Everton Football Club was founded in 1878 in Liverpool, making it one of the oldest professional football clubs in England and a founding member of the Football League in 1888. The club initially played at Anfield — yes, the same stadium now associated with Liverpool FC — before a dispute with the landlord in 1892 led the club to relocate to Goodison Park, which served as their home for 132 years.
Everton's nine English league titles place them fourth on the all-time list, behind only Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The club's defining era of the modern game came in the mid-1980s under manager Howard Kendall, when Everton won the league in 1984-85 and 1986-87, captured the FA Cup in 1984, and lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985. The 1985 squad — featuring Neville Southall, Kevin Ratcliffe, Peter Reid and Gary Lineker — is widely regarded as one of the greatest in English club history. The Heysel ban that followed denied Everton a chance to compete for the European Cup at their peak.
The club's nickname "The Toffees" and motto "Nil satis nisi optimum" (Nothing but the best is good enough) capture an identity rooted in tradition and ambition. After the 2025 move to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock — the first new top-flight stadium in Liverpool in over a century — and a 2024 takeover by The Friedkin Group, Everton enter a new chapter. The Merseyside Derby with neighbours Liverpool remains one of football's most-played top-flight fixtures.