Dunfermline Athletic FC is a Scottish football club from the town of Dunfermline in Fife. They play at East End Park and are nicknamed The Pars.  In 1874 Dunfermline Cricket Club formed a football section but it was not until 1885 that Dunfermline Athletic FC was formally established.  The club played in the Central League before being admiited to the Scottish League in 1912.  In 1919 the football club severed connections with the Scottish league and played in the Central League until they among sixteen clubs invited to form a new Second Division of the Scottish League n 1921.   Dundermline reached the top tier of Scottish football in 1926 spending two seasons there. They returned in 1934 this time for three seasons.  After the Second World War they bounced up and down between the First and Second Division.  It was the arrival Jock Stein as manager in 1960 that is looked upon as the club's golden decade. The club played regular European football in the UEFA and European Cup Winners Cups throughout the 60s (and also early 70s).   Dunfermline won the Scottish Cup in the 1960-61 season beating Celtic 2-0 in the final after a replay. In 1962 they reached the Cup-Winners Cup quarter finals, losing 5-3 on aggregate to Újpest Dózsa SC. Stein left in 1964 to join Hibernian but the club continued to prosper under new manager Willie Cunningham who lead them to the Scottish Cup final in the 1964-65 season. Dunfermline  also  finished 3rd in the league one point behind top two Kilmarnock and Hearts. George Farm was manager from 1967 until 1970.  He matched Stein by winning the Scottish Cup in 1968 with a 3-1 win in the final against Hearts.  

By the 1970s the club was in the decline and they were relegated in 1972. They bounced straight back to the top flight where they remained until 1976.  Dunfermline returned to the top flight again between 1979 and 1983 and reached the new Premier League in 1987 and in 1989 as champions remaining in the top flight on the latter occasion until 1992.  They returned to the Premier League between 1996-1999 and for an extended stay between 2000 and 2007.  During this period they reached the League Cup Final in 2006 and Scottish Cup Finals in 2004 and 2007 losing all of them to Celtic.  They spent one more season in the Premier League which ended with relegation in 2011.   The club then encountered financial problems and, in April 2013, went into administration and suffered a 15 point penalty which took them into the relegation play-offs and the Second Division. They finished second in the first season in League One but lost out to Cowdenbeath in the Championship play-offs. The club were then taken over by the fans group Pars United, and after three years in the League One, eventually won promotion back to the Scottish Championship in 2016. They were relegated to the third-tier of Scottish Football after play-off defeat to Queen’s Park in May 2022.