Manchester City F.C.
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Manchester City Football Club are an English football club, located in Manchester, United Kingdom. Manchester City currently participate domestically in the English Premier League. The club's nickname is The Sky Blues and traditionally play in a sky blue kit.
City's history dates back to 1880 when St. Mark's church of West Gorton formed a football team. The club had a troubled beginning, eventually moving to the area of Ardwick in 1887. Following the move, the club was renamed Ardwich Association Football Club in 1887. In 1892, Ardwick were founding members of Football League Division Two, before being renamed Manchester City 2 years later, in 1894.
Manchester City's home grounds changed frequently in their early history, playing at 8 stadiums in their history, with 5 of those being before 1890. In 1887 the club moved to Hyde Road Football Stadium. Following a number of years playing at Hyde Road, Manchester City moved to Maine Road in 1923. The club moved to The City of Manchester stadium in 2003, following the completion of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The club has been very well supported since its early foundation, regularly achieving crowds over 20,000 before 1900. While the club's support was high, the club has rarely had long periods on continuous success until recent years. Their first major trophy came in 1904 when they won the FA Cup. The manchester based team had a number of successes in the 1960s and 1970s, when they won the English league title, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Cup Winner's Cup in European competition.
Manchester City have a strong rivalry and play the Manchester derby against their city neighbours Manchester United. Reports have stated that while Manchester United have a larger fan base, there are more Manchester City fans than United fans living within the city of Manchester. However the figures aren't as high as some suggest, with around 4 Manchester City fans to 3 Manchester United fans.
Honours for the club have been steady throughout the clubs long history, with a recent upturn in the number of trophies. They notably won the English league title twice in quick succession in 2011-12 and the 2013-14 seasons. The club has won the English league title on 4 occasions, but has won the second-tier title on 7 occasions. They have won the FA Cup on five occasions and the League Cup three times. Their only European success came in the 1970s when they won the European Cup Winners' Cup.
