Motherwell Football & Athletic Club is a Scottish football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1886, two amateur teams based in factories in Motherwell - Glencairn F.C. and Alpha F.C. - were invited to field a select team from both of their squads to play a similar select side from Glasgow. This amalgamated side competed in a charity competition, and talks afterwards fully merged the two sides into Motherwell Football Club on 17 May 1886.   In 1893 the club turned professional  and were also admitted to the newly formed Second Division for the 1893–94 season. After ten seasons in Division Two, Motherwell finished second in the table in the 1902–03 season, and were elected to the First Division (modern-day promotion was not used for the Scottish Football League until 1922) when it expanded from twelve clubs to fourteen in 1903.  Motherwell's first (and to this day only) First Division league championship came in 1931–32 - with 30 wins in 38 fixtures, scoring 119 goals - a record 52 of which were scored by Willie MacFadyen, who remains to this day one of the club's all-time top goalscorers with 251 goals. Motherwell also contested three Scottish Cup finals in this period - in 1931, 1933 and 1939, although were defeated on all three occasions. After the Second World War the club  captured two major trophies  with victories in the 1950 Scottish League Cup Final and the 1952 Scottish Cup Final. The club was then relegated for the first time ever at the end of the 1952–53 season.  

A swift return to the First Division saw a relatively successful period with the likes of Ian St. John and Charlie Aitken playing for the club.  No trophies were won during this period and the club was relegated back to the Second Division at the conclusion of the 1967–68 season for one season. When the 18-team First Division was superseded by a new 10-team Premier League for the 1975–76 season, Motherwell improved to fourth in the table, but only maintained their position in the Premier League briefly. Relegation down to the now First Division and promotion back to the Premier League occurred twice in the early 1980s, before a successful decade under manager Tommy McLean which culminated in a famous Scottish Cup win in 1991. The late nineties saw the club suffer increasing financial problems which culminated in administration in April 2002. Motherwell emerged from its financial difficulties to finish third in the Premier League in 2008 and 2012 qualifying for Europe on the second occasion thanks to the liquidation of Rangers FC.  Poor away form during the 2014-15 season saw the club finish 11th and in the play-off postion against Rangers who had won through the Championship play-offs.  Strongly fancied to be relegated they defeated Rangers 6-1 in aggregate to maintain their Premier League status. Motherwell reached the Scottish Cup Final in 2017 and 2018 losing both times to Celtic. They also lost the 2018 League Cup Final to Celtic.