Early history People in the town of
Harrogate had tried to put together a football team as far back as 1907 but it took until 1914 for
Harrogate A.F.C. to be founded. They were entered into the
Northern Football League in 1914, and were set to play their home fixtures at the County Ground, but the
First World War meant all fixtures were postponed. After the First World War, Robert Ackrill Breare instigated a meeting to discuss putting the club back together. Breare later became the secretary of the club, which entered into the West Riding League. Harrogate played their first competitive fixture on 30 August 1919 at Starbeck Lane Ground against Horsforth. They won the game 1–0 and the scorer was L. Craven with a headed goal. They were entered into the
FA Cup the same year, losing to South Kirkby Colliery 4–0 in a 1Q replay. Harrogate also won their first trophy, the Whitworth Cup, with a 4–0 victory against Ripon City. For the 1920–21 season Harrogate were one of the founding teams in the new
Yorkshire League, yet they also continued to field a team in the West Riding League. The club had relocated to a new ground: Wetherby Road. Around the holiday periods, they took part in friendlies against higher league opposition including
Liverpool at their
Anfield ground, and another at fellow Yorkshire side
Sheffield United in front of 15,000 fans. They moved league once again for their third season, leaving the West Riding League and moving into the
Midland Football League. It included the reserve teams of
Nottingham Forest,
Sheffield Wednesday and
Barnsley. The club remained in the Yorkshire League, fielding a reserve team. However, the club resigned from the Midland League after only one season and reverting to fielding a first team in the Yorkshire League. The West Riding County Challenge Cup was won by Harrogate in 1925, with their 3–1 victory against Fryston Colliery at
Elland Road. League victory was secured in 1926–27, as Harrogate became the Yorkshire League champions, with Bob Morphet scoring 44 goals. The club then moved into the
Northern Football League. Their second West Riding County Challenge Cup was won the same season against
Selby Town. The team disbanded in 1932.
Climbing the pyramid (1935–2011) A football club was brought back to the town in 1935 with
Harrogate Hotspurs. After the
Second World War, the club was renamed
Harrogate Town and played in the
West Yorkshire Association Football League. Harrogate Town joined the Yorkshire League again in 1957. They spent many years in the Yorkshire League during the 1960s and 1970s, and then became a founding member of the new
Northern Counties East Football League in 1982. On 4 September 1976, they fielded a black player for the first time when Denver Mitchell played in goal for them against Rawmarsh Welfare. Denver made 29 appearances for Harrogate between 1976 and 1978. The club was looking to climb the newly instated
football pyramid and so began to improve their ground, installing
floodlights. They played a friendly to mark the occasion against
Leeds United, with
Eddie Gray being the first to switch the lights on. After a West Riding County Cup win in 1986, and five seasons in the Northern Counties East League, they became founding members of the
Northern Premier League's new First Division in 1987–88, after having been invited to join the new league. In 1990 the club became a limited company to fund construction of a new main stand, and in the same year the club won the Northern Premier League First Division Cup. They spent 15 seasons in this league, twice narrowly avoiding relegation back to the Northern Counties East League. However, they won promotion to the Premier Division in 2001–02 after finishing as champions. During their first season in that division they finished sixth, and for the first time in the club's history they reached the first round of the
FA Cup, losing 5–1 to
Farnborough Town of the Football Conference. Town also won the West Riding County Cup in both the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons. After finishing fifth in the Premier Division in 2003–04, the club became founders of the newly established
Conference North in 2004. During their FA Cup run in the 2005–06 season, Harrogate were drawn to play at
Torquay United, their first cup game against Football League opposition. After drawing 1–1 at
Plainmoor, they lost 6–5 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in the replay. At the end of the season the club finished fifth and qualified for the promotion play-offs, but lost 1–0 to eventual winners
Stafford Rangers. At the end of the 2009–10 season the club finished bottom of the Conference North and were due to be relegated. However, after
Northwich Victoria were demoted due to financial problems, the club were reprieved.
Irving Weaver era (2011–present) Before the start of the 2011–12 season, Bill Fotherby handed control of the club to Irving Weaver, father of manager
Simon Weaver. Tad Nowakowski, father of player Adam, also joined the board to help improve community links. The 2011–12 season ended in a relegation dogfight, Harrogate survived on the final day thanks to a 5–0 away win at
Corby Town. The 2012–13 season saw the team's best run in the FA Cup. On 3 November 2012 they beat League Two team Torquay United 1–0 to go beyond the first round for the first time. Against
Hastings United in the second round, they drew 1–1 at Wetherby Road, and the replay at Hastings also finished 1–1 but they lost 5–4 on penalties. After a good start placing them in the top five at the beginning of the 2016–17 season, the team went on a long run of bad form. As a result, Weaver and other club officials decided that the players at the end of the season should be given full-time contracts to improve chances of promotion. The club began training full time from 3 July 2017. They won the
National League North play-offs for the 2017–18 season beating
Brackley Town in the play-off final earning promotion to the
National League. The club finished sixth in their
2018–19 National League campaign, qualifying for the play-offs. They were beaten 3–1 by
AFC Fylde in a play-off eliminator. As the
2019–20 National League season was curtailed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, table positions were determined on average points-per-game, of which Harrogate Town had 1.78, placing them second and meaning they again qualified for the play-offs, this time in the semi-finals. In the semi-final, they beat
Boreham Wood 1–0. On 2 August 2020, at
Wembley Stadium, the club faced
Notts County in the
play-off final and won 3–1, earning promotion to the
English Football League for the first time in their history. They also reached the
2020 FA Trophy final, defeating
Hartlepool United,
Darlington,
Eastleigh,
AFC Fylde and Notts County on their route to the final. Harrogate won the final against
Concord Rangers on 3 May 2021. As a result of the almost 12-month delay in staging the final, caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, Harrogate Town became the first EFL side in history to participate in the competition. On 12 September 2020, Harrogate played their first English Football League game, winning 4–0 away at
Southend United. In September 2020, Harrogate played their first
EFL Cup match, away to
Tranmere Rovers which they won. In the second round, Harrogate were eliminated by
Premier League side
West Bromwich Albion 3–0. In
2020–21, Harrogate finished their first Football League season in 17th place. In
2021–22, Harrogate did enough to survive in the League again, finishing in 19th place and reached the third round of the
FA Cup for the first time. In the 2024–25 season, Harrogate reached the FA Cup third round again, losing 1–0 away to
Leeds United. On 2 May 2026, following a 1–2 defeat to
Barnet, Harrogate were relegated from League Two after six seasons in the EFL. ==League history==