Potentially five or more teams have been called Chesterfield Football Club at different times. A
Derbyshire Times newspaper report from 2 January 1864 noted a scheduled game between "Chesterfield and Norton football clubs", suggesting that a Chesterfield FC, whether loosely or formally organised, was active from at least 1863. A second Chesterfield FC was formally created as an offshoot of Chesterfield Cricket Club in October 1867. Many players joined other local sides, notably Chesterfield Livingstone, a club that took up using the Saltergate site, and
Spital, a works team which competed in the early years of the
FA Cup. Three years later, in 1884, a third entity called Chesterfield Football Club was formed, again making its home at
Saltergate. It drew in players from the preceding club and both Chesterfield Livingstone and Chesterfield Spital, though records show Spital continued as a separate club until 1888. Chesterfield joined the
Midland League in 1896, and successfully applied for a place in the
Second Division of the
Football League at the start of the 1899–1900 season, finishing seventh. After finishing bottom of the League for three consecutive seasons, the club failed to gain re-election to the League in 1909, returning to the Midland League. In 1915 Chesterfield Town was put into voluntary liquidation and a new club with the same name was formed by a local restaurateur to play wartime football using locally based "guests" from Football League clubs. It lasted only two years before its management and players were suspended by the FA for illegal payments and the club shut down. The current Chesterfield FC was formed on 24 April 1919 by
Chesterfield Borough Council, seeing it as a way to spearhead improvements in local recreational provision. Initially called "Chesterfield Municipal", the club made great strides on the pitch in its first season, lifting the Midland League title – and did so despite three changes of management. However,
The Football Association and the
Football League had already made clear their vehement opposition to a council-run club and ultimately forced it to cut its ties and become independent, reflected in a name change to Chesterfield FC in December 1920. In 1921–22, Chesterfield became a founder member of the new
Football League Third Division North. Following the arrival of new manager
Ted Davison in 1926 and chairman Harold Shentall in 1928, the club won the Third Division North title in the 1930–31 season with an 8–1 victory over
Gateshead on the final day, and were promoted to the Second Division. Relegation followed in 1933, but the Third Division North title was again won in 1936. The club were relegated to the Third Division in 2000 following a run of 21 games without a win, and chairman Norton Lea was replaced by Darren Brown. The following year, Chesterfield were deducted nine points for financial irregularities after Brown attempted to avoid paying
Chester City the fee agreed by the FA for
Luke Beckett. Amid mounting evidence of fraud, he relinquished control of the club in March 2001 and ownership passed to a hastily organised fans' group, the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society. Massive debts run up by Brown forced the club into administration, but the team still secured the division's final automatic promotion place. Brown was later sentenced to four years in prison following a
Serious Fraud Office investigation that led to charges including false accounting, furnishing false information and theft. Chesterfield were relegated to
League Two at the end of the 2006–07 season, although they did reach the regional semi-final of the
League Trophy and the fourth round of the
League Cup in the same year. The club departed its historic home at
Saltergate at the end of the 2009–10 season, and moved to newly built
B2net Stadium. Chesterfield were promoted to
League One after winning the League Two title in 2010–11 season. Later that year,
Dave Allen took a majority shareholding of the football club from the Supporters Society. They went on to win the Football League Trophy for the first time in March 2012, defeating
Swindon Town 2–0 in the
final. However, they were relegated from League One the following month, with Allen taking over as chairman from Barrie Hubbard in the off-season. The club again returned to the third tier as League Two champions at the end of the 2013–14 season for a record fourth time under the guidance of manager
Paul Cook. Chesterfield secured sixth-place in League One at the end of the 2014–15 campaign, and went on to lose 4–0 on aggregate to
Preston North End in the two-legged play-off semi-final. Cook departed at the end of the season. On 14 November 2016, Dave Allen resigned from his roles as chairman and director of the club. This signaled a crisis, and four days later a further four directors resigned from their roles. It was announced that Chesterfield was openly up for sale, and desperately needed some kind of investment in order to avoid administration. Mike Warner was installed as chairman on 19 November. Chesterfield were relegated from League One in 2016–17, finishing bottom of the league. On 6 August 2020, it was announced that Chesterfield FC Community Trust, a charity associated with the club, had bought the club from previous owner Dave Allen. The following day, the Trust announced that
John Pemberton had been appointed full-time manager, following a spell as caretaker manager from January 2020, during which time he was able to prevent the club's relegation to
National League North. In January 2022, the club faced
Chelsea in the third round of the
FA Cup, losing 5–1 to the
Premier League side. After relegation from the Football League, Chesterfield had three unsuccessful play-off campaigns, including losing the
2023 National League play-off final on penalties to
Notts County. The club then won the
National League title in the following season to return to the Football League after six seasons in non-League. During this season, the ownership of the club was transferred to brothers Phil and Ashley Kirk by the Community Trust. ==Kit manufacturers and sponsors==