The Hammers

West Ham United are based in Upton Park, East London, England currently playing in the Premier League, England's top tier of football.

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The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current Boleyn Ground Stadium. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before eventually joining the full Football League in 1919 and subsequently enjoyed promotion to the top flight for the 1923 season. 1923 also saw the club feature in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley against Bolton Wanderers.

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In 1940 the team won the inaugural Football League War Cup.

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The club has won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980 as well as being runners-up twice, in 1923 and 2006.

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In 1965, they won the European Cup Winners Cup, and in 1999 they won the Intertoto Cup.

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They are one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 56 of 88 league seasons in Division 1, or the Premier League, to 2014. However, unlike the other seven (Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur), the club has never won the league title. The club's best final league position is third place in the 1985–86 First Division.

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Three West Ham players played significant roles in England's victory in the 1966 World Cup final; captain Bobby Moore, and both goalscorers, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

A few facts that you might not know about West Ham

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• West Ham United are one of only eight clubs in existence never to

  have fallen below the second tier of English football, along with

  Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle

  United and Tottenham Hotspur.

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• West Ham featured in the first ever FA Cup Final to be played at

  Wembley, but they were beaten 2-0 by Bolton Wanderers.

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• West Ham were the first ever winners of the Football League War Cup.

  The competition was in place of the FA Cup that was cancelled during

  the Second World War. The Hammers beat Blackburn Rovers in the

  final.

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• Striker Brian Dear holds the joint record for the quickest time to score

  five goals in an English game. Dear scored all five in 20 minutes either

  side of half-time in a game against West Brom in 1965.

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• West Ham United are the last team to have won the FA Cup from

  outside the top division. They beat Arsenal in the final in 1980.

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• West Ham United are the last side to win the FA Cup with an all

  English side. They beat Fulham 2-0 in the 1975 final.

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• The West Ham United team of 1965 won the ‘Team of the Year Award’

  at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

Thames Ironworks FC - 1896

West Ham squad - 1904

Dimitri Payet of West Ham in 2016.

Photo: Unknown/Wikimedia • Believed to be in the Public Domain (Age - copyright expired)