, the founder of Liverpool F.C.|alt=Black and white photograph of elder and bald John Houlding, wearing beard and bow tie. Liverpool were founded following a dispute between the
Everton committee and
John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at
Anfield. After eight years at the stadium, Everton relocated across
Stanley Park to their new stadium of
Goodison Park in 1892, and Houlding founded Liverpool F.C. to play at Anfield. Originally named "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd" (Everton Athletic for short), the club became Liverpool F.C. in March 1892 and gained official recognition three months later, after
The Football Association refused to recognise the club as Everton. Liverpool played their first match on 1 September 1892: a pre-season
friendly match against
Rotherham Town which they won 7–1. The team Liverpool fielded against Rotherham was composed entirely of Scottish players; the players who came from Scotland to play in England in those days were known as the
Scotch Professors.
Manager John McKenna had recruited the players after a
scouting trip to Scotland—so they became known as the "team of Macs". The team won the
Lancashire League in its debut season and joined the
Football League Second Division at the start of the 1893–94 season. After the club was promoted to the
First Division in 1896,
Tom Watson was appointed manager. He led Liverpool to its first league title in 1901, and won the league again in 1906. Liverpool reached their first
FA Cup final in
1914, losing 1–0 to
Burnley. It won consecutive league championships in 1922 and 1923, but did not win another trophy until the 1946–47 season, when the club won the First Division for a fifth time under the control of ex-
West Ham United centre half
George Kay. Liverpool suffered its second Cup Final defeat in 1950, playing against
Arsenal. The club was relegated to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season. Soon after Liverpool lost 2–1 to non-league
Worcester City in the 1958–59 FA Cup,
Bill Shankly was appointed manager. Upon his arrival he released 24 players and converted a boot storage room at Anfield into a room where the coaches could discuss strategy; here, Shankly and other "
Boot Room" members
Joe Fagan,
Reuben Bennett, and
Bob Paisley began reshaping the team. outside
Anfield. Shankly won promotion to the First Division and the club's first league title since 1947. The club was promoted back into the First Division in 1962 and won it in 1964, for the first time in 17 years. In 1965, the club won its
first FA Cup. The following year, the club won the First Division but lost to
Borussia Dortmund in the
European Cup Winners' Cup final. Liverpool won both the League and the
UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. Shankly retired soon afterwards and was replaced by his assistant, Bob Paisley. In 1976, Paisley's second season as manager, the club won another League and UEFA Cup double. The following season, the club retained the League title and won the
European Cup for the first time, but it lost in the
1977 FA Cup final. Liverpool retained the European Cup in 1978 and regained the First Division title in 1979. During Paisley's nine seasons as manager Liverpool won 20 trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six League titles and three consecutive
League Cups; the only domestic trophy he did not win was the FA Cup. carrying the injured former Liverpool captain
Emlyn Hughes outside Anfield. Paisley remains the most successful manager in the club's history. Paisley retired in 1983 and was replaced by his assistant, Joe Fagan. Liverpool won the League, League Cup and European Cup in Fagan's first season, becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season. Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985, against
Juventus at the
Heysel Stadium. Before kick-off, Liverpool fans breached a fence that separated the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 fans, mostly Italians. The incident became known as the
Heysel Stadium disaster. The match was played in spite of protests by both managers, and Liverpool lost 1–0 to Juventus. As a result of the tragedy, English clubs were banned from participating in European competition for five years; Liverpool received a ten-year ban, which was later reduced to six years. Fourteen Liverpool fans received convictions for involuntary manslaughter. Fagan had announced his retirement just before the disaster and
Kenny Dalglish was appointed as
player-manager. During his tenure, the club won another three league titles and two FA Cups, including a League and Cup "
Double" in the 1985–86 season. Liverpool's success was overshadowed by the
Hillsborough disaster: in an FA Cup semi-final against
Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed against perimeter fencing. Ninety-four fans died that day; the 95th victim died in hospital from his injuries four days later, the 96th died nearly four years later, without regaining consciousness, and the 97th, Andrew Devine, died in 2021 of injuries sustained in the disaster. After the Hillsborough disaster there was a government review of stadium safety. The resulting
Taylor Report paved the way for legislation that required top-division teams to have all-seater stadiums. The report ruled that the main reason for the disaster was overcrowding due to a failure of police control. . Liverpool was involved in the closest finish to a league season during the 1988–89 season, finishing equal with Arsenal on both points and goal difference, but lost the title on total goals scored when Arsenal scored the final goal in the
