England’s capital city has an amazing football culture and loads of clubs competing in the area. In fact, you’ll struggle to find a city where there are more football clubs, especially playing at a professional level.
A lot of the top-flight teams in England are from the capital. This guide covers the major football clubs in London, discussing their history, honours, and stadiums.
There are so many football teams in London that we can’t possibly mention them all in one guide. While we’ve focused on the huge clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal in this guide, we shouldn’t forget the smaller clubs like Leyton Orient, Bromley, Barnet, and AFC Wimbledon.
Arsenal
Arsenal Football Club was founded in 1886 as Dial Square and soon became known as Royal Arsenal before settling on its current name. Initially based in Woolwich, the club moved to Highbury in North London in 1913, a venue that would be its home for over 90 years and saw some amazing memories for the club.
Now, the club plays at the Emirates Stadium in Holloway. Their stadium is a state-of-the-art venue with a capacity of 60,000+.
Arsenal’s history is marked by periods of significant success, particularly under legendary managers Herbert Chapman in the 1930s and Arsène Wenger from 1996 to 2018. Wenger changed English football with his modern approach, leading Arsenal to numerous trophies and introducing more of a focus on fitness and nutrition. In 2024, under Mikel Arteta, the club finished runners-up to Manchester City in the Premier League.
Chelsea
One of the best-known football clubs in the UK, Chelsea’s famous royal blue kits and Premier League ever-presence are signatures of this club.
Chelsea tend to perform well in European competitions, rivalling the Manchester football clubs in this respect.
Chelsea’s trophy cabinet is impressive, with 6 English League titles, 8 FA Cups, and 5 League Cups. The club has also excelled in European competitions, winning 2 UEFA Champions League titles (2012, 2021) and 2 UEFA Europa League titles (2013, 2019). Chelsea also claimed the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
⚽️ English League Champion
Won six times
🏆 FA Cup
Won five times
🥇 UEFA Champions League
Won twice in 2012 & 2021
The club plays at one of the older stadiums among the biggest clubs, Stamford Bridge, located in Fulham, South-West London. The Bridge has a capacity of 40,341 and has been the club's home since its inception. The stadium is known for its tightness to the pitch and the atmosphere and has undergone several renovations to modernise even though there hasn’t been a full rebuild.
Jose Mourinho is the most iconic Chelsea manager in recent years, he won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons at the club.
Tottenham Hotspur
Another of the iconic football clubs in London is Tottenham Hotspur, commonly known as Spurs, is a club founded in 1882 and fierce rivals with Arsenal.
Tottenham achieved early success in the 1960s, winning the league and FA Cup double in 1961, becoming the first club in the 20th century to do so, managed by Bill Nicholson. Spurs have consistently been competitive in the top tier of English football and in 2019 made the Champions League final.
The club also has a strong European record at this time, having won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1963 and the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) twice, in 1972 and 1984. Despite not winning the Premier League in recent years, Spurs have been consistent contenders for European competition spots, a bit like Aston Villa in the Birmingham region, while still not reaching the absolute heights of football.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the most impressive stadium in the league and has amazing facilities, even hosting NFL games!
West Ham United
The Hammers is a club founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks before rebranding in 1900.
The club has a strong connection to East London where a lot of fans support the club. West Ham is known for its contribution to England's 1966 World Cup-winning team, with three players from the club – Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, and Martin Peters – all playing crucial roles. The fans still sing about winning the World Cup to this day.
West Ham’s recent resurgence has seen them become competitive in the Premier League and winning a European title.
West Ham won the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, in just the second season of Europe's third-tier football tournament organised by UEFA, beating Fiorentina in the final.
West Ham plays its home matches at the London Stadium, located in Stratford, East London. Originally built for the 2012 Olympics, the stadium has a capacity of 60,000 and provides a modern venue to replace the iconic Boleyn Ground.
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Fulham
Fulham is the oldest football team in London still playing professionally. Fulham has spent much of its history outside the top flight but has enjoyed periods of success in the Premier League in the 2000s and 2010s.
The club has Premier League status at the moment, but they don’t have a lot of honours to their name. The club has won lower division titles, including the Championship and League One, and they still deserve to be mentioned in this list of top football clubs in London.
Craven Cottage is the home of the club, it is a historic stadium located on the banks of the River Thames in West London. With a capacity of 22,384, Craven Cottage is renowned for its old-world charm and unique and old-fashioned Johnny Haynes Stand.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace Football Club, founded in 1905, is another club that is not quite at the top level in terms of fanbase, but the club continues to compete in the Premier League. The club is based in South London and has a big fanbase in the area.
Crystal Palace has consistently been in the Premier League since gaining promotion in 2013, solidifying their place in the top tier and proving to be a Match of the Day mainstay! The team famously reached the FA Cup final twice, in 1990 and 2016, finishing as runners-up on both occasions.
Selhurst Park is the home of Crystal Palace, located in the suburb of Selhurst in South London. With a capacity of 25,486, Selhurst Park has a good atmosphere for big games, particularly in the Holmesdale Stand. This stadium is similar in size to those that the Edinburgh football clubs boast in the capital of Scotland.
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers, more often referred to as QPR, was founded in 1886. The club has experienced varying degrees of success, with notable periods in the top flight during the 1960s, 1970s, and more recently in the 2010s.
QPR has a strong local following in West London though at the moment are experiencing a low ebb by their standards.
QPR’s major honours include winning the League Cup in 1967 and the Championship title multiple times. The club finished as runners-up in the old First Division (now Premier League) in 1976, which remains their highest league finish.
Loftus Road, located in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, has been QPR’s home since 1917. The stadium has a capacity of 18,439 and is one of the smaller stadiums in the city of London, comparable in size to the Bristol clubs.
Football in London
London has an amazing reputation for football. In the UK, football hubs like Glasgow and the North West are also hubs of football, but the capital was inevitably going to become one of the biggest cities for watching the sport.
Modern football is thriving in London, and while a lot of the trophies are going to the Manchester clubs, London clubs continue to be popular and have some success in Europe.
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