Nottingham Forest FC is an English football club from the city of Nottingham which was founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players shortly after their neighbours Notts County, (thought to be the world's oldest surviving professional football club) in 1862. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892.  Forest were then allowed entry to the Football League. The club claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating near neighbours Derby County 3-1 at Crystal Palace. However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club was in the Second Division (and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom). Only the intervention of the First World War and the suspension of the League prevented the club from going under because of severe financial difficulties.  In 1922 Forest won the Second Division championship but struggled to survive in the First Division, finally being relegated in 1925.

They remained in the second tier until after the war, but in 1949 Forest were relegated to the Third Division.  They bounced back two years later as champions. A brief period of glory followed at the end of the 1950s, as they regained First Division status in 1957. The high point of this period was winning  the FA Cup for a second time in 1959. By this time Forest had become the biggest team in Nottingham, overtaking Notts County. But after finishing runners-up in the league and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest went into decline and were relegated from the First Division in 1972. Everything changed on 6 January 1975 when Brian Clough arrived. Forest won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976-77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons. Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the most recent team to date) to win the English First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division (1977-78 season). In 1978-79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö FF 1-0 in Munich's Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy in 1979-80, beating Hamburger SV 1-0 in Madrid thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Peter Shilton. They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. 

Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town 3-1 in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by Arsenal and Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final. Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic 1-0. There was chance for more success in 1991 when Forest reached  the FA Cup final and went ahead after scoring an early goal (Stuart Pearce free kick) against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but ended up losing 2-1 in extra time after an own goal by Des Walker.  Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest was surprisingly relegated from the inaugural Premier League after 16 seaons in the  top flight. For the remainder of the 1990s Forest see-sawed between the Premier and First Division but by 2005 the club’s fortunes had plummeted as they crashed into the Second Division (now the third tier of English football). They returned to the second tier of English footall (the championship) in 2008 after two seasons and struggled to mount a consistent push for promition to the Premier League despite a series of high profile managers. It was Steve Cooper who finally managed to secure promotion after Forest beat Huddersfield Town in the 2022 play-offs.