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'Linfield F.C.' are a Irish football club playing in the Irish Premier League. Founded in March 1886 in south Belfast, Linfield play at Windsor Park, which is also the 'home' of the Northern Ireland international team.

Contents

History

2006-2007 season

Windsor Park

European record

Most successful club in Ireland

Honours

Current squad

Notable former players

References

External links

History

Linfield Football club was founded in March 1886 as the Linfield Athletic Club by workers of the Linfield Spinning Mill. Initially the club played its home fixtures on ground at the back of the mill known as 'The Meadow.' In 1889 the club's growth resulted in a move to Ulsterville Avenue. During their time there the club played Nottingham Forest in the first round of the English FA Cup (at that time the competition was open to clubs in all 4 parts of the UK) achieving a 2-2 draw in Nottingham, however they withdrew from the replay. Thus Linfield are the only club to have played in and never lost an FA Cup match.
The move to Ulsterville proved short lived as the ground was sold to housing developers and the club was forced to play their home games at opponents' grounds. Eventually Robert Gibson, the club president managed to secure the lease of a ground at Myrtlefield, in South Belfast. These three ground changes resulted in a desire to have a proper home ground and consequently a piece of land known as the 'bog meadows' just off lower Windsor Avenue was bought in 1904. The first game to take place at what later became Windsor Park was on September 2, 1905 against Glentoran.
There have been many developments to 'Windsor Park' over the years. The training area and reserve team ground 'Midgeley Park' was purchased in 1951, the current office and boardroom complex completed in 1968, and the social club in 1970. The 6800 capacity North Stand, officially opened by the FIFA president João Havelange on October 20 1984 was a joint venture with the government and the Irish Football Association and the most recent 4000 capacity Kop Stand was completed in the late 1990s.
Linfield traditionally played the Glasgow club Rangers in a pre-season friendly at Windsor Park. The match is popular with fans of both sides, due to the good relationship between the two clubs and their common unionist heritage. The game on 6 July, 2006 was won 2-0 by Rangers, with goals from Kris Boyd and Thomas Buffel.
The club have been seen as exclusively Protestant for much of their history, with sectarian songs and chanting being common in the past. Comedian James Young performed a song titled "I'm the only Catholic on the Linfield team" as part of his routine. However in recent years the club has signed more Catholic players and sectarian singing has decreased. In 2006 the club launched a "True Blue" scheme, aimed at reducing sectarianiam.^[1]

2006-2007 season

During the 2006-2007 season, Linfield also signed Northern Ireland Under 21 international Thomas Stewart, on a full-time contract after he was released by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Conor Downey from local rivals Cliftonville.
Linfield retained their Irish League title on 21 April 2007, winning the championship for the 48th time. The club retained the Irish Cup on 5 May 2007 with a win over Dungannon Swifts on a penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 draw, making them the first club in over 70 years to win the league and cup 'double' in successive seasons, and the first Linfield side to do so since 1922-23. One week later, the club narrowly missed out on a remarkable 'treble' when they were themselves defeated in a penalty shoot out in the Setanta Sports Cup Final to reigning champions Drogheda United following a 1-1 draw.

Windsor Park

Linfield's home ground is Windsor Park, which is located in south Belfast. The governing body of Northern Irish football, the Irish Football Association, leases the ground for use by the Northern Ireland national football team. The club currently receives 15% of Northern Ireland international gate receipts. However due to health and saftey and capacity concerns, the IFA no longer consider Windsor Park a suitable international venue.^[2] There are to develop a multi-sports stadium for Northern Ireland at the disused Maze prison outside Lisburn for the use of Rugby, Gaelic Games and football.^[3]

European record

As one of the province's dominant club sides, Linfield have been regular campaigners in European football. Their most notable achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 1967. After beating FC Aris Bonnevoie of Luxembourg and Valerenga of Norway, they faced CSKA Sofia in the final eight. This resulted in a 2-2 draw at home and 1-0 defeat away.
In the 1984/85 season, after overcoming Shamrock Rovers on away goals, Linfield faced eventual semi-finalists Panathinaikos in the second round. After a 2-1 defeat away, Linfield went 3-0 up in the return leg at Windsor Park only to draw 3-3.
In the 1987/88 campaign Linfield's home game against Lillestrom was marred by hooliganism, resulting in UEFA sanctions which meant that the club had to play their next two home games in European competitions at Welsh club Wrexham A.F.C. in the 1988/9 and 1989/90 seasons.
The 1993/94 campaign saw Linfield drawn with Dynamo Tbilisi of Georgia. After losing 3-2 on aggregate, they were reinstated when their opponents were expelled from the competition. Linfield faced FC Copenhagen in the first round proper. They won the first leg 3-0, and lost the second leg 4-0 after extra time. This proved costly, as victory would have meant a lucrative financial tie against eventual champions AC Milan in the next round.

Most successful club in Ireland

The club,which has the biggest fan base of any Irish League or Eircom League club side, has a playing record unsurpassed in domestic football, winning the Premiership title 47 times (the 47th time on the 23 April, 2007), and the Irish F.A. Cup 37 times. In 2005-2006 they won a clean sweep winning all four trophies available in the irish league, the league, the irish cup, cis cup and co.antrim shield.