last minute of the season. Dalglish cited the Hillsborough disaster and its repercussions as the reason for his resignation in 1991; he was replaced by former player
Graeme Souness. Under his leadership Liverpool won the
1992 FA Cup final, but their league performances slumped, with two consecutive sixth-place finishes, eventually resulting in his dismissal in January 1994. Souness was replaced by
Roy Evans, and Liverpool went on to win the
1995 Football League Cup final. While they made some title challenges under Evans, third-place finishes in 1996 and 1998 were the best they could manage, and so
Gérard Houllier was appointed co-manager in the 1998–99 season, and became the sole manager in November 1998 after Evans resigned. In 2001, Houllier's second full season in charge, Liverpool won a "
treble": the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Houllier underwent major heart surgery during the 2001–02 season and Liverpool finished second in the League, behind Arsenal. They won a further League Cup in 2003, but failed to mount a title challenge in the two seasons that followed. , trophy won by Liverpool for a fifth time in 2005.|alt=A silver trophy with red ribbons on it Houllier was replaced by
Rafael Benítez in June 2004. Despite finishing fifth in Benítez's first season, Liverpool won the
2004–05 UEFA Champions League, beating
AC Milan 3–2 in a
penalty shootout after the match ended with a score of 3–3. The following season, Liverpool finished third in the Premier League and won the
FA Cup, beating West Ham United in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3. American businessmen
George Gillett and
Tom Hicks became the owners of the club during the 2006–07 season, in a deal which valued the club and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. The club reached the
2007 UEFA Champions League final against Milan, as it had in 2005, but lost 2–1. During the 2008–09 season Liverpool achieved 86 points, its then-highest Premier League points total, prior to the record-breaking 2018–19 season, and finished as runners up to
Manchester United. In the 2009–10 season, Liverpool finished seventh in the Premier League and failed to qualify for the Champions League. Benítez subsequently left by mutual consent and was replaced by
Fulham manager
Roy Hodgson. At the start of the 2010–11 season Liverpool was on the verge of bankruptcy and the club's creditors asked the High Court to allow the sale of the club, overruling the wishes of Hicks and Gillett.
John W. Henry, owner of the
Boston Red Sox and
Fenway Sports Group, bid successfully for the club and took ownership in October 2010. Poor results during the start of that season led to Hodgson leaving the club by mutual consent and former player and manager Kenny Dalglish taking over. In the 2011–12 season, Liverpool secured a record
eighth League Cup success and reached the
FA Cup final, but finished eighth in the Premier League, their worst league finish in 18 years; this led to the sacking of Dalglish. He was replaced by
Brendan Rodgers, whose Liverpool team in the 2013–14 season mounted an unexpected title charge to finish second behind champions
Manchester City and subsequently return to the Champions League, scoring 101 goals in the process, the most since the 106 scored in the
1895–96 season. Following a disappointing 2014–15 season, where Liverpool finished sixth in the league, and a poor start to the following campaign, Rodgers was sacked in October 2015. is Liverpool's
third-leading goalscorer in the club's history, behind
Ian Rush and
Roger Hunt, and the club's leading goalscorer in the Premier League era. Rodgers was replaced by
Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool reached the finals of the
Football League Cup and
UEFA Europa League in Klopp's first season, finishing as runner-up in both competitions. The club finished second in the
2018–19 season with 97 points – surpassing the 86 points gained during the 2008–09 season and a points record for a non-title winning side – and only one loss. Klopp took Liverpool to successive UEFA Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, with the club defeating
Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 to win the latter. Liverpool beat
Flamengo of Brazil in the
final 1–0 to win the
FIFA Club World Cup for the first time. The
following season, Liverpool won their first top-flight league title in thirty years. The club set multiple records in the season; they won the league with seven games remaining, the earliest any team has ever won the title, reaching a club record 99 points, and won a
joint-record 32 games in a top-flight season. The 2021–22 season saw the club win the domestic cup double, the FA Cup and the League Cup. In January 2024, Klopp announced that he would leave the club at the end of the season, and he won his final trophy with the club, the League Cup, the following month.
Arne Slot was announced as Klopp's successor in May 2024, and the club won a record-equalling twentieth top-flight league title in his first season in charge.{{Cite web |title=Liverpool make history with second Premier League title |url=https://www.premierleague.com:443/news/4287630 |date=27 April 2025|access-date=27 April 2025 |website=Premier League|language=en|url-status=live == Colours and badge ==