Man­ches­ter United

Nick­na­med the Red De­vils for its di­s­tinc­ti­ve red jer­seys, Man­ches­ter United—often cal­led “Man U”—is one of most po­pu­lar foot­ball (as­so­ci­a­ti­on foot­ball) clubs not only in Eng­land but in the en­ti­re world. Based in the city of Man­ches­ter, the club has won the Eng­lish top-​division le­ague cham­pi­on­ship 20 times and the Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­ti­on (FA) Cup 12 times.

The club was for­med as New­ton Heath LYR in 1878 by workers from the Lan­ca­shire and York­shire Rail­way. Ren­a­med Man­ches­ter United in 1902, the club won its first Eng­lish le­ague cham­pi­on­ship in 1907–08. In 1910 the club moved from its old Bank Street ground into Old Traf­ford sta­di­um, which has ser­ved as the team’s home ever since.



Man­ches­ter United’s his­to­ry since World War II has been do­mi­na­ted by two long-​serving ma­na­gers. Sir Mat­thew Busby was ap­poin­ted ma­na­ger in 1945 and over the next 24 years stee­red the club to five Eng­lish le­ague and two FA Cup vic­to­ries. The club had to con­tend with tra­ge­dy in 1958 when an air­craft car­ry­ing the team cras­hed in Mu­nich, Ger­ma­ny, kil­ling 23 of the 44 on­board. In the 1960s the team, re­built by Busby, in­clu­ded the high­ly ta­len­ted at­tacking trio of Bobby Charl­ton, Ge­or­ge Best, and Denis Law. In 1968 this team be­ca­me the first Eng­lish club to win the Eu­rope­an Cup (now known as the Cham­pi­ons Le­ague).

Alex Fer­gu­son, the for­mer coach of the Scot­tish team Aber­deen, ma­na­ged Man­ches­ter United from 1986 to 2013. He pre­si­ded over an un­par­al­leled spell of do­mi­nan­ce in the Eng­lish le­ague. The club has won 13 Pre­mier Le­ague tit­les since that le­ague’s first se­a­son in 1992–93. In the 1998–99 se­a­son the club se­cu­red the first “treb­le” in Eng­lish foot­ball his­to­ry by win­ning the Pre­mier Le­ague, the FA Cup, and the Cham­pi­ons Le­ague. A se­cond Cham­pi­ons Le­ague vic­to­ry came in the 2007–08 se­a­son. Man­ches­ter United ear­ned its 12th FA Cup in 2016.

Man­ches­ter United is re­now­ned for its youth team pro­gram, which has ge­ne­ra­ted many no­ta­ble ho­me­grown play­ers who later per­for­med for the club’s first team, in­clu­ding David Be­ck­ham. The club’s other pro­mi­nent play­ers have in­clu­ded Wayne Roo­ney, Rio Fer­di­nand, Andy Cole, Roy Keane, Eric Can­to­na, Pa­tri­ce Evra, Di­mitar Ber­ba­tov, and Cris­ti­a­no Ro­nal­do.