Rugby football The original club was formed in 1863 as the Bradford Football Club, playing
rugby football, and achieved its first major success by winning the
Yorkshire Cup in 1884. A member of the
Rugby Football Union (RFU), Bradford FC became a founding member of the breakaway
Northern Rugby Football Union (after an
internal RFU dispute over
broken-time payments) in 1895. Bradford were runners-up the
1897–98 Challenge Cup, won the
championship in
1903–04, and won the
1905–06 Challenge Cup. In 1907, a narrow majority of members decided to abandon the Northern Union game (later known as
rugby league) in favour of
association football, still based at the
Park Avenue ground. The minority faction left and formed a new club within the Northern Union,
Bradford Northern. Bradford Northern applied for and was granted Bradford FC's place in the
1907–08 Northern Rugby Football Union season.
Association football in 2010|alt=Multipurpose sports stadium, with covered grandstand Bradford FC began playing association football in 1895, alternating home Saturdays at Park Avenue with the Northern Union. The club shared the West Yorkshire League championship with Hunslet in 1895–96, also winning the Leeds Workpeople's Hospital Cup. Bradford played in the FA Amateur Cup in 1896–97, progressing to the FA Cup in 1897–98 and 1898–99. It entered the Yorkshire League in 1897–98, finishing next to last, and was banished to
Birch Lane the following season, closing down at the end of the 1898–99 season due to mounting losses. The success of cross-town neighbours
Manningham after switching to association football, (where it was renamed
Bradford City A.F.C.), prompted the Northern Union club to abandon rugby in 1907 and apply to join
the Football League. They were not accepted, instead joining the
Southern League (although the club was based in the north) and filling a gap left by
Fulham (who joined the Football League). Their nearest opponents were Northampton Town, whose ground was 130 miles distant. In 1908, Bradford FC was
elected to the
Second Division of the Football League. The club was promoted to the
First Division in 1914 after finishing second, and achieved its highest-ever league position (ninth) at the end of the
1914–15 season. In 1914,
Donald Bell, who went on to win the
Victoria Cross, played four games. At the outbreak of war, he asked to be released to serve. Rising to the rank of lieutenant, in 1916 he received the VC for conspicuous bravery on the
Somme before being killed five days later. After the
First World War the club began a steady decline, relegated to the Second Division in 1921 and to the
Third Division North in 1922. In 1928, the club were the Division 3N champions and were promoted back to the Second Division. They were relegated again in 1950, and placed in the
Fourth Division after a 1958 reorganisation. Although the club won promotion to the
Third Division in 1961, they were relegated back to the Fourth Division in 1963. In 1970 they were replaced in the Football League by
Cambridge United. The club joined the Northern Premier League, selling Park Avenue in 1973 and sharing facilities with
Bradford City. Bradford (Park Avenue) went into
liquidation on 3 May 1974 with debts of £57,652 and immediately re-formed as a
Sunday league club playing in the league club's former colours. After playing at Bingley Road and Hope Avenue in 1974 in Bradford Amateur Sunday League Division Four, the club moved to Avenue Road and won promotion in 1975. The next season, they were again promoted into the newly formed Bradford Sunday Alliance League. Although the stands and other buildings at Park Avenue were demolished in 1980, the playing field and
terraces remained. The stadium was renovated for amateur football during the mid-1980s, and the Sunday League club played a full season there in 1987–88. However, it was forced to move out at the end of the season to accommodate an indoor cricket school on part of the pitch. A new club was formed to return Bradford (Park Avenue) to Saturday football for the
1988–89 season, joining the
West Riding County Amateur Football League and then the
Central Midlands League for 1989–90. The club moved to the
North West Counties League from 1990 to 1991, playing matches at rugby-league grounds such as
McLaren Field and
Mount Pleasant, Batley. The Sunday side formed in 1974 merged with the new Saturday club in 1992. In 1995, Bradford (Park Avenue) won the North West Counties League, re-joining the Northern Premier League and a year later in 1996 moving to Horsfall Stadium. At the beginning of the 2004–05 season they were founding members of the
Conference North, although they were relegated to the Northern Premier League at the end of the season (after finishing seventh) and to Northern Division North the following season. The club returned to the Northern Premier League as champions in the 2007–08 season. The club reached the
FA Cup quarterfinals in 1912–13, 1919–20 and 1945–46. Since re-forming they have reached the first round three times, in 2003–04, 2011–12 and 2012–13. Since dropping into non-league football, the club's best
FA Trophy performance has been the fourth round in 1998–99. In the
FA Vase, the club reached the second round in 1994–95. In February 2008, chief executive Bob Blackburn unveiled plans for a 20,000-seat stadium at Phoenix Park in
Thornbury, within the
Leeds metropolitan district, but the site had to be sold before this was realised. In July 2008 Blackburn predicted on a supporters' forum that the club would reach the Football League within four years. In 2012, Bradford gained promotion to the Conference North by beating
F.C. United of Manchester 1–0 in the playoff final. The
2022–23 season saw Bradford relegated from the National League North following a ten-season spell, their fate confirmed following a 2–0 defeat to champions
AFC Fylde on the final day of the season. Another disastorous season followed, the club suffering back-to-back relegations from the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The 2024/25
Northern Premier League East Division season started out with manager
Danny Whitaker sacked after 5 matches in charge, the decision finally being made after a 4-1 defeat at home to Liversedge. The Club appointed
James Hanson (footballer, born 1987) as caretaker manager, who started with a 3-1 away win vs Grimsby Borough. The Club then acted quickly to appoint highly rated manager Craig Elliott as the new man in charge, who lead the team to finish 10th in the 2024/25 season. During that season Craig signed
Mark Beevers as the new club captain, ex-
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. u21s player Josh Ashman, and secured Connor Shanks, Myles La Bastide and Kareem Hassan-Smith on contracts. For season 2025/26 Craig brought in new players Jameel Ible, Prince Ekpolo, Luke Parkin, Marcus Carver, Connor Brown, Charlie Winfield, Joe Ackroyd, Louie Chorlton, Rico Kilbourn and Adriano Moke. The team went on an unbeaten league run, putting them at the top of the NPL East table after 6 matches. ==Colours==