Sheffield Wednesday FC from the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire,  is one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fifth oldest in the English League. The club was a cricket club when it formed in 1820 as The Wednesday Cricket Club (named after the day of the week when they played their matches). A meeting on the evening of Wednesday 4 September 1867 at the Adelphi Hotel established a footballing side to keep the team together and fit during the winter months. In 1889 the club became founder members of the Football Alliance, of which they were the first champions in a season where they also reached the 1890 FA Cup Final, losing 6–1 to Blackburn Rovers at Kennington Oval, London. Despite finishing the following season bottom of the Alliance, they were eventually elected to the expanded Football League in 1892. They won the FA Cup for the first time in 1896, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 at Crystal Palace. Due to an expansion of the local railway lines, the club was told that they would have to find a new ground for the 1899–1900 season. After a difficult search the club finally bought some land in the village of Owlerton, which at the time was several miles outside the Sheffield city boundaries. Construction of a new stadium (now known as Hillsborough Stadium) was completed within months and the club was secured for the next century. In a strong decade Wednesday won the League twice in the 1902–03 and 1903–04 seasons and the FA Cup again in 1907, beating Everton 2–1. After this the club went through a relatively fallow period for another two decades. 

A new period of success arrived in the late 1920s and 1930s when the club won the League title in 1928–29, and consistently finished high in the league until 1936. The period was topped off with the team winning the FA Cup for the third time in the club's history in 1935.  After the Second World War, Sheffield Wednesday were unable to consistently hold on to a position in the top flight until the 1960s. They spent the 1960s in the First Division but were relegated at the end of the 1969–70 season, starting the darkest period in the club's history. After going into free-fall they dropped to the Third Division for the first time and were marooned there for five seasons. In contrast Sheffield Wednesday spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s in the top tier of English football. The 1990–91 was the only season out of sixteen in a row that Wednesday spent in a lower division, but is remembered as the year the club won the League Cup with a victory over Manchester United - their first major trophy for over 50 years. The 1992–93 season established Sheffield Wednesday as a top club as they visited Wembley four times during the season – a League Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final, final and replay. In the FA Cup semi-finals they recorded a historic win over the city rivals Sheffield United, 2–1. However Wednesday failed to win any silverware, losing to Arsenal in both League and FA Cup finals.  This successful period ended in 2000 with relegation to Division One and then to the third tier of English football in 2003. The club returned to the Championship in 2005 where they remained until 2009-10 when a draw with Crystal Place doomed them to the third tier of English football. They returned to the Championship at the end of the 2011-12 season. They came close to promotion through the play-offs at the end of the 2015-16 season but were beaten in the final by Hull City. They made the play-offs again the following season,  but lost on penalties to the eventually promoted Huddersfield Town in the semi final.  Wednesday were relegated to League One at the end of the 2020-21 season bringing to an end their nine-year spell in the campionship. Their return to the Championship in May 2023 involved the most improbable turnaround in football history.  They reached the final of the play-offs having overturned a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Peterborough in the semi-final. John Windass' goal in the last minute of extra time in the Final against Barnsley secured promotion as chants of "Hi-ho Sheffield Wednesday reverberated around Wembley Stadium.