West Ham United

West Ham United Football Club (the Hammers) is an English football club located in Stratford, East London. West Ham, as it is commonly referred to, competes in the Premier League, the English top flight, and was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks before it was reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. The club has its own academy that predominantly consists of under-23 who serves as the reserve team. The under-23s team competes in Premier League 2 Division 1. They also have a women’s team, West Ham United FC Women that plays in the Women’s Super League – the top tier of English women’s football.

Ownership

The club is owned by David Sullivan who has majority of the shares (38.8%) and others including Daniel Kretinsky with 27%, David Gold with 25/1% and Albert ‘Tripp’ Smith controls 8%. The remaining shares about 1.1 % is owned by other investors. David Sullivan and David Gold are co-chairmen of the West Ham’s board.

Stadium

West Ham previously played their home matches at Boleyn Ground, before moving to their current home London Stadium in 2016.

Colors, badge, and kit sponsorship

West Ham United’s original colours were dark blue due to Thames Ironworks chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University. However, they also used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Ironworks, as well as sky blue or white kit. In 1903, the Hammers permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours, while away kits have been changing over the years. The club’s badge has undergone many major changes to now a modern shield with the claret and blue colors being the prominent colors. It has two golden hammers crossed and digital-friendly type face of the name at the top and London at the bottom.

Fans and rivalries

West Ham enjoys a great following in Stratford London and throughout the UK and the whole world. The supporters are famous for their rendition of the chorus of their team’s anthem, ”I’m Forever Blowing Bubble” introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in later 1920s. West Ham’s oldest and fiercest rivalry is with Millwall. The two enjoy local rivalry having both been founded by employees of local companies, with players living in the same localities. Their rivalry intensified when West Ham were promoted at the expenses of Millwall. The Hammers also have strong rivalries with several other clubs, most of which are other London clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Club honors

West Ham United have been able to bag several honors over the years and are three times winners of the FA Cup and two-times runners-up. They have also reached two major European finals, winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965, inishing runners-up in the same competition in 1976. West Ham have also won the Intertoto Cup once and are one-time runners-up in the UEFA Europa League. They are also one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 64 of 95 league seasons in the top flight, up to and including the 2021/22 season.