Cardiff City F.C.



Cardiff City Football Club (Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in the city of Cardiff, Wales that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A.F.C. before changing its name to Cardiff City in 1908. They play their home games at the Cardiff City Stadium, after moving from Ninian Park in 2009.

The club is one of six Welsh sides playing within the English football league system, having joined the Southern Football League in 1910 before moving into the Football League in 1920, and is the only club from outside England to have won the FA Cup, doing so in 1927. They have also reached three other cup finals in English competitions, the 1925 FA Cup Final against Sheffield United, the 2008 FA Cup Final against Portsmouth and the 2012 Football League Cup Final against Liverpool, suffering defeat on each occasion, and have won the Welsh Cup on 22 occasions, making them the second most successful team in the competition's history behind Wrexham. The club's longest period in the top-tier of English football came between 1921 and 1929 and they have spent seven seasons in the top-flight since this period, the most recent being in the 2013–14, being relegated after a single season.

Since 1908, the club's home colours have been blue and white, leading to a nickname of The Bluebirds, with the exception of a period between 2012 and 2015 when the club's owner, Vincent Tan, rebranded the club and changed the home colours to red. The club reverted to their traditional blue in January 2015. They have long-standing rivalries with nearby clubs Swansea City, known as the South Wales derby, and Bristol City, known as the Severnside derby.

Early years (1899–1920)
The club was founded in 1899 as Riverside A.F.C., following a meeting at the home of Bartley Wilson in Cardiff who was appointed secretary of the club, as a way of keeping players from the Riverside Cricket Club together and in shape during the winter months. Their first season saw them playing friendlies against local sides at their Sophia Gardens ground, but in 1900 they joined the Cardiff & District League for their first competitive season. In 1905, Cardiff was granted city status by King Edward VII, and as a result the club put in a request to change their name to Cardiff City, but the request was turned down as they were deemed to be not playing at a high enough level. To combat this they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907 and the following year they were granted permission to change the name of the club to Cardiff City.

With the club growing in stature, they were forced to turn down the opportunity to join the newly formed Southern League Second Division due to the lack of facilities at their Sophia Gardens ground. Over the next two years, Cardiff played friendlies against some of Britain's top professional sides, including Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Crystal Palace, with the matches being played at various grounds in Cardiff and nearby towns. The club eventually secured land to build their own stadium, moving into Ninian Park, in 1910. The club made its first signing the following year with the acquisition of Jack Evans from fellow Welsh club Cwmparc.

With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division, and appointed their first manager in Davy McDougall, who became player-manager. They went on to finish in fourth place in their first year in the league but the board decided to replace McDougall with Fred Stewart, who had previous managerial experience with Stockport County. Stewart led the club to the Second Division title in his second season and the club remained First Division for the next decade, finishing in the top four on two occasions, although the league was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I between 1915 and 1919.

1920's success & later decline (1920–1945)
In 1920, the club submitted a successful application to join the Football League and were placed into the Second Division for the 1920–21 season. Stewart brought in several players with Football League experience, breaking the club's transfer record on two occasions to sign Jimmy Gill and later Jimmy Blair from The Wednesday. They played their first match in the Football League on 28 August 1920, defeating Stockport County 5–2, and finished the season in second place to win promotion to the First Division, finishing behind Birmingham City on goal average, and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. In their third season in the top-tier, the club finished runners-up to Huddersfield Town due to a goal average difference of 0.024, drawing their final match 0–0 in a match where club record goalscorer Len Davies missed a penalty.

The following season was the first time Cardiff City appeared at Wembley Stadium, reaching their first ever FA Cup final, losing 1–0 to Sheffield United following a goal from England international Fred Tunstall. Although the 1926–27 season was Cardiff's worst performance in the top tier of English Football since they had won promotion six seasons prior, finishing in 14th position, Cardiff reached their second FA Cup final in the space of two years. On St George's Day, 23 April 1927, at Wembley Stadium in London, Cardiff became the first non-English side to win the FA Cup by defeating Arsenal 1–0 in the Final, Hughie Ferguson scoring the only goal of the game. In the 74th minute, after collecting a throw George MacLachlan, Ferguson hurried a tame shot toward the Arsenal goal. Dan Lewis, the Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to collect the ball but, under pressure from the advancing Len Davies, clumsily allowed the ball to roll through his grasp. In a further attempt to retrieve the ball Lewis only succeeded in knocking the ball with his elbow into his own net. Captain Fred Keenor received the FA Cup trophy from King George V only seven years after Cardiff City had entered the Football League.

