Luton Town FC is an English football club based in Luton, 30 miles north of London. Formed in 1885, the product of a merger of the two leading local teams, Luton Town Wanderers and Excelsior, the club was the first in southern England to turn professional, making payments to players as early as 1890 and turning fully professional a year later. Luton did not move to their current ground, Kenilworth Road, until 1905.  The club was a founder member of the Southern Football League in 1894, and, after finishing as runners-up in its first two seasons, left to help form the United League. In the league's inaugural season the club came second, before joining the Football League in 1897. Poor attendance, high wages, and the high travel and accommodation costs that resulted from Luton's distance from the northern heartlands of the Football League crippled the club financially, and made it too expensive to compete in that league. A return to the regionally organised Southern League was therefore arranged for the 1900–01 season. The club did not return to the League until 1919 when it joined the new Football League Third Division.  They spent the next thirty-five years in the third and second tiers of English football.  The club reached the top-flight for the first time in 1955–56, after finishing the season in second place behind Birmingham City on goal average. A few years of success followed, including an FA Cup Final appearance against Nottingham Forest in 1959. However, the club was relegated the following season, and, by 1965, was playing in the fourth tier.  

The club won the Fourth Division championship in 1967–68 and two years later Malcolm Macdonald's goals helped them to another promotion.   Luton Town won promotion back to the First Division in 1973–74, but was relegated the following season by a solitary point. The club's most recent successful period began in 1981–82, when the club was promoted as champions to the First Division.   Winning the League Cup in 1987–88 with a 3–2 win over Arsenal, Luton remained a First Division club until relegation in 1991–92 which signalled the end of major success. More recently, financial difficulties have caused the club to fall, in just three years, from the second tier of English football to relegation to the Conference National in 2009–10 ending its 89-year spell as a member of the Football League.  The club unsuccessfully contested the promotion play-offs three times in four seasons during their time as a non-League club, employing five different managers. In the 2012-13 FA Cup fourth round, Luton won their away tie against Premier League club Norwich City 1–0 and, in doing so, became the first non-League team to beat a side from England's top division since 1989. In the 2013-14 season, under the management of John Still, Luton won the Conference Premier title with three games to spare, and thereby secured a return to the Football League from 2014-15. This was the start of a spectacular rise through the leagues with  Luton promoted from League Two and League One in successive seasons in 2017–18 and 2018–19, and establishing themselves in the Championship. The fairytale return was completed in May 2023, when Luton Town defeated Coventry City in a penalty shootout at Wembley to secure place in the top tier of English football for the first time in thirty-one years.