Stoke City Club Information

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About Stoke City

Stoke won promotion to the Premier League after a goalless draw with Leicester City on the last day of the 2007–08 season, which was enough to keep them in 2nd place of the Championship and earn automatic promotion. It also sent Leicester down. The promotion will earn Stoke £35 million for the 2008–09 season, and a minimum of £60 million over the space of three seasons. This will rise should Stoke retain their place in top flight football for more than one season.

Stoke is the second oldest club in The Football League, being founded in 1863, placing them after Notts County (1862) and before Nottingham Forest (1865), Sheffield Wednesday and Chesterfield (1867). The club was promoted to the Premier League, the top flight of English football, on 4 May 2008, having been outside the top division for 23 years.

The club’s nickname is The Potters (after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent) and its home kit consists of a red & white vertical-striped shirt with white shorts and white socks. The club is currently owned by Kidsgrove Road Limited, a subsidiary of Bet365, with Peter Coates as the club's chairman. It was owned by Stoke Holding, from 1999 to 2006, which was in turn owned by a consortium of Icelandic businessmen. Coates completed his takeover on May 22 2006.

Stoke play their home fixtures at the Britannia Stadium, a 28,000 all-seater stadium. The stadium was opened in 1997; prior to this date Stoke had played at the Victoria Ground, which had been their home ground since 1878 (a record of 119 years currently shared with Wolverhampton Wanderers).

Prior to their 2008 promotion, Stoke had not participated in top flight football since the 1984-85 season when they were relegated with a total of 17 points, which would be a record low total for twenty-one years. Stoke's first major trophy was won in the 1972 League Cup Final, when Stoke beat Chelsea 2-1. The club have won the Football League Trophy on two occasions, firstly in 1992 and most recently in 2000.

Stoke's American club partnership

In January 2008 the Austin Aztex, who will be joining the United Soccer Leagues in 2009, and Stoke City announced a team partnership and will share training information and players, with Austin acting as a potential player resource for Stoke. The Potters hope the relationship will unearth untapped American talents as Texas is considered to be one of the hotbeds for American football talent. Stoke City also look to build an American fan base by sending young players to get playing time and selling Stoke City merchandise in Austin.