The side also won the Welsh Cup in 1927 defeating Rhyl by a scoreline of 2–0, making Cardiff the only team to win the national cup of two different countries in the same season, and would go on to win the FA Charity Shield after beating amateur side the Corinthians 2–1 at Stamford Bridge. However, the club soon entered a decline after their cup success and were relegated from the First Division in the 1928–29 season, despite conceding less goals than any other side in the division, and suffered a second relegation two years later, dropping into the Third Division South for the first time since they joined the Football League. During their time in the division, Cardiff recorded their biggest ever win in the Football League, when they beat Thames by a scoreline of 9–2 but after finishing the 1932–33 season in 19th place, manager Fred Stewart tendered his resignation from his post after 22 years in charge of the team. Club founder Bartley Wilson stepped in to replace Stewart; however the results continued to be disappointing, and in March 1934, Ben Watts-Jones was given the opportunity to manage the club he had supported as a youngster. However, he was unable to turn the clubs' fortunes around by the end of the season, meaning Cardiff City were forced to apply for re-election after finishing bottom of the division. Watts-Jones remained in charge for another three years until he was replaced by Bill Jennings but Cardiff remained in the Third Division South until the Football League was suspnded following the outbreak of World War II.

Post war & European competition (1945–1990)
In their first season since the return of the Football League, Cardiff were finished the 1946–47 season as champions of the Third Division South under new manager Billy McCandless and returned to the Second Division in 1946–47 season. McCandless left the club soon after and was replaced by Cyril Spiers who led the club to promotion the in 1951–52 season, returning to the top tier of English football for the first time in 23 years. However, despite spending five seasons in the First Division, the club continually struggled in the bottom half of the table and were eventually relegated in 1957. They returned to the First Division for two seasons between 1960 and 1962 before again suffering relegation.

During the 1960s, Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time as a result of winning the Welsh Cup. Their first ever match in European competition was in the European Cup Winners Cup during the 1964–65 season against Danish side Esbjerg fB, winning 1–0 on aggregate over two legs, the only goal being scored by Peter King. They went on to reach the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Real Zaragoza. Despite their exploits in Europe, the club were still struggling in league competition under the stewardship of Jimmy Scoular, finishing in 20th position in the Second Division. Two years later the club would go on to reach the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup, the furthest any Welsh club has advanced in European competition, after victories over Shamrock Rovers, NAC Breda, and Torpedo Moscow set up a tie with German side Hamburg, whose squad contained a number of German internationals. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg, just over 43,000 fans turned out at Ninian Park to watch Hamburg win 3–2. During the 1970–71 season, Cardiff reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup where they faced Spanish side Real Madrid. The first leg of the tie was held at Ninian Park where 47,000 fans watched one of the most famous victories in the club's history when Brian Clark headed in to give Cardiff a 1–0 win. Despite going out after losing the second leg 2–0 the result would still go down in the club's history. The club remained in the Second Division for 19 of the 20 seasons between 1962 and 1982, being relegated to the Third Division for one season during the 1975–76 season.

After dropping into the Third Division, between 1985 and 1993, Cardiff were continuously in the lower two divisions of the Football League as the club appointed several managers in attempts to stabilize the team's performances. They were relegated to the Fourth Division once in the 1985–86 season and, despite returning to the Third Division on two occasions, in 1996 finished in their lowest-ever league position – 22nd of 24 in Division Three, with only Scarborough and Torquay United below them. They did better the following season, finishing seventh (although they lost in the playoff semi-final), but suffered a setback and slipped into the bottom half of the table in 1998. They finished third in Division Three in 1999 and won automatic promotion to Division Two.

The club also endured a high turnover of managers during this era, with two successful managers being Eddie May, manager of their promotion winning team in 1993, and Frank Burrows, manager of the promotion winning side in 1999.

Cardiff struggled in Division Two throughout the 1999–2000 season and were relegated in 21st place. They finished as Division Three runners-up the following season and Lebanese businessman Sam Hammam joined the club.

