Founded in 1878 as Newton Heath L&YR Football Club, our club has operated for over 130 years. The
team first entered the English First Division, then the highest league in English football, for the start of the
1892-93 season. Our club name changed to Manchester United Football Club in 1902, and we won the
first of our 19 English League titles in 1908. In 1910, we moved to Old Trafford, our current stadium.
In the late 1940s, we returned to on-field success, winning the FA Cup in 1948 and finishing within the
top four league positions during each of the first five seasons immediately following the Second World War.
During the 1950s, we continued our on-field success under the leadership of manager Sir Matt Busby, who
built a popular and famous team based on youth players know as the ‘‘Busby Babes.’’
In February 1958, an airplane crash resulted in the death of eight of our first team players. Global support
and tributes followed this disaster as Busby galvanized the team around such popular players as George
Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. Rebuilding of the club culminated with a victory in the
1968 European Cup final, becoming the first English club to win this title.
In 1986 our club appointed Sir Alex Ferguson as manager. In 1990, we won the FA Cup and began a
period of success that has continued until the present day. Since 1992, we have won the Premier League
12 times and have never finished lower than third place. In total, we have won a record 19 English League
titles, a record 11 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 3 European Champions Cups and 1 FIFA Club World Cup,
making us one of the most successful clubs in England.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, our club has enjoyed consistent success and growth
with popular players such as Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Bryan
Robson, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. The popularity of these players, our distinguished tradition
and history, and the on-field success of our first team have allowed us to expand the club into a global
brand with an international follower base.
The following graph shows the success of our first team in the Premier League over the last 20 seasons:
Our stadium, known as ‘‘The Theatre of Dreams,’’ was originally opened on February 19, 1910 with a
capacity of approximately 80,000. During the Second World War, Old Trafford was used by the military as a
depot, and on March 11, 1941 was heavily damaged by a German bombing raid. The stadium was rebuilt
following the war and reopened on August 24, 1949. The addition of floodlighting, permitting evening
matches, was completed in 1957 and a project to cover the stands with roofs was completed in 1959. After
a series of additions during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, capacity at Old Trafford reached 56,385 in
1985. The conversion of the stadium to an all-seater reduced capacity to approximately 44,000 by 1992,
the lowest in its history. Thereafter, we began to expand capacity throughout the stadium, bringing capacity
to approximately 58,000 by 1996, approximately 68,000 by 2000, and approximately 76,000 in 2006.
Current capacity at Old Trafford is 75,766.
The following chart shows the historical success of our first team by trophies won:
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