The club was founded in 1904 and was admitted to the Football League a year later. They remained in the Second League until relegation in 1930. Hull won the Third Division North title in the 1932โ33 season but were relegated three years later. They won the Third Division North under Raich Carter in 1948โ49 and this time remained in the second tier for seven seasons.
After being promoted again in 1958โ59, they were relegated the following season and remained in the Third Division until being promoted as champions in 1965โ66 under Cliff Britton. Their twelve seasons in the second tier until 1981 resulted in their relegation twice in four years. They were promoted to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1982โ83 season and were finalists in the inaugural Associate Members' Cup in 1984.
Hull were relegated in 1991 and again in 1996, but managed back-to-back promotions in 2003-04 and 2004-05. The club qualified for the Premier League for the first time by beating Bristol City in the 2008 play-off final. They were relegated after two seasons but were promoted again from the Championship in the 2012-13 season.
Hull played their first FA Cup final in 2014, losing 3-2 to Arsenal after extra time despite scoring two early goals. Relegated from the Premier League the following year, the team bounced back for a third time by winning the 2016 play-off final. Just a year later they were relegated from the top division again and in 2020 they were relegated to the third division. Hull have secured immediate promotion as League One champions at the end of the 2020-21 season.
History
Foundation and early years (1904-1945)
Hull City Association Football Club was founded in June 1904. Previous attempts to establish a football club in Kingston upon Hull have met with difficulty due to the popularity of rugby league in the city. By 1904, both Hull FC and Hull KR were well-established teams with passionate local support. The desire for a third team to represent the city in competitive sports was non-existent at the time, but support would soon grow.
Once formed, the club faced some initial setbacks as it was unable to apply for membership of the Football League for the 1904โ05 season and instead only played in friendlies. The first of these matches was a 2-2 draw with Notts County on 1 September 1904, watched by a strong crowd of 6,000. These first matches were played at the Boulevard, home of Hull F.C.
The club's first competitive football match was in the FA Cup qualifying round, where they drew 3โ3 with Stockton on 17 September, but were eliminated after losing the rematch 4โ1 on 22 September.
Following disputes with landlords on the Boulevard, Hull City temporarily moved to the Circle, a cricket ground in West Park. After playing 44 friendly matches the previous season, Hull City were finally accepted into the Second Division for the 1905โ06 season. Other teams competing in the league that season included Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as Yorkshire rivals Barnsley, Bradford City and Leeds City.
Also in League Two were Grimsby Town, from the south bank of the Humber in Lincolnshire. Interestingly, Hull and Grimsby were the only two professional teams officially exempt from playing league football on Christmas Day due to the demands of the fish trade. Hull defeated Barnsley 4-1 at home in their first match and finished the season in 5th place.
In March 1906 a permanent home ground for Hull City, known as Anlaby Road, was opened just opposite the cricket ground. This field hosted the team until 1939. Under the guidance of player-manager Ambrose Langley, Hull continued to finish consistently in the top half of the table. They came very close to promotion to the top division in the 1909โ10 season, achieving the club's highest league finish for almost a century.
Hull finished the season level on points with Oldham Athletic but finished below the Latics in the league due to goal difference. A narrow margin of 0.29 saw the Tigers miss out on promotion.
Hull would go on to regularly finish in the top half of the table before the suspension of English football during World War I, but after the restart in 1919 their momentum disappeared. The Tigers began to struggle, finishing in the bottom half of the table in seven of the next eleven seasons. This resulted in their relegation to the Northern Third League after the 1929-30 season.
Despite a league season that ended in relegation, Hull had much better luck in the FA Cup. Before 2014, Hull's best result in any cup competition was achieved in the 1929-30 FA Cup. The Tigers started with victories over eventual champions of the Third Division, Plymouth Argyle, and eventual champions of the Second Division, Blackpool.
