Forgotten Football Clubs

You may think professional football clubs will last forever, but that’s not the case. There have been many clubs that flourished in their prime, but no longer exist. Here we will outline 5 forgotten football clubs and take a look at what happened. 

Wimbledon FC 

Wimbledon FC was founded in 1889. Originally called Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, it began competing as an amatuer club only playing local teams. The club shortened its name to just ‘Wimbledon’ in 1905 and entered the FA Amateur Cup for the first time in the 1905/06 season; however it did not make it past the first round. The team had some success in the FA Amatuer Cup throughout the years, finally winning in 1963. Wimbledon then achieved promotion to the First Division for the 1986-87 season and went on to beat Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final. They stayed in the First Division until 2000 before getting relegated.

The club decided to relocate to Milton Keynes in 2001, rebranding themselves as Milton Keynes Dons in 2004, which many fans described as being ‘the death of their club’. The fans decided to take matters into their own hands and this is where AFC Wimbledon was created. Milton Keynes Dons and AFC Wimbledon still play today in League One.

KSV Waregem 

KSV Waregem was a Belgium team which started in 1925. The club was fairly successful, and was in the top flight for all but two seasons of its existence, winning the 1974 Cup and the 1982 Super Cup. The team existed for 76 years before falling into financial problems in 2001. It merged with Zultse VV to form the club now called SV Zulte Waregem, which is a mid-table team First Division A.

Los Angeles Aztecs 

The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American team which competed in the North American Soccer league from 1974 and dissolved in 1981. The club was partly owned by Elton John for a period of time too. There were mixed successes, their greatest success being to win the 1974 NASL Championship over the Miami Toros. In 1981 during their final season, they were managed by the former Brazil manager Claudio Coutinho. Tragically he died just after the end of the season in a scuba diving accident. 

Dukla Prague 

Dukla Prague was established in 1948 (originally called ATK Praha) based in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. They won a total of 11 titles and eight cups as well as reaching the semi finals of the European Cup in the 1966/67 season. The club had seven players in the Czechoslovakia national team in the World Cup in 1962, though they lost 3-1 to Brazil. In 1996 the club dissolved and became FK Příbram (as it is called today) after a merger.

Bury FC 

Bury FC has the potential to become a forgotten club due to the current financial troubles they are in. Established in 1885 and based in Gigg Lane, Bury, the club had a fairly successful period in the top flight of football, a run which lasted some 17 seasons. They won the FA Cup in 1900 and 1903. After this they plied their trade in what are now Leagues One and Two.

2019 saw the club make the headlines for the wrong reasons with the current financial mess coming to the fore and ultimately expulsion from the EFL. With a deadline set for 1 April 2020 for a new Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), a deal looked like it was going to be completed, before falling through just days before. The current crisis caused by the Coronavirus hasn’t helped the situation. Owner Steve Dale has defaulted on an initial CVA that will repay debts, meaning the threat of liquidation still threatens the existence of this historic club.

Despite all of this, there is hope for a future for Bury in some form. Whether that is as Bury FC with Dale still at the helm, or as the proposed Bury AFC remains to be seen.

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