Blackpool FC, a football club from the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, was founded in 1887 and has been a member of the Football League since 1900. The club's home ground since 1899 is Bloomfield Road.  Blackpool became founder members of the Lancashire League in 1889 and entered the Football league in 1896 when they joined the sixteen-team Second Division. After finishing third-bottom, Blackpool was not re-elected at the end of the 1898–99 season, and spent the 1899–1900 term back in the Lancashire League. They finished third and were permitted back into Division Two the following season. It was during the season out of the League that Blackpool amalgamated with local rivals South Shore.  Blackpool remained in the Second Division until the 1929-30 season despite have promising spells under several managers including Major Frank Buckley.  The club won the Second Division championship in 1930 and spent the next three seasons in the First Division. But it was under Joe Smith from 1935 that Blackpool enjoyed its most successful period. The club finished the 1936–37 season as runners-up in the Second Division to Leicester City and were promoted back to the First Division. Two seasons in Division One football ended when  the Second World War intervened. During that post-war period, Blackpool signed the legendary Stanley Matthews, made three Wembley appearances in six years and came close to winning the League Championship on several occasions. Blackpool's most notable achievement wais winning the 1953 FA Cup Final, the so-called "Matthews Final", in which they beat Bolton Wanderers 4–3, overturning a 1–3 deficit in the closing stages of the game.  

After thirty years in the top flight they were relegated at the end of the 1966-67 season. Following a brief spell back in the top flight in 1970-71, they were relegated to the third division in 1977-78 for the first time in their history.  Worse was to follow when they were relegated to the Fourth Division in 1980.  In 1982–83, Blackpool endured the worst season in their history, finishing four places from the bottom of the entire Football League, and was only saved from relegation to the Alliance Premier League (now the Conference) because the re-election system voted in their favour. Things improved with promotion via the play offs in 1992.  Blackpool struggled for some time in the third tier of English football and were again  relegated at the end of the 1999-2000 season.  They bounced straight back the following season with promotion via the play-offs and, after a period of consolidation, gained promotion to the second tier of English football in 2007.   They topped this achievement with promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2009/10 season by defeating Cardiff City in the play-off.  Despite winning plaudits for their attacking brand of football, they were relegated the following season.  Further heartache followed in 2011-12 when they lost out to West Ham in the play-off for promotion to the Premier League.  Decline followed and they narrowly avoided relegation in 2013-14.  Supporters became increasingly unhappy as the club were relegated in 2014-15 and the last game of the season had to be abandoned after fans staged a protest on the pitch. The decline continued and by the end of the following season Blackpool were relegated to the lowest tier of English football. In 2017, despite continued supporter unrest, the club were promoted after defeating Exeter 2-1 in the play-off final at Wembley. The club slipped into receivership in 2019, and COVID hit football revenues the following year, Blackpool survived to gain promotion to the second tier of English football after winning the 2021 League One Play-off Final. A succession of managers could not prevent relegation after a home defeat to Millwall on 28 April 2023.