2000–: Recent history
Having sold his interests in Wimbledon, Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City in August 2000. Shortly after taking over at Cardiff, Hammam controversially pledged to get the entire Welsh nation to support Cardiff by renaming the club "The Cardiff Celts" and changing the club colours to green, red and white. However, after lengthy talks with senior players and fans, he decided that the best policy was not to change the name of the club; however the club crest was redesigned. This new design incorporated the Cardiff City bluebird in front of the Flag of Saint David; and featured the Club's nickname superimposed at the top of the crest.

Lennie Lawrence guided Cardiff to promotion via a Division Two playoff triumph in 2003 against Queens Park Rangers, substitute Andy Campbell came off the bench to score the only goal in extra time and ensure Cardiff returned to Division One after an 18-year absence.

The Bluebirds established themselves in Division One. After failing to get the new stadium plans agreed by Cardiff Council, due to concerns over financial security in 2006, Hammam agreed to a takeover by a consortium led by new chairman Peter Ridsdale and including the lead developer of the new stadium, Paul Guy. However, the takeover was in doubt until 22 December 2006 with the club in threat of administration until the consortium agreed to pay Hammam's company Rudgwick an extra £500,000 and £90,000 to Hammam's brother. Ex-Wales rugby captain Mike Hall said after the deal was completed: "That was money which would have been spent on players. But instead it's gone into Sam's pocket. It was the only way the deal was going to be done. I know people say he's a complex character, but at the end it was total greed and self-interest. It was amazing, but football is a murky world."

The club added several big-name signings for the 2007–08 season, with Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair all joining the club. Cardiff reached the semi-final of the FA Cup for the first time in 81 years after beating Middlesbrough 2–0 on 9 March. After coming through their semi-final against Barnsley with a 1–0 win at Wembley Stadium on 6 April with a goal from Joe Ledley, they eventually lost 1–0 to Portsmouth in the final.

Throughout that season the club were involved in a court case with financial backers Langston over the repayment of a £31m loan taken out by former chairman Sam Hammam in 2004. The Langston Corporation claimed that the club had broken its agreement with the company and began legal proceedings in order to force Cardiff to repay the loan back immediately. In March the two parties attended a meeting at the High Court as Langston sought a summary judgement meaning that the club would be forced to pay back the loan without a full trial, but the claim was rejected by the High Court judge. During the procedures the club told the High Court it believed that former chairman Hammam was behind the company. Chairman Peter Ridsdale has called for talks with Langston in an attempt to prevent the case going to a full trial in the future.

After the FA Cup final, Cardiff built on their success, almost qualifying for the 2008–09 Championship playoffs, finishing in seventh position in the Championship. During the January transfer window they kept hold of star players, such as £2 million-rated Joe Ledley and added Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Chris Burke and Michael Chopra to the side. The £4 million fee for Chopra dwarfed the previous record transfer fee paid by the club for a player which stood at £1.75 million for Peter Thorne from Stoke City in 2001.

Before the 2009–10 season, Ridsdale travelled to the Far East to try to get a business deal which he promised would see Cardiff's debt problem resolved, as well as the creation of an academy in the Far East. No investment was forthcoming, but Malaysian businessman Dato' Chan Tien Ghee was an addition to the club's board. Having staved off a winding-up order from HMRC under a payment agreement, in November 2009, Ridsdale offered a "Golden Ticket" scheme to fans, such that, if they bought their 2010–11 season ticket before 6 January 2010, then they would not see a rise on prices for five years, and all monies raised would be spent on players in the January 2010 transfer window. However, on 27 January 2010, Ridsdale admitted that in addition to the "Golden Ticket" money not being spent on players, club assets would be sold to fulfil a £2.7 million tax bill and avert another winding-up order. Cardiff finished the league as 4th and qualified to 2009–10 Premier League playoffs. They eliminated Leicester City in the semi-finals but lost the final 3–2 to Blackpool.

Datuk Chan Tien Ghee (TG) took over as chairman on 27 May 2010 after a meeting on the same day, with Vincent Tan also investing and joining the board. TG confirmed that Dave Jones would continue as the Cardiff City manager. On 17 August Cardiff signed Wales captain Craig Bellamy on a season-long loan from Manchester City, with the financial side being backed by the new owners. Despite the influx of Bellamy and several other loan players, Cardiff were unable to achieve promotion, falling out of the top two and losing to Reading in the play-off semi-final. At the end of 2010–11 season, Dave Jones was sacked, and four days later former Wales rugby player, Mike Hall rejoined the board as part of a deal with PMG. On 17 June 2011, Watford boss Malky Mackay was appointed as manager of Cardiff. During his first season, Mackay had to rebuild the squad, as loan players from the previous season returned to parent clubs and several contracts expired. Despite this he took Cardiff to the League Cup final for the first time in the club's history. Cardiff also played in their third consecutive play-off campaign, only to lose in the semi-finals against West Ham United.

