Blackburn Rovers FC is one of only three teams to be founder members of both the Football League and the Premier League, the others being Aston Villa and Everton.   The club was founded at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn on the 5th November 1875. On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association.  Four years later, on 25 March 1882, the club won through to the final of the F.A. Cup against the Old Etonians. Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final, but lost the game 1–0 defeat. They  won the F.A. Cup on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen’s Park F.C. The same teams played the F.A. Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 score. Rovers won the cup again for the third consecutive year beating West Bromwich Albion. For this three-in-a-row of F.A. Cup victories, the club was awarded a specially commissioned silver shield and given the unique privilege of displaying the club crest on its corner flags.  Rovers was one of the twelve leading clubs to form the Football League in 1888 finishing the inaugural season of the league in fourth place, and unbeaten at home. The club again reached the F.A. Cup final on 29 March 1890 at the Kennington Oval where they defeated Sheffield Wednesday 6–1.  

During the  summer of 1890 the club moved to Ewood Park which has remained their home. The 1890–91 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the F.A. Cup for a fifth time against Notts County with a 3–1 victory.  The final years of the nineteenth century brought little success for the cluband several narrow escapes from relegation. Blackburn Rovers continued to struggle during the early years of the twentieth century, but by the end of the Edwardian era  results began a gradual improvement. They were league champions in 1912 and 1914, and F.A Cup winners in 1928, but the F.A Cup win was their last major trophy for nearly 70 years. Their relegation from League Division One in 1966 was followed by 26 successive seasons of football outside the top flight. In 1992, Blackburn was promoted to the new Premier League a year after being taken over by local steel baron Jack Walker, who installed Kenny Dalglish as manager. In 1995, Blackburn became league champions, having spent millions of pounds on players like Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. But the title winning team was quickly split up and, in 1999, the club was relegated. They were promoted back to the Premiership two years later. In 2001–02, record signing Andy Cole was bought in for £8million, and Rovers won their first-League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Cole scoring the winner in the 69th minute.  Blackburn qualified for Europe the following season but remained a mid-table team thereafter until relegated at the end of the 2011-12 season.  The club has since struggled to challenge for promotion under a succession of managers and was relegated to the third tier of English football at the end of the 2016-17 season. On 24 April 2018, they were promoted back to the second tier with a 0-1 win at Doncaster Rovers.