By Josh Harris.

Nickname: Manchester City have a number of nicknames including City, the Citizens, the Sky Blues and the Blues.

City: Located in east Manchester.

The club were founded in 1880 as St Mark’s, but in 1894 the name was changed to Manchester City.

City’s traditional home kit colors are sky blue and white.

Manchester City’s stadium is the City of Manchester Stadium, also known as Eastlands and the Etihad Stadium since July 2011 because of a sponsorship deal. The stadium is situated in east Manchester and is part of a 200-year operating lease from Manchester City Council after the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The stadium has been City’s home since the end of the 2002–03 season when the club moved from Maine Road. Before moving to the stadium, Manchester City spent in excess of £30 million to convert it to football use. Manchester City have used several grounds during their history after playing home matches at five different stadia. Between 1880 and 1887, the club settled at Hyde Road, its home for 36 years. After a fire destroyed the Main Stand in 1920, the club started to seek a new site and moved to the 84,000 capacity Maine Road three years later. Maine Road, nicknamed the “Wembley of the North” by its designers, hosted the largest-ever crowd at an English club ground when 84,569 attended a FA Cup tie against Stoke City on 3 March 1934. Though Maine Road was redeveloped several times over its 80-year lifespan, by 1995 its capacity was restricted to 32,000, prompting the search for a new ground which culminated in the move to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003.

Manchester City were regarded as a mid-table Premier League team around 5-10 years ago, but that all changed in 2008 when the club were purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group. The takeover immediately saw the club spend astonishing amounts of money on top class players in a bid to make Manchester City challenge for the Premier League title. After spending over £100 million on players in 2009, Manchester City were challenging for Europe and won the FA Cup in 2011. A year later, City won the Premier League on the final day of the season by beating relegation candidates Queens Park Rangers by scoring two goals in additional time to turn around a 2-1 deficit.

Arch-enemy: Manchester City are rivals with Manchester United, a rivalry that seems to have become more fierce over the years. The two clubs used to be local teams within Manchester, when spectators would watch United one week, then City the next. However, after the Second World War, a stronger rivalry developed and following both teams became uncommon. From then onwards, the fixture between the two teams became frequently bad tempered.

Famous Players: Manchester City players who are considered as notable are: Alan Oakes – most appearances (680), Joe Corrigan (3 Player of the Year Awards), Mike Doyle, Bert Trautmann, Paul Power, Billy Meredith, Eric Brook, Tommy Johnson, Colin Bell, Joe Hayes and Billie Gillespie.

Honors: Manchester City have won the First Division/Premier League three times, Second Division/First Division seven times and the Third Division Play-offs. They have also won five FA Cups, two Football League Cups and four FA Community Shields. They won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970.

Fun Fact: City’s first ever overseas manager was Sven-Goran Eriksson who was appointed in 2007.

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