Cardiff changed their home colours to red and black as well as their badge from the 2012–13 season, in exchange for an investment plan from the Malaysian owners including a new training facility, stadium expansion and a transfer budget. They went on to have their best start to a league campaign ever, whilst also breaking the club record of nine consecutive home wins, when they won their tenth home game against former manager Dave Jones' Sheffield Wednesday side.

Cardiff topped the Championship with a 10-point cushion after 28 games of the season. On 1 March 2013, Datuk Chan Tien Ghee resigned his position as chairman to pursue other business opportunities. The club won the 2012–13 Championship title and with it gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time.

On 18 August 2013, Cardiff played their first ever Premier League game away to West Ham United, losing 2–0. A week later, they played their first home Premier League game against Manchester City, winning 3–2 with goals from Aron Gunnarsson and two from Fraizer Campbell. Cardiff only won two more games before the turn of the year, including against fierce rivals Swansea City On 27 December, a day after Cardiff lost 3–0 at home to Southampton, Malky Mackay was sacked by Vincent Tan following showdown talks. On 2 January 2014, it was announced that former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær would be Cardiff's new manager on a 12-month rolling contract. Cardiff were relegated back to the Championship following a 3–0 away defeat to Newcastle United.

Solskjær was sacked on 18 September 2014, and replaced by Leyton Orient manager Russell Slade. He began with a 2–1 home victory over a then unbeaten Nottingham Forest. On 2 January 2015, Cardiff beat League One strugglers Colchester United 3–1 in the FA Cup in front of the lowest ever recorded crowd of 4,194 at the Cardiff City Stadium which prompted an emergency meeting of the Cardiff Board. A week later, the club announced an official statement that after deliberation with members of the board and chosen fans, the club's home colours would be changed back to blue with immediate effect.

Finances
The entity participating in the Premier League is "Cardiff City FC Limited", which is a member of the Football Association of Wales. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of "Cardiff City Football Club (Holdings) Limited", which is the ultimate parent company of the group. There is one shareholder owning 10% or more of the issued-share capital in the ultimate parent company, Vincent Tan, who holds 51%.

Principal shareholder Tan from Malaysia is founder, major shareholder and, until 2013, chairman of the Berjaya group of companies.

In January 2014, the club's financial records for the fiscal period up to May 2013 were revealed. According to the released figures, Cardiff City have recorded a £30 million loss, taking their overall level of debt to £118 million, of which £66 million is owed to owner Vincent Tan from loans to the club, even after the Malaysian businessman converted £2.5 million into shares and wrote off £5 million in interest owed.

The accounts also show "life president" Sam Hammam’s Langston company was paid £22 million to address the historic debt it was owed, including a one-off payment of £15 million along with further non-interest bearing payments totalling £7 million over a seven-year period.

There was a reduction in revenue from £20 million in 2012 to just over £17 million in 2013. In terms of costs, the club’s wages and salaries rose from £18.5 million in 2012 to almost £30 million in 2013, the cost of sales increased by £13 million, and there was an £8 million increase in administration costs.

On 13 February 2014, the club's Chief Executive Officer Simon Lim stated that "the previous football management" acted in an "imprudent and careless" manner, through having the club "commit[ing]...to a significant cost and liability over a five year contract for Andreas Cornelius," a player who, according to Lim, "cost the club in total just under £10 million," thus forcing Cardiff City to "realise a large loss in excess of £8.5 million." Former manager Malky Mackay had defended the signing of Cornelius on the BBC Radio Wales Sport programme, on 6 February 2014: "When we signed him," he'd said, "[Cornelius] was a 20-year-old huge prospect, 6ft 4in, a centre-forward who had broken into the international team,... and Danish player of the year" and added that Cardiff "outbid another European team to get him." "Unfortunately for him he took a nasty ankle knock against Accrington that kept him out for the best part of three and a half months," said Mackay.

