Chesterfield F.C.

Chesterfield Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system, after winning the 2023–24 National League title.

Chesterfield play their home games at the 10,600 capacity SMH Group Stadium, having moved from their historic home of Saltergate during the summer of 2010. Notable former players include record appearance holder Dave Blakey, who played in 617 of Chesterfield's league games, and record goalscorer Ernie Moss, who scored 162 league goals for the club. The club contests numerous local rivalries, most notably The Miners Strike Derby with Nottinghamshire club Mansfield Town.

Chesterfield FC was officially established in 1867, but it was the third incarnation of the club, formed in 1891 that turned professional and adopted the name Chesterfield Town. The club entered the FA Cup for the first time the following year, and competed in the Sheffield & District League and Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup, before joining the Midland League in 1896–97. A third-place finish in 1898–99 resulted in a successful application to the Football League Second Division for the following season. After ten seasons in the Second Division, they failed to gain re-election to the League and returned to the Midland League in 1909 where they were champions in 1909–10. The club entered liquidation in 1915, and were reformed as Chesterfield Municipal in April 1919. They again rejoined the Midland League and finished as champions in 1919–20.

The club was renamed Chesterfield FC in December 1920, and became founder members of the Third Division North in 1921–22. They marked their tenth season in the division, 1930–31, by winning the title, though they only managed two seasons in the Second Division before suffering relegation. They again won the Third Division North title in 1935–36, and after World War II recorded their best ever league finish of fourth in the Second Division in 1946–47. However they were relegated again in 1950–51, and were relegated out of the Third Division in 1960–61. Chesterfield won the Fourth Division in 1969–70, and then won the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1980. After relegation in 1982–83, they again won the Fourth Division title in 1984–85, though would again be relegated after five seasons in the third tier. They secured their return to the third tier with a 2–0 win over Bury in the 1995 play-off final at Wembley.

Chesterfield reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1997, but were relegated back to the fourth tier in 1999–2000. They made an immediate return to the third tier after securing an automatic promotion place in 2000–01. Relegated in 2006–07, they secured the League Two title in 2010–11, but were relegated from League One the following season. In 2011, Dave Allen took full ownership of the club and oversaw progress to two League Trophy finals; Chesterfield won the trophy with a 2–0 victory over Swindon Town in 2012, and finished as runners-up after losing 3–1 to Peterborough United in 2014. Chesterfield were crowned champions of League Two for a record fourth time in 2013–14, but remained in League One for just three seasons. Back-to-back relegations saw the club relegated out of the English Football League at the end of the 2017–18 season, before returning to League Two after winning the National League title in the 2023–24 season.

Potentially five or more teams have been called Chesterfield Football Club at different times. A Derbyshire Times newspaper report from 2 January 1864 noted a scheduled game between "Chesterfield and Norton football clubs", suggesting that a Chesterfield FC, whether loosely or formally organised, was active from at least 1863.

A second Chesterfield FC was formally created as an offshoot of Chesterfield Cricket Club in October 1867. The cricket and football clubs moved to the Recreation Ground at Saltergate in 1871, the same year that they became separate entities. However, a souring of the relationship between the two led to the closure of the football club in 1881, when it found itself homeless. Many players joined other local sides, notably Chesterfield Livingstone, a club that took up using the Saltergate site, and Spital, a works team which competed in the early years of the FA Cup.

Three years later, in 1884, a third entity called Chesterfield Football Club was formed, again making its home at Saltergate. It drew in players from the preceding club and both Chesterfield Livingstone and Chesterfield Spital, though records show Spital continued as a separate club until 1888. After changing its name to Chesterfield Town, the club turned professional in 1891 and won several local trophies in the following two seasons, entering the FA Cup for the first time in 1892. For the 1892–93 season, the club wore an extraordinary playing strip of all dark blue with the Union Jack emblazoned across the front of the shirt. Chesterfield joined the Midland League in 1896, and successfully applied for a place in the Second Division of the Football League at the start of the 1899–1900 season, finishing seventh. After finishing bottom of the League for three consecutive seasons, the club failed to gain re-election to the League in 1909, returning to the Midland League.