Exeter City F.C.
Fan-owned club from Devon, nicknamed the Grecians.
Exeter City Football Club, based in Exeter, Devon, is a professional side in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, following relegation in the 2025–26 season. Nicknamed "the Grecians"—the origin of that name is subject to speculation and debate—the club is owned by its supporters through the Exeter City Supporters' Trust. Founded in 1901, they made history in 1914 by becoming the first team to play Brazil's national side during a South American tour. As a result, City and Brazilian side Fluminense are now partner clubs.
Quick Facts
- Club
- Exeter City
- Full name
- Exeter City Football Club
- Nickname
- The Grecians
- Founded
- 1901
- Ground
- St James Park
- Capacity
- 8,720
- Owner
- Exeter City Supporters' Trust
- Chairman
- Wilf Walsh
Facts from the source article.
History
Exeter City F.C. was formed from two predecessor clubs, Exeter United F.C. and St Sidwell's United. Exeter United, a club from Exeter that played between 1890 and 1904, lost 3–1 to local rivals St Sidwell's United in 1904, after which the two clubs merged. The new team took the name Exeter City and continued at Exeter United's ground, St James Park, where they remain today. Exeter United had originated from a cricket team of the same name, while St Sidwell's United had formed from regulars of the Foresters Inn in Sidwell Street, known as the Drum and Monkey, and played in green and white. On 10 September 1904, Exeter City played its first competitive match, a 2–1 victory over 110th Battery of the Royal Artillery in the East Devon League, with 600 attending and Sid Thomas scoring the winner. City topped the East Devon League with eleven wins, two draws and one defeat in its first season and moved to the Plymouth & District League for three seasons. In 1908, Exeter City A.F.C. became a limited company, turned full-time professional, and joined the Southern League, replacing Tottenham Hotspur. A wooden grandstand was erected, and on 3 October 1908 the club recorded its record FA Cup win, 14–0 over Weymouth, with James "Daisy" Bell scoring six goals and ten of the goals coming in the first half. City changed to its current red and white colours in 1910 after a poor start to the season (only two wins out of eleven), abandoning its supposedly unlucky green and white kit; the first game in the new colours was a 0–0 draw with West Ham United on 12 November, followed by five consecutive league wins in December. City made an historic tour of South America in 1914, playing eight matches against teams of Argentina and Brazil. The last match on 21 July 1914 was an encounter with the first Brazil national football team playing under the authority of a national football association, the Federação Brasileira de Sports, founded just the month before. Brazil, featuring Arthur Friedenreich, won 2–0 at the Laranjeiras stadium, home of Fluminense. The tour yielded five wins, one draw and two defeats. Exeter were invited by the Football League to become founder members of the Third Division in 1920. City's first match in the Football League was on 28 August 1920, a 3–0 win over Brentford at St James Park. In 1931, City reached the sixth round of the FA Cup, losing a replay 4–2 to Sunderland in front of its largest ever home gate. Fifty years later, City reached the sixth round again, losing 2–0 to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur, having beaten Newcastle United 4–0 and Leicester City in previous rounds. In the 1932–33 season they achieved their highest position in the League, 2nd in the Third Division South, but remained there because only the champions were promoted. In the 1963–64 season, City achieved their first ever promotion, going up to the Third Division, but were relegated just two seasons later. They were promoted out of the Fourth Division again at the end of the 1976–77 season under Bobby Saxton and stayed in the Third Division for seven seasons before being relegated in 1984. In 1990, the club won its first major trophy, the Fourth Division title, winning twenty league games at St James Park and remaining undefeated in 31 home matches, including dramatic draws against Norwich City in the FA Cup third round and Sunderland in the League Cup 4th round. Following that promotion, the departure of manager Terry Cooper and key players such as Shaun Taylor, Richard Dryden, Clive Whitehead, Brian McDermott and Steve Neville left new boss Alan Ball to pick up the pieces. Ball left for Southampton in January 1994 and the returning Cooper was unable to save Exeter from relegation. Back in the bottom division, City struggled for nearly a decade. In November 1994, the club almost went out of business and sold its stadium to Beazer for £650,000, but were able to stay after the local council took it over. After nearly two years on the brink of closure, the club came out of administration on 1 August 1996. In 2003, City finished 23rd in Division Three and was relegated to the Conference National, the first club to suffer automatic relegation without finishing bottom of the league. They spent five seasons in the Conference and recovered from defeat in the 2007 play-off final to win promotion out of the play-offs the next year. Manager Paul Tisdale built on this success by winning promotion out of League Two in 2008–09 and Exeter survived for three seasons in League One. Returning to League Two in 2012, they lost in the play-off finals in 2017, 2018 and most recently in 2020, under Matt Taylor. At the end of the 2021–22 season they gained automatic promotion to League One but were relegated back to League Two after the 2025–26 season.
Honours
Exeter City's league honours include the Fourth Division championship in 1989–90. They were promoted in 1963–64, 1976–77, and 2008–09. They won the Third Division South Cup in 1934. Their record FA Cup win is 14–0 against Weymouth in 1908.
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