League history

 * 1920–21: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1921–29: Football League First Division (1)
 * 1929–31: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1931–47: Football League Third Division (3)
 * 1947–52: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1952–57: Football League First Division (1)
 * 1957–60: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1960–62: Football League First Division (1)
 * 1962–75: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1975–76: Football League Third Division (3)
 * 1976–82: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1982–83: Football League Third Division (3)
 * 1983–85: Football League Second Division (2)
 * 1985–86: Football League Third Division (3)
 * 1986–88: Football League Fourth Division (4)
 * 1988–90: Football League Third Division (3)
 * 1990–92: Football League Fourth Division (4)
 * 1992–93: Football League Third Division (4)
 * 1993–95: Football League Second Division (3)
 * 1995–99: Football League Third Division (4)
 * 1999–00: Football League Second Division (3)
 * 2000–01: Football League Third Division (4)
 * 2001–03: Football League Second Division (3)
 * 2003–04: Football League First Division (2)
 * 2004–13: Football League Championship (2)
 * 2013–14: Premier League (1)
 * 2014–: Football League Championship (2)

Rivalry
Cardiff City's most significant rivalry over the years has been with neighbours Swansea City, though traditionally there is also ill-feeling between the club's supporters and followers of Bristol City, known as the Severnside derby, and to a lesser extent, Bristol Rovers. In April 2006, relations with Cardiff City supporters and Swansea City supporters were aggravated after Swansea won the Football League Trophy final against Carlisle United 2–1 in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. During their celebrations, Lee Trundle and Alan Tate brandished a Welsh flag with an anti-Cardiff obscenity written on it in. As well as carrying the flag, Trundle was also seen wearing a T-shirt with an image of a Swansea City player urinating on a Cardiff City shirt. The Football Association of Wales (FAW) said the images paraded at the match, which took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 2 April 2006, were "of an extremely offensive and insulting nature and such behaviour is totally unacceptable". The two players in question were arrested by the Police on suspicion of section four public order offences, fined £2,000, and handed one-match suspensions.

Cardiff City was seen for many years as most likely to be promoted to the Premier League. Over several previous meetings between Cardiff City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, fighting has broken out between the two sets of supporters resulting in 17 arrests during one meeting alone. This led to the game which was held on 20 January 2007 being moved forward to 1 pm with no Cardiff City fans allowed to attend the match. This decision, which was taken by Wolves' chairman Jez Moxey, was met with widespread criticism from many supporter groups throughout the UK, including the Football Supporters Federation (FSF). A peaceful protest, organised by the FSF, took place in Wolverhampton on the day of the game and was attended by fans of many clubs who wished to show their opposition to such a ban. An FSF statement read: "We are appealing to all football supporters who can make it to be there to show their opposition to all away fan bans. It could be your club next. Time to reclaim the game!".

There has also been a significant amount of bad feeling between Cardiff and Leeds United, which stems from the FA Cup tie at Ninian Park on 6 January 2002, when Second Division Cardiff beat Premier League Leeds 2–1. Shortly after the late winning goal was scored, but before the full-time whistle had blown, Cardiff fans pelted the players, match officials and the away section with bottles and coins. Injuries were reported among women and young children, and Cardiff's then chairman Sam Hammam walked around the edge of the pitch, gesturing to the crowd – an act Leeds fans saw as his gloating over their defeat. After the game, Cardiff fans spilled onto the pitch to celebrate and later there was a stand-off between rival fans outside the stadium, and a number of arrests were made. Three years later on 15 January 2005, Cardiff played Leeds at Elland Road in a Championship fixture, and a hardcore hooligan element amongst the Leeds fans saw this as an opportunity for revenge; again there was rioting, leading to a high-profile court case two years later, in which several dozen Leeds fans received banning orders.

There is also a lesser rivalry with Welsh neighbours Newport County due to the proximity of the two Welsh cities. However, they have rarely played against each another since the 1980s due to Cardiff being in higher leagues. In total they have only ever played 20 football league games against each other.

Ninian Park
Cardiff's first ground was at Sophia Gardens recreational park where they played from their founding in 1899 until 1910 when, due to the lack of facilities at the ground and the increasing amount of support for the club, Bartley Wilson contacted Bute Estate, who owned large amounts of Cardiff at the time, in an attempt to find land suitable for building a stadium. They eventually agreed on an area of waste ground on Sloper Road. The land was a former rubbish tip and required extensive work to get a playable surface, but with the assistance of Cardiff Corporation and volunteers the work was completed. The ground was originally to be known as Sloper Park but was instead named after Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, who was a large force in helping the club get the ground built, and became Ninian Park.

