and lost the 1972 UEFA Cup final to Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 on aggregate, having beaten Juventus and Ferencváros on the way; the 2-1 home defeat in the first leg proved decisive. After 39 years away they returned to Europe and reached the 2020 Europa League quarter-finals, losing 1-0 to the eventual winners Sevilla in a one-legged tie in Germany. The floodlit friendlies Wolves staged in the 1950s were instrumental in the launch of the European Cup in 1955.

Record attendance is 61,315 against Liverpool in an FA Cup fourth-round tie on 11 February 1939. Steve Bull scored 306 goals between 1986 and 1999, including 52 in 1987/88 while the club were in the Fourth Division. Derek Parkin made 609 appearances between 1968 and 1982. The longest unbeaten run is 21 matches, from January to August 2005. Kenny Jackett's 2013/14 side took 103 points in League One. The record fee paid is £44 million to Atlético Madrid for Matheus Cunha in September 2023; the record received is £54 million from Chelsea for Pedro Neto in August 2024.

Notable scorelines

Record league win: 10-1 against Leicester City in Division One on 15 April 1938. Record cup win: 14-0 against Crosswell's Brewery in the FA Cup second round on 13 November 1886. Record defeat: 1-10 against Newton Heath in Division One on 15 October 1892. The heaviest results of 2025/26 were 4-0 defeats to Manchester City and West Ham United; the biggest win was 6-1 against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup on 10 January 2026.

Head-to-head notes

Wolves have a published all-time league record by opponent. Against Championship opponents this season it reads: West Bromwich Albion 148 games, 52 wins, 41 draws, 55 defeats; Derby County 142, 53-30-59; Stoke City 140, 58-33-49; Burnley 131, 64-28-39; Birmingham City 130, 62-30-38; Bolton Wanderers 126, 52-25-49; Preston North End 116, 46-27-43; Sheffield United 106, 35-34-37; Blackburn Rovers 96, 37-23-36; Middlesbrough 88, 26-19-43; Portsmouth 84, 34-24-26; Charlton Athletic 74, 38-16-20; West Ham United 69, 24-14-31; Southampton 66, 25-17-24; Bristol City 64, 33-16-15; Cardiff City 58, 27-13-18; Norwich City 56, 28-16-12; Queens Park Rangers 44, 17-14-13; Watford 42, 13-16-13; Millwall 38, 16-11-11; Swansea City 28, 10-10-8; Lincoln City 22, 13-3-6; Wrexham 6, 1-2-3. Middlesbrough and West Ham United are the only opponents on that list against whom Wolves have a markedly negative record over a large sample.

The Wrexham figure needs care. Wolves' table counts six meetings; Wrexham's own equivalent table counts 30, running from 1905/06 to 1987/88, which appears to include pre-Football League league fixtures. The two clubs met in the Football League in the mid-1980s.

Right now (2026/27)

Rob Edwards was dismissed on 11 June 2026. César Peixoto was appointed head coach on 15 June 2026 on a two-year contract. Centre-back Ladislav Krejčí arrived from Girona for £20 million on 15 June. Raúl Jiménez returned from Fulham on a free on 1 July, the same day Kieran Trippier joined from Newcastle United. Winger Rafiki Saïd signed from Standard Liège for £7.7 million on 11 July. The major sale was João Gomes to Aston Villa on 20 July for £38 million plus £4 million in add-ons; Matt Doherty left for Sheffield United on a free the same day. Nigel Lonwijk joined Maccabi Haifa on 24 July for £500,000 with a 25 per cent sell-on clause, James Storer went to Plymouth Argyle on a free on 26 June and Alfie Pond to Chesterfield for an undisclosed fee on 6 July. Tolu Arokodare was loaned to Ajax on 29 July with an option to buy. Earlier in 2026 Emmanuel Agbadou left for Beşiktaş on 6 February and Jhon Arias for Palmeiras on 7 February.

Pre-season produced a goalless draw at Estoril Praia on 18 July, a 1-0 win at Maidenhead United on 22 July, a 2-1 home defeat to Real Sociedad on 25 July and a 2-0 win at Doncaster Rovers on 29 July. Wolves host Port Vale in the EFL Cup first round at Molineux on 7 August 2026, and open the Championship at home to Blackburn Rovers on 14 August 2026.

Sources

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