since 1889Everton was founded as St. Domingo's FC in 1878 so that members of the congregation of St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in Breckfield Road North,
Everton, could play sport year round –
cricket was played in summer. The club's first game was a 1–0 victory over Everton Church Club. The club was a founding member of the
Football League in 1888–89 and won their first
League Championship title in the
1890–91 season. The 1890–91 season started in superb form with five straight victories, with
Fred Geary scoring in each of the first six matches. By mid-January, Everton had completed all but one of their fixtures and were on 29 points, while
Preston North End were eleven points adrift with seven games still to play. Everton than had to sit out the next two months as Preston completed their fixture list until they were only two points adrift with one match each left to play. Both teams played their final games of the season on 14 March, with Everton losing 3–2 at
Burnley (Geary scored both Everton goals) and Preston going down 3–0 at
Sunderland. Everton were thus able to win the Football League Championship for the first time, by a margin of two points with fourteen victories from their 22 league games. Geary had been ever-present, and was the club's top goal-scorer with 21 goals. Everton reached four
FA Cup finals before the
First World War, losing 1–0 against
Wolverhampton Wanderers at
Fallowfield Stadium,
Manchester on 25 March
1893 and 3–2 against
Aston Villa at
Crystal Palace on 10 April
1897 before winning at their third attempt on 20 April
1906 against Newcastle United again at Crystal Palace. Everton then reached their second successive final on 20 April
1907, however, finished in a 2–1 defeat to
Sheffield Wednesday.
1914–15 was to be the final season before league football was suspended for the duration of the First World War. Everton won their second league title, one point ahead of
Oldham Athletic, with
Bobby Parker finishing the season as the leagues' top scorer on 35 goals. In 1925 the club signed
Dixie Dean from
Tranmere Rovers. In
1927–28, Dean set the record for top-flight league goals in a single season with 60 goals in 39 league games, which is a record that still stands. He helped Everton win their third League Championship that season. However, Everton were relegated to the
Second Division two years later during internal turmoil at the club. The club quickly rebounded and were promoted at the first attempt, while scoring a record number of goals in the Second Division. On return to the top flight in
1931–32, Everton wasted no time in reaffirming their status and won a fourth League Championship at the first opportunity. Everton also won their second FA Cup in 1933 with a 3–0 win against
Manchester City in the final. The era ended in
1938–39 with a fifth League Championship. The outbreak of the
Second World War again saw the suspension of league football, and when official competition resumed in 1946, the Everton team had been split up and paled in comparison to the pre-war team.
Tommy Lawton was sold to
Chelsea,
Joe Mercer disagreed with the manager
Theo Kelly and was sold to
Arsenal, and they tried to sell
T. G. Jones to
Roma. Soon, only
Ted Sagar was left. Under the management of the uninspired and under-financed
Cliff Britton, Everton were relegated for the second time in
1950–51 and did not earn promotion until
1953–54, when they finished as the runner-up in their third season in the Second Division. The club has been a top-flight presence ever since. Everton's second successful era started when
Harry Catterick was made manager in 1961. In
1962–63, his second season in charge, Everton won the League Championship. In 1966 the club won the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Everton again reached the final in 1968, but this time were unable to overcome
West Bromwich Albion at
Wembley. Two seasons later in
1969–70, Everton won the League Championship, finishing nine points clear of nearest rivals
Leeds United. During this period, Everton were the first English club to achieve five consecutive years in European competitions – covering the seasons from 1961–62 to 1966–67. However, the success did not last; the team finished fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and seventh in the following seasons. Harry Catterick retired, but his successors failed to win any
silverware for the remainder of the 1970s despite finishing fourth in
1974–75 under manager Billy Bingham, third in
1977–78 and fourth the following season under manager
Gordon Lee. Lee was sacked in 1981. winning medals from
1906,
1933,
1966,
1984 and
1995 Howard Kendall took over as manager and guided Everton to their most successful era. Domestically, Everton won the FA Cup in 1984 and two League Championships in
1984–85 and
1986–87. In Europe, the club won their first, and so far only, European trophy by securing the
European Cup Winners' Cup in
1985. Having won both the League and Cup Winners' Cup in 1985, Everton came very close to winning a
treble, but lost to
Manchester United in the FA Cup
final. Everton was a founding member of the
Premier League in 1992, but struggled to find the right manager. Howard Kendall had returned in 1990, but could not repeat his previous success. His successor,
Mike Walker, was statistically the least successful Everton manager to date. When former Everton player
