1950–1998: early years Burton Albion were formed in 1950, and joined the
Birmingham & District League. They finished the 1953–54 season as runners-up, and in 1958–59 joined the
Southern League North Western zone. and he led the club to two successive runners-up spots, in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. The club were promoted to the
Football Conference for the first time.
2009–present: Football League In January 2009, with Burton 13 points clear at the top of the table, Clough left the club to become the manager of
Derby County, with
Roy McFarland installed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Despite this managerial change, Burton went on to set a league record for the most consecutive wins, and in February 2009, when the team was 19 points clear at the top of the table, Conference sponsors Blue Square declared Burton the winners of the 2008–09 title in a public relations stunt, in which they paid out all bets. Following that announcement, the club saw their lead reduced week by week, but secured promotion to the
Football League in the final game of the season, despite losing 2–1 away to
Torquay United, when
Cambridge United could only manage a goalless draw to
Altrincham. At the end of the season Roy McFarland left the club and was replaced by
Paul Peschisolido, with
Gary Rowett acting as his assistant. Burton's first win in the Football League was 5–2 against
Morecambe at the Pirelli Stadium, and they finished 13th in their first campaign in the Football League. In their second season, Burton claimed a notable scalp in the
FA Cup third round when they knocked out championship team Middlesbrough 2–1 at the Pirelli Stadium. In the league, Burton experienced a 17-game winless run and fell from fifth place on
Boxing Day to 17th place at the end of the
2011–12 season, which led to the sacking of Peschisolido.
Gary Rowett was appointed as the new manager of Burton in May 2012. In his first full season in charge, he led Burton to a fourth-place finish and the play-offs, missing out on automatic promotion by two points. Burton lost their play-off semi-final 4–5 on aggregate to
Bradford City despite winning the first leg 3–2 at
Valley Parade. In the
2013–14 season, Burton finished sixth, reaching the
play-off final in which they lost 1–0 against
Fleetwood Town. During the 2014–15 season, Rowett left to join
Birmingham City, and was replaced by
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Under Hasselbaink, the Brewers won
League Two and were promoted to
League One for the first time in their history. Hasselbaink left by mutual consent in December 2015 to join
Queens Park Rangers as manager. Clough returned to Burton to replace him for his second spell as manager and led the club to a second-place finish in the league, earning promotion to the
Football League Championship, another first for Burton. The Brewers opened their first season in the championship with a 4–3 loss to local rivals Nottingham Forest. Burton went on a six-match streak without losing between 18 February and 18 March, beginning with a 2–1 win at home to ex-Premier League opponents Norwich City and culminating in a 3–5 defeat to Brentford and including a 1–0 win over Nottingham Forest in the reverse fixture. Burton secured their championship status on 29 April 2017 after a 1–1 draw with
Barnsley. Burton spent much of their second season in the championship in the relegation zone. three wins in the late stage of the season boosted their chances of survival, including a 2–1 win over relegation rivals
Sunderland. However, following a 2–1 defeat to
Preston North End on the final day of the season, Burton were relegated back to League One. In
2018–19, in spite of being in mid-table in League One, they made the semi-finals of the
EFL Cup, after wins over
Shrewsbury Town,
Aston Villa,
Burnley,
Nottingham Forest and
Middlesbrough. Facing
Manchester City, Burton lost the first leg 9–0 at the Etihad Stadium, eventually losing 10–0 on aggregate.
2019–20 saw Burton reach the fourth round of the EFL Cup, defeating Premier League club
AFC Bournemouth before losing 3–1 at home to
Leicester City. The final nine games of the season would be permanently suspended due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, with Burton finishing the season in 12th place. The summer of 2020 saw significant change with
Nigel Clough stepping down as manager, bringing to an end a 228-game long second spell at the club and surpassing 900 games in total with the Brewers. His successor,
Jake Buxton, struggled to fill the void and was sacked on 29 December 2020 after winning just two of his 21 league matches, and with Burton sat six points from safety at the bottom of the League One table. The club would soon respond by announcing the return of
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as manager. Tasked with securing survival, the new management team completed a remarkable turnaround, climbing out of the relegation zone by the start of March and finishing 16th, 10 points above the bottom four. The turnaround included a club-record run of six consecutive
EFL victories. After a disastrous start to
2022–23, Hasselbaink resigned as Burton Albion manager. Dino Maamria took over the reins of a club that had just one point after seven matches, successfully guiding the club to survival in 15th place. Dino Maamria's tenure as manager would end in December 2023, and was succeeded by
Martin Paterson. The Brewers ultimately avoided relegation on the final day of the season, however, Paterson would depart the club at the end of the season. with first team coaches Gary Mills and John Dreyer also departing the same day. In June 2024, Chairman Ben Robinson sold the entire majority stake in the football club to the Nordic Football Group (NFG). NFG's acquisition of Burton Albion includes a large group of investors from the
Nordic countries. The following day, NFG made their first appointment, announcing the arrival of
Chelsea U21 head coach
Mark Robinson. After a poor start of 11 league games without a win, Robinson was sacked and replaced with interim boss
Tom Hounsell, who picked up the clubs first league win of the season at the 14th attempt and after 3 months of trying The
2025–26 season saw Burton reach the
fourth round of the
FA Cup for just the second time in their history, rewarding them a tie at home to
West Ham United. ==Stadium==