They then beat Manchester City and faced Newcastle United in the quarter-finals. The first leg at St James' Park ended in a 1-1 draw, but in the return leg at home Hull beat Newcastle 1-0. This meant Hull would progress to the semi-finals and face Arsenal at neutral Elland Road in Leeds. The match finished 2โ2 and was replayed four days later at Villa Park in Birmingham. Arsenal ended their cup quest by winning the match 1-0.
Hull were promoted back to the Second Division after winning their first league title in the 1932โ33 season. The team, managed by Haydn Green, finished just 2 points above Wrexham in 2nd place, thanks to the goals of Bill McNaughton, who was the league's top scorer with 39 goals that season.
Lower league success and financial crisis (1945โ1985)
After the Second World War the club moved to a new ground, Boothferry Park. Hull were promoted from the Third Division North as champions in the 1948โ49 season under the management of former England international and current player-coach Raich Carter. City, which "went back and forth" between the second and third tiers of English football, was promoted from the Third League back to the Second League in the 1958-59 and 1965-66 seasons, and won the Third League championship in the last season.
For much of the 1960s Hull were managed by Cliff Britton, who has since achieved cult status among the club's supporters for his successes, most notably the Third Division title won in 1966. That year's squad included club record holder Jock Davidson and club record goalscorer Chris Chilton, as well as forward Ken Houghton and youngster Ken Wagstaff. This squad is considered one of the club's best ever squads.
On 1 August 1970, Hull became the first team in the world to be eliminated from a cup competition, losing to Manchester United on penalties in the Watney Cup semi-final.
By the early 1980s Hull City were in the Fourth Division and financial collapse led to it being placed into receivership. Don Robinson took over as chairman and appointed Colin Appleton as the new manager. Both previously held equivalent roles at non-league Scarborough. He won promotion to the Third Division in 1983 with a young team that included the likes of future England international Brian Marwood, future England manager Steve McClaren, forwards Billy Whitehurst and Les Mutrie, and future Hull-born captain and club legend Garreth Roberts.
Return to the Championship and the Acun Ilฤฑcalฤฑ era (2021-present)
Despite relegation, McCann continued as coach for the 2020-21 season. This decision was successful and on 24 April 2021, Hull were promoted to the Championship for the first time after a 2-1 win away at Lincoln City. A week later, in the final game of the season, the Tigers defeated Wigan Athletic 3-1 at home to become League One champions.
It was only the fourth league title won by the club and the last since the 1965โ66 Third Division season 55 years earlier.
On 19 January 2022, after months of negotiations and speculation, Turkish media mogul Acun Ilฤฑcalฤฑ and his company Acun Medya completed the transfer of the club, ending 11 years of controversial ownership by the Allam family. The club was 19th in the Championship at the time the transfer was announced. On 25 January 2022, manager Grant McCann and assistant Cliff Byrne left the club.
On January 27, 2022, Shota Arveladze was announced as the new coach. Hull managed to stay in the Championship by finishing the 2021-22 season in 19th place. On 30 September 2022, Arveladze was sacked after four league defeats and Andy Dawson was appointed as interim manager. On 3 November 2022, the club announced former player Liam Rosenior as the new manager on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
Rosenior, who has strengthened both the defensive and away records of the team since his arrival, managed to comfortably take Hull to the 15th place at the end of the 2022-23 season. In the 2025-26 season, they defeated Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Championship play-off final with the goal scored by Oli McBurnie in the 90+5 minute and were promoted to the Premier League.
Club ID
Colors and coat of arms
For most of the club's history, Hull wore black and amber jerseys with black shorts. These black and amber colors are where Hull's nickname, the Tigers, originated. However, the club's first match against Notts County in 1904 featured white jerseys, black shorts and black socks. In their first season in the league, Hull wore black and amber striped jerseys and black shorts, and continued to wear these jerseys until the Second World War, except for the 1935โ36 season when they wore bright blue jerseys.
Team squad
- 2 As of September 2026