Joe Royle took over in 1994, the club's form started to improve; his first game in charge was a 2–0 victory over derby rivals Liverpool. Royle dragged Everton clear of relegation and led the club to the FA Cup for the fifth time in their history by defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the
final. The cup triumph was also Everton's passport to the Cup Winners' Cup, their first European campaign in the post-Heysel era. Progress under Royle continued in
1995–96 as the team climbed to sixth place in the Premiership. A fifteenth-place finish the following season saw Royle resign towards the end of the campaign, and he was temporarily replaced by club captain
Dave Watson. Howard Kendall was appointed Everton manager for the third time in 1997, but the appointment proved unsuccessful as Everton finished seventeenth in the Premiership. The club only avoided relegation due to their superior
goal difference over
Bolton Wanderers. Former
Rangers manager
Walter Smith then took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998, but only managed three successive finishes in the bottom half of the table. His replacement,
David Moyes, guided Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place. In
2002–03 Everton finished seventh, which was their highest finish since 1996. It was under Moyes' management that
Wayne Rooney broke into the first team before being sold to Manchester United for a club record fee of £28 million in the summer of 2004. A fourth-place finish in
2004–05 ensured that Everton qualified for the
UEFA Champions League qualifying round. The team failed to make it through to the
Champions League group stage and were then eliminated from the
UEFA Cup. Everton qualified for the
2007–08 and
2008–09 UEFA Cup competitions, and was the runner-up in the
2009 FA Cup final. During this period, Moyes broke the club record for highest transfer fee paid on four occasions: signing
James Beattie for £6 million in January 2005,
Yakubu for £11.25 million in summer 2007, and
Marouane Fellaini for £15 million in September 2008. round of 16 against Dynamo Kyiv in
2015 At the end of the 2012–13 season, Moyes left his position at Everton to take over at Manchester United, and was replaced by
Roberto Martínez. Martínez led Everton to 5th place in the Premier League in his
first season while amassing the club's best points tally in 27 years with 72. The following season, he led Everton to the last 16 of the
2014–15 UEFA Europa League, where they were defeated by
Dynamo Kyiv, whilst domestically finishing 11th in the Premier League. Everton reached the semi-finals of both the
League Cup and the
FA Cup in 2015–16, but were defeated in both. After a poor run of form in the Premier League, Martínez was sacked following the penultimate game of the season, with Everton lying in 12th place. Martínez was replaced in the summer of 2016 by former
Southampton manager
Ronald Koeman. In
his first season at the club, he qualified for the Europa League, but a poor start to the 2017–18 season left Everton in the relegation zone after nine games, and Koeman was sacked on 23 October following a 5–2 home defeat to Arsenal.
Sam Allardyce succeeded him, but he resigned at the end of the season amid fan discontent at his style of play. , who returns to the club after becoming Manchester United's record goalscorer – celebrates for Everton after his goal against Liverpool in the
2017–18 Premier League|left
Marco Silva was named Everton manager in May 2018. In November that year, the club was banned from signing academy football players from their youth clubs for two years. Silva led Everton to finish 8th in his first season in charge, but after a poor start to the following season which left the team in the relegation zone, he was sacked on 5 December 2019. His last league match was a 5–2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Former player and first-team coach
Duncan Ferguson stepped in as caretaker manager for the next three games before his replacement,
Carlo Ancelotti; Ferguson stayed as assistant manager. Ancelotti left the club in June 2021 to rejoin former club
Real Madrid as manager, having led the club to a 10th-place finish in his only full season at the club. Former Liverpool manager
Rafael Benítez was appointed as his replacement, subsequently becoming only the second person to manage both Liverpool and Everton. He was dismissed in January 2022 following 9 losses in his last 13 games in charge at the club, and was replaced by former Chelsea boss
Frank Lampard. Lampard was later also dismissed in January 2023 after a poor run of results. Everton narrowly escaped relegation with a 1–0 win over
Bournemouth in their last game of the
2022–23 Premier League under the management of new boss
Sean Dyche. , Goodison Park, 21st April 2024 On 17 November 2023, the club received a 10-point deduction with immediate effect for breaches of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules. The club had made losses of £124.5 million in the three years up to 2021–22, with the limit being £105 million. It was the biggest points deduction in Premier League history, surpassing the nine taken from
Portsmouth in 2010. Everton submitted an appeal to the decision, arguing that the commission was biased and that the punishment was excessive and unfair. On 24 January 2024, Everton were charged with further breaches of Premier League financial rules after "sustaining losses above the permitted thresholds for the assessment period ending season 2022-23". On 9 January 2025 Dyche was relieved of his duties with Everton one point above the relegation zone, and David Moyes returned to the club after almost 12 years away. == Colours and badge ==