One hundred and thirty years, on the record.

1890s

Founded on iron

Thames Ironworks Football Club is formed in 1895 by Arnold Hills and Dave Taylor at the shipyard on the north bank of the Thames. The crossed-hammer crest, the ‘Hammers’ nickname, the working-class identity, all trace to the iron and rivets of the yard. By 1900 the Club has reformed under a new name: West Ham United.

1900s

Boleyn Ground opens

September 1904. West Ham move from the Memorial Grounds to the Boleyn Ground at Upton Park, a site they will call home for 112 years. The crossed-hammers crest is finalised in the form supporters still recognise today, with the Green Street House ‘castle’ added as a nod to local history.

1910s

Through the war

Football suspended for four years from 1915. West Ham's first-team players serve in uniform; some don't return. The Club regroups for the resumption in 1919 and, by 1923, is on its way to its first FA Cup Final.

1920s

The White Horse Final

28 April 1923, the first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium. An estimated 200,000+ spill onto the pitch; PC George Scorey and his grey horse Billie clear the field. West Ham lose 2–0 to Bolton but earn a place in football folklore. Promotion to the First Division follows the same season.

1930s

Vic Watson's record book

1929–30: Vic Watson scores 42 First Division goals in 44 games, a record that still stands. The decade closes with relegation and the long Second Division stretch that will define the inter-war and wartime years.

1940s

Wartime at Upton Park

The Boleyn Ground takes bomb damage during the Blitz; the West Stand is hit in August 1944. Players serve, regional wartime leagues fill the calendar, and the Club emerges in 1946 to resume Second Division football under new manager Charlie Paynter.

1950s

Promotion, and the Academy begins

Ted Fenton takes the helm in 1950 and, by 1958, has guided West Ham back to the First Division as Second Division champions. The youth set-up he builds at the training ground will, within a decade, deliver Moore, Hurst, Peters, Brooking, and a phrase that sticks: the Academy of Football.

1960s

The Academy era

1964: FA Cup. 1965: European Cup Winners' Cup. 1966: three West Ham men lift the World Cup. Captain Bobby Moore climbs the Wembley steps three times in three years, the only player in history to do so. Ron Greenwood's side defines a decade.

1970s

Bonds, Brooking, and another Cup

Billy Bonds emerges as the Club's all-time appearance maker and a captain in the Moore mould. 1975 brings a second FA Cup, beating Fulham at Wembley with goals from Alan Taylor. The starting XI is the last all-English line-up to win the FA Cup.

1980s

Wembley, again

10 May 1980: a Second Division West Ham side beat Arsenal 1–0 in the FA Cup Final. Trevor Brooking's rare header is the only goal. To this day, the last time a club outside the top flight has lifted the Cup, and the Club's last major trophy for 43 years.

1990s

The Premier League and Di Canio

Harry Redknapp takes charge in 1994 and builds a side around home-grown talent and overseas character. In 1999 Paolo Di Canio arrives from Sheffield Wednesday; within a year he is curling free-kicks and Boleyn Ground audiences are watching some of the best football of a generation.

2000s

The volley, the statue, the cup run

26 March 2000: Di Canio's scissor-kick volley against Wimbledon, Goal of the Season, still one of the Boleyn Ground's defining moments. 2003: the Champions sculpture is unveiled on Barking Road. 2006: West Ham reach the FA Cup Final, losing on penalties to Liverpool after one of the greatest finals at the new Wembley.

2010s

Farewell Boleyn

After 112 years on Green Street, West Ham play their final game at the Boleyn Ground on 10 May 2016, beating Manchester United 3–2 with Winston Reid's late winner. The London Stadium becomes the new home from August 2016 onwards. The Boleyn site is redeveloped; the legacy stays in the Newham streets.

2020s

Prague

7 June 2023: West Ham win the UEFA Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague, Jarrod Bowen's 90th-minute winner. Captain Declan Rice lifts the trophy. Forty-three years after the 1980 FA Cup, the cabinet finally fills again.