Before the Premier League existed, before the Football League existed, before most of the sport’s rulebook had even been written, Notts County was already playing organized football in Nottingham. Founded in 1862, Notts County is widely recognized as the oldest professional football club in the world, and its fingerprints are all over the modern game in ways most fans never learn in school. This is the story of how one club from the East Midlands helped shape football culture, from the colors on Juventus shirts to the structure of league football itself.
Why Notts County’s age actually matters
A lot of clubs treat old age as a marketing badge, but Notts County’s case is different. The club was formed by a group of local cricketers and businessmen who wanted a winter sport to keep them active between cricket seasons. That casual origin story is almost funny given what came next. Notts County survived the early chaos of Victorian football and helped organize it too.
By the time the Football Association had only been around for a few years, Notts County was already fielding competitive sides. Being the oldest football club in the world isn’t a title the club invented for itself either. It’s backed by FIFA and the Guinness World Records, and it separates Notts County from clubs that are simply old, like Sheffield FC, which predates Notts County but never turned fully professional or joined the same competitive structures.
From Trent Bridge to Meadow Lane: the early home grounds
Notts County didn’t always play at Meadow Lane. In the early years, the club shared grounds around Nottingham, including spells connected to Trent Bridge, the famous cricket venue. Moving between grounds was common for clubs in that era, since dedicated football stadiums barely existed yet.
Meadow Lane eventually became the club’s permanent home, and it still is today. It sits close to the River Trent and, notably, right next to the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest. Few cities in England have two grounds so close together, and that geography alone says something about how deep football runs in Nottingham. The ground has been rebuilt and modernized several times, but the location itself has hosted football for well over a century. Walking around it today, you’re standing where fans watched matches back when football was still working out its own rules on things like offside and passing back to the goalkeeper.
The Magpies and their surprising influence on Juventus
This is the story most casual fans don’t know, and it might be the single biggest cultural export in Notts County’s history. In the early 1900s, Juventus needed new kits after their original pink shirts kept fading in the wash. A Juventus player with connections in England, John Savage, reached out to a friend in Nottingham to source new shirts.
That friend sent over a batch of black and white striped kits inspired by Notts County’s own colors. Juventus wore them, liked them, and never changed. More than a century later, one of the most decorated clubs in world football still wears black and white stripes because of a favor connected to a club in the English Midlands. It’s a strange, mostly accidental piece of football culture, but it’s real, and it’s one of the more repeated stories in football folklore for good reason.
Founding members: Notts County’s role in building the Football League
Notts County wasn’t just present for the birth of organized league football, it was one of the twelve founding clubs when the Football League launched in 1888. That put the club right at the start of one of the sport’s most important structural changes: the move from occasional friendlies and cup ties to a proper, scheduled league table.
The founding members of the Football League in 1888 were Notts County, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Preston North End, Accrington, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Several of those names are still Premier League regulars, others have drifted down the pyramid, and one, Accrington, folded entirely before being reformed decades later as Accrington Stanley. Notts County’s spot on that list makes the point worth remembering: league football didn’t appear out of nowhere. It was built by clubs like this one, arguing over fixtures and travel costs in committee rooms.
The fall and rise: Notts County’s modern struggles
Football history isn’t only about trophies, and Notts County’s recent decades prove that. The club has bounced between divisions for years, and in 2019 something happened that would have felt unthinkable to those founding members back in 1888: Notts County was relegated out of the Football League entirely, dropping into the National League for the first time in the club’s history.
For a club that had literally helped build the league system, falling out of it hit differently than a normal relegation. Even fans of rival clubs seemed to feel it was wrong on a symbolic level, regardless of who they supported. Notts County spent several seasons working to get back, dealing with the same financial and structural problems that hit a lot of lower league English clubs, from ownership uncertainty to squad turnover.
The club eventually returned to the Football League after winning promotion through the National League, a comeback that mattered far beyond Nottingham. It reconnected the oldest club in the world with the competition it helped invent.
Supporters who stuck with Notts County through non-league football deserve real credit here. Attendances at Meadow Lane during the National League years stayed well above what most clubs at that level would expect, which says something about the identity fans attach to this club. It’s about more than the football on a given Saturday, it’s about protecting a piece of the sport’s own origin story.
What Notts County’s story teaches us about football culture
Notts County is proof that football culture isn’t only built by trophies and Champions League nights. Sometimes it’s built by being first, being stubborn, and lasting long enough that your existence becomes part of the sport’s memory.
Think of it like an old family recipe passed down for generations. Nobody remembers exactly who first wrote it out, but every version since owes something to that original. League football, the black and white stripes at Juventus, even the basic idea of scheduled competitive matches between clubs, all of it connects back to a small group of Nottingham cricketers who wanted something to do in the winter.
That’s the real weight behind calling Notts County the oldest league club in the world. It’s not just a trivia answer, it’s a direct thread connecting today’s game to its earliest days.
Frequently asked questions about Notts County
Is Notts County really the oldest football club in the world? Yes. Notts County, founded in 1862, is officially recognized as the oldest professional football club in the world by FIFA and Guinness World Records. Older football-playing groups existed, but Notts County is the oldest that developed into a fully professional club with a continuous history.
Why does Juventus wear black and white stripes because of Notts County? In the early 1900s, Juventus needed replacement kits and received black and white striped shirts sourced through a contact connected to Notts County. Juventus kept the colors, and they remain the club’s identity to this day.
Did Notts County ever leave the Football League? Yes. Notts County was relegated out of the Football League in 2019, dropping into the National League for the first time in the club’s history, before later winning promotion back into the league pyramid.
Where does Notts County play its home matches? Notts County plays at Meadow Lane in Nottingham, located directly next to Nottingham Forest’s City Ground.