The stadium was built with one stand before the opening of another in 1928 which could hold 18,000 people to replace an earth embankment. The club record attendance in the ground is 60,855 which was achieved during a league match against Swansea City on 27 August 1949. The record stands to this day, and is unlikely to be beaten due to the scaling down of the ground throughout the 1970s and 1980s due to safety fears, which saw the ground capacity fall to 22,000. In its final year in use, the ground was the only one above League One level that still contained standing areas.

Cardiff City Stadium
In June 2009, Cardiff City completed a state-of-the-art 26,828 seater stadium on the site of the now-demolished old Cardiff Athletics Stadium. The project required the rebuilding of the athletics stadium, to be known as Cardiff International Sports Stadium, on the opposite side of Leckwith Road in Cardiff. This ground was deliberately built to house both Cardiff City FC & Cardiff Blues RFC.

The plan required the demolition of the Cardiff Athletics Stadium, and the council initially insisted that its replacement be built before the start of construction of the Cardiff City Stadium, which would allow the city to have a major athletics facility for the 11 months between the demolition of the old stadium and the building of a new athletics facility nearby. But developers said that the main infrastructure work including highway improvements, drainage, gas supply and electricity cables could be carried out in a way that would allow Leckwith to remain open until July 2007.

On 20 September 2007 it was announced that the Cardiff Blues rugby union club would leave their Cardiff Arms Park home to become tenants of Cardiff City at the new Leckwith stadium.

Construction began on the new Cardiff International Sports Stadium in January 2007, and that venue was opened in January 2009. The new football ground, officially named Cardiff City Stadium, opened in July 2009. On 8 May 2012, Cardiff Blues confirmed they would leave the Stadium to return to Cardiff Arms Park for the 2012–13 season and onwards.

In August 2014, expansion plans were completed, increasing the stadium capacity to 33,316. However, in March 2015, it was announced that the Ninian Stand extension was to be shut for the 2015–16 season due to poor ticket sales, dropping the capacity to 27,978.

Colours and crest
When Riverside A.F.C. was formed in 1899, the club used a chocolate-brown and gold checkered shirt. Since the club became known as Cardiff City F.C. in 1908, their home colours have consisted of a blue shirt and white or blue shorts and socks. However, for the first nine years black socks were used. In 1919 Cardiff reverted to blue socks with a white hoop. From 1926 Cardiff used a turquoise blue with a white collar, until 1930 when the darker blue was re-introduced. In 1936 the club adopted white sleeves. For the next 20 years the club rarely changed their kit, just swapping between white and blue sleeves.

In 1959, Cardiff used white socks for the first time. In the 1965–66 season they used an all-blue strip for the first time, the following season they swapped back to white shorts and socks but keeping the same shade of blue. From 1975 they played in an all-blue strip with yellow and white vertical stripes. In 1983 Cardiff turned back to a blue shirt, white shorts and blue socks using this until 1992 before going all-blue again up until 1996.

In 2012, Cardiff changed their home kit colours from the traditional blue, white and yellow to red and black. The crest was also changed to one in which the Welsh dragon was more prominent than the traditional bluebird. The crest was changed to "appeal in 'international markets'" The change angered fans, who expressed their opposition in news and social media as well as directly to management. Cardiff rugby player Jamie Roberts criticised the change. However, on 9 January 2015, it was announced that Cardiff City were changing their home kit back to blue with a red away kit, effective immediately. On 15 June 2015, Cardiff confirmed they had entered a long term agreement with manufacturer Adidas to provide the official kit and equipment.

Crest history
From 1908 Cardiff played in unadorned shirts. This changed in 1959, when they played in shirts with a simple crest featuring an image of a bluebird. The following season their shirts were featureless, and remained so until 1965, when they played in shirts with the word "Bluebirds" embroidered. A new crest, similar to the one previously used and again featuring a bluebird, was introduced in 1969. Variations on this crest remained until the 1980s, when extra features including words and additional motifs were added. A major change was made in 2012, when owner Vincent Tan attempted to rebrand the club in order to expand the club's appeal outside Wales. This change gave large prominence to the Welsh Dragon, reducing the bluebird to a minor feature. In March 2015, Cardiff announced a new crest which would predominantly feature the Bluebird once again with an oriental dragon replacing the standard Welsh dragon.

