In other words, it’s a decent and big club to challenge Bodø/Glimt in the Europa League next.

Arsenal was founded in 1886 under the name “Dial Square”, but soon the name was changed to Royal Arsenal, named after the factory of the same name where the workers who founded the club worked. In 1893 the club joined the professional league and again changed their name to Woolwich Arsenal. The team moved up to the first division in 1904, but due to its de-centralized geographic location, Woolwich Arsenal did not have the same attendance figures as other clubs in London. This led to the club being on the brink of bankruptcy when Henry Norris took over in 1910. He moved the club to the Arsenal stadium at Highbury three years later. Later the Woolwich part of the name was also removed.

Arsenal’s toughest competitor in North London is district club Tottenham. Arsenal are coming straight from a strong 3-1 win over their rivals to the encounter with Bodø/Glimt. However, the rivalry between the clubs has a lot more to the story than just being both in North London. In 1919, league football in England would resume after a four year break due to the First World War. In 1915, Arsenal were number 5 in the second division, while Tottenham ended last in the top flight. The league will also increase the number of teams from 20 to 22. Instead of Tottenham retaining their place, Tottenham were relegated to the second division. The team that took over was not 3rd or 4th place in the second division, but 5th place Arsenal. No one knows why, but it was the start of hatred between the two clubs.

Arsenal is an old and traditional club with a very interesting history. We neither have the capacity nor the time to go through the entire history of the club. Instead, we encourage those who are particularly interested to seek other sources for a more comprehensive history lesson. But we quickly get to what happened after the controversial promotion in 1919.

From 1925 to the 30’s, Arsenal experienced their first successful period. In 1925, Herbert Chapman, a highly decorated manager, came to Arsenal and laid the groundwork for what would become a minor adventure for the red shirts of the ’30s. From 1930 to 1938 they won the league five times and the FA Cup twice. Unfortunately, Chapman himself never experienced this when he died of pneumonia in 1934.

After the Second World War, Arsenal again experienced successful times. They won the league twice and the FA Cup once more before the mid fifties. After that, there were a few difficult years in Arsenal’s mid-table. However in 1966 Arsenal started to win titles again. As mentioned they won the Messebycupen in season 69/70 and the next season they won their first “The double”, i.e. league and cup in the same season. From the 80s until the previous series championship in 03/04, the club had sporadically good seasons and continued to earn along the way. Among other things, the team was in the last Europa League final of the 2018/19 season. The team also won the FA Cup in 2020.

As mentioned, Arsenal are based in Highbury, but no longer play their home games at Highbury Stadium. In 2006, they moved about 500 meters southwest of their old stadium to their current home arena. The Emirates Stadium, or Arsenal Stadium as the arena is called in the UEFA context because of the name of the sponsor. Many fans also do not use Emirates as the name of the stadium and instead swear by Ashburton Grove or “The Grove” after the area in which the stadium is located.

Arsenal Stadium has a capacity of over 60,000 spectators and is mostly packed for every game. In the 06/07 season, there was 99.8 percent coverage at the stadium.