Brighton and Hove Albion FC, is an English football club from the city on the south coast of England, the country’s most popular seaside resort.   Brighton's first professional association football club, Brighton United, was formed in 1898 and was elected to the Southern League First Division. United folded in March 1900 but some of the former members and players formed a new team which combined with North End Rangers and was named Brighton & Hove Rangers. After a season playing friendly and cup games, the club dropped "Rangers" from its name and was briefly known as Brighton & Hove FC before adding "Albion" immediately before they joined the Southern League Second Division for the 1901-02 season. Albion were soon promoted to the Southern League First Division and moved into the Goldstone Ground in Hove.  In 1911 Albion were Southern League champions and then defeated Aston Villa the champions of the Football League to win the Charity Shield and were dubbed, locally at least, "Champions of England." Ten years later, the Southern League First Division was absorbed into the Football League and Brighton became founder members of the new Third Division. It took 38 years for the club to win promotion.  They spent much of the 1960s and 1970s in the Second or Third Divisions, (spending 1963-65 in the Fourth Divison).  

Between 1979 and 1983 they were in the old First Division, then the top tier of English football. In 1983 they reached the final of the FA Cup, which they drew 2–2, but lost 4–0 in a replay to Manchester United. They were relegated from the First Division in the same season. Over the next decade financial problems dragged the club down the leagues and in 1997 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Nationwide Conference. A boardroom takeover saved Brighton from going out of business, and by 2001 they had climbed out of the basement division. A second successive promotion was achieved, but they were relegated after just one season and they bounced between the two divisions until promoted to the Championship at the end of the 2010-11 season.  They signalled a new  phase in the club's  history by officially opening their brand new home, The Falmer Stadium. Brighton narrowly missed an automatic promotion place in 2014-15 before losing the play off semi final to Sheffield Wednesday. They finally gained promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2016-17 season and retained its position in the top tier of English where they have remained finishing 9th place in the 2021-22 season, their highest ever placing in the top flight.