Top 10 oldest clubs in EFL League One named and ranked | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at the top ten oldest clubs in League One ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

League One is set to be one of the most fascinating divisions across Europe once again in the 2026-27 campaign – and as competitive and compelling as ever.

2015-16 Premier League winners Leicester City have found themselves back in the third-tier, alongside the giants of Sheffield Wednesday, with both having been relegated last season.

Bromley have found themselves in the third-tier for the first time ever, too, after winning League Two last season and so a clash between Bromley and either of those two giants will be one of the most intriguing contests anywhere in England this season.

Storied clubs such as Barnsley, Blackpool, Huddersfield Town and Notts County will all expect to have their say with the vast majority of the third-tier heading into the campaign with the objective of eventually getting or at least challenging for promotion.

League One is perhaps the most varied division in England, with clubs that were in the Premier League as recently as 2025 in Leicester and 2024 in Luton Town, facing up against a Bromley side that played their first ever EFL season in the 2024-25 campaign.

That variety also sees clubs formed as recently as this century, with the controversy of AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons’ relations, as well as the oldest football club in the world.

We have taken a look at the top ten oldest clubs in League One this season.

10 ? ? Blackpool – 1887

Formed in July 1887, a couple of months before both Barnsley and Wycombe Wanderers, Blackpool are the tenth oldest club in League One this season.

Now managed by Ian Evatt, The Seasiders were established in the Stanley Arms pub with members of Blackpool St John’s Football Club opting to wind the club up after its merger with Victoria FC a few years earlier, in order to create Blackpool Football Club to represent the entire town.

9 ? ? Plymouth Argyle – 1886

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Formed in 1886 as Argyle Football Club, Plymouth Argyle is the ninth oldest club in England’s third-tier with their first match taking place against Cornwall-based Caxton in the October of that same year.

The club did go out of business in 1894 before resurrecting as Argyle Athletic Club in 1897, eventually becoming Argyle FC in 1898. The Pilgrims eventually adopted the name Plymouth Argyle in 1903.

8 ? ? Luton Town – 1885

Eighth on the list of the oldest clubs in League One is Luton Town. The secretary of Luton Wanderers, Herbert Spratley, called a secret meeting in January 1885 to change the name of Wanderers to Luton Town in order to incorporate the best players from the town, such as players from the other big club in the region, Luton Excelsior.

The secret meeting led to Luton Wanderers changing their name to Luton Town, which was derided by local newspapers and then, in April 1885, at a public meeting, Luton Wanderers players George Deacon and John Charles Lomax put forward a motion to create a separate club called Luton Town Football Club, with Spratley’s disapproval.

The motion to create the new club was passed with members of the Town Hall meeting voting down Spratley’s objections at the formation of the new club.

7 ? ? Leicester City – 1884

In 1884, a group from Wyggeston School in Leicester formed a football club named the ‘Leicester Fosse’, joining the FA in 1990. They moved in to Filbert Street in 1991.

Following the First World War, Leicester Fosse, as it was known, go into financial problems and had to reform as what we now know today; Leicester City Football Club.

6 ? ? Stockport County – 1883

In Heaton Norris at McLaughlin’s Café, Stockport County Football Club was formed in 1883, done so by a group of pupils from Stockport Sunday School.

That marks Stockport down as the sixth oldest club in League One – a year older than Leicester but a couple of years younger than the fifth oldest.

5 ? ? Leyton Orient – 1881

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That fifth oldest team is East London outfit Leyton Orient. The O’s were originally formed in 1881 by members of the Glyn Cricket Club. Many of those members were former students of the Independent College in Homerton, near to Hackney.

That college is now known as Homerton College in Cambridge and an annual fixture is held between Leyton Orient and the college. The club then changed its name to Eagle Cricket Club before Orient Football Club in 1888.

In 1898, Orient Football Club then became Clapton Orent before they eventually became Leyton Orient after the Second World War, having moved from Clapton to Leyton in 1937. Their founding year being 1881 makes them the second oldest club in London, only behind Fulham.

Almost by accident, the football club known as Doncaster Rovers was formed. Albert Jenkins, a fitter at the Great Northern Railway in Doncaster, gathered together some friends to play a one-off game against the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf in September 1879.

After the game, the group of friends discussed their desire to play more often and so they set up a football club and named it Doncaster Rovers.

Reading Football Club was formed in December 1871 with eventual club secretary Joseph Edward Syndham having organised a public meeting at the Bridge Street Rooms in Reading.

The Royals, as they would go on to become nicknamed, did not, however, turn fully professional for a further 24 years, a decision which prompted the building of Elm Park – a ground that they remained at until 1998.

2 ? ? Sheffield Wednesday (1867)

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Sheffield is known for being the birthplace of football with Sheffield FC still going and the second oldest club in League One also comes from Sheffield with that being Sheffield Wednesday.

The Wednesday Cricket Club either formed in 1816 or 1820, named such due to it being when the workers and players half a day off on Wednesdays, expanded into football in 1867, following a meeting at the Adelphi Hotel.

1 ? ? Notts County (1862)

The oldest club still active in the Football League, or the EFL, comes in Nottingham at Meadow Lane and that is the famous Notts County Football Club.

They are the oldest professional football club in the world, having been founded in 1862 before playing their first ever game of football in December 1864 against a team known as Trent Valley at Nottingham’s Meadows Cricket Ground.