First-team squad


®






 * Player has agreed a pre-contract agreement with another club and will leave following the expiration of his contract on 1 July.

Academy
Cardiff currently runs a highly successful youth academy, with a number of youth groups from ages seven to eighteen years. Recent players to come through the youth system include Wales internationals Joe Ledley, Chris Gunter, Aaron Ramsey, Adam Matthews, Darcy Blake and Declan John and, prior to the youth system being granted academy status, Robert Earnshaw and James Collins.

Football League 100 Legends
The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football. Three former Cardiff City players made the list.


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Ivor Allchurch
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 John Charles
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Trevor Ford

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
The following have played for Cardiff City and have been inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame :

PFA Team of the Year
The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Cardiff City:
 * 1976 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Clive Charles (Third Division)
 * 1988 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Terry Boyle, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Wimbleton (Fourth Division)
 * 1993 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Damon Searle (Third Division)
 * 1996 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Carl Dale (Third Division)
 * 1999 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jon Hallworth, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mark Delaney, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jason Fowler (Third Division)
 * 2001 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Josh Low, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Robert Earnshaw (Third Division)
 * 2002 Graham Kavanagh (Second Division)
 * 2003 Graham Kavanagh, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Robert Earnshaw (Second Division)
 * 2004 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Danny Gabbidon, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Robert Earnshaw (First Division)
 * 2006 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Jason Koumas (Championship)
 * 2007 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Chopra (Championship)
 * 2009 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Joe Ledley, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roger Johnson (Championship)
 * 2010 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Whittingham, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Chopra (Championship)
 * 2012 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Whittingham (Championship)
 * 2013 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mark Hudson, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Whittingham (Championship)

Records

 * Club Record Attendance: 57,893 vs. Arsenal.
 * At Ninian Park: 57,893 vs. Arsenal.
 * At Cardiff City Stadium: 28,680 vs. Derby County, 2 April 2016.
 * Year Formed: 1899 (as Riverside A.F.C.)
 * Previous Names: 1899 Riverside A.F.C.; 1902 Riverside Albion; 1908 Cardiff City.
 * Previous Grounds: Ninian Park, Riverside, Sophia Gardens, Old Park and Fir Gardens until 1910.
 * Record Transfer fee paid: £9,500,000 Gary Medel from Sevilla F.C.
 * Record Transfer fee received: £10,000,000 Gary Medel to FC Internazionale.

Honours
First Division (as first tier)
 * Runners-up: – 1923–24

Second Division/First Division/Championship (As second tier)
 * Champions: – 2012–13
 * Runners-up: – 1920–21, 1951–52, 1959–60

Third Division (South)/Third Division/Second Division/League One (As third tier)
 * Champions: – 1946–47
 * Runners-up: – 1975–76, 1982–83
 * Play-off Winners: – 2003

Fourth Division/Third Division/League Two (As fourth tier)
 * Champions: – 1992–93
 * Runners-up: – 1987–88, 2000–01

FA Cup
 * Winners: – 1927
 * Runners-up: – 1925, 2008

FA Charity Shield
 * Winners: – 1927

Football League Cup
 * Runners-up: – 2012

Southern Football League Second Division
 * Champions: – 1912–13

Welsh Cup
 * Winners: – 1912, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1956, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1992, 1993
 * Runners-up: – 1929, 1939, 1951, 1960, 1994, 1995

FAW Premier Cup
 * Winners: – 2002
 * Runners-up: – 1998, 2000

FAW Welsh Youth Cup
 * Winners: – 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006
 * Runners-up: – 1992, 2005, 2008, 2015

FA Youth Cup
 * Runners-up: – 1971

Algarve Challenge Cup
 * Winners: – 2008

Osnabrück Tournament
 * Winners: – 2016

'''Welsh Football League Cup (Cardiff City Reserves)
 * Winners: – 1927–28, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1959–60, 1972–73, 1973–74
 * Runners-up: – 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78

'''Welsh Football League (Cardiff City Reserves)
 * Winners: – 1922–23, 1928–29, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72