Wigan Athletic FC is an English football club from the town of Wigan in Greater Manchester; they are popularly referred to as the Latics, which is a corruption of Athletic.  Wigan Athletic was formed in 1932 and was the fifth attempt to stabilise a football club in the town following the demise of Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town and Wigan Borough. Springfield Park, the former home of Wigan Borough, was purchased by the club and they were elected to the Cheshire County League. In 1945, Wigan Athletic was elected to the Lancashire Combination, and in 1950 came close to election to the Football League, narrowly losing out to Scunthorpe United on a vote. The club moved back to the Cheshire County League in 1961. In 1968, Wigan Athletic was a founder member of the Northern Premier League.  After 34 failed election attempts, Wigan Athletic were elected to the Football League in 1978.  In 1982 they were promoted to Division Three, where, despite severe financial problems, they remained for the next ten seasons, finishing fourth in 1985-86. In 1993 Wigan were relegated to Division Four and now faced bankruptcy.   In February 1995, local millionaire and owner of JJB Sports Dave Whelan purchased the club, which was then playing in the Third Division (fourth tier), and stated his ambition to reach the Premier League, a statement which was widely ridiculed at the time. In 1997 Wigan were promoted as champions of Division Three (the old Fourth Division) and its remarkable climb through the divisions had begun. 

In the summer of 1999 the club moved into the brand new JJB Stadium, built at a cost of £32m, and in 2003 they became Division Two champions and began a serious challenge for a place in the Premier League. Their ambitions were realised at the end of the 2004-05 season when they won promotion to the Premier League. Against the odds, the team consolidated their position in the top tier of English football over the following seasons having had several close brushes with relegation. In 2013 Wigan humbled the millionaires of Manchester City to win the FA Cup, but the season ended in disappointment three days later when they were relegated to the Championship – making them the first team to win the FA Cup and be relegated in the same season. They were relegated to League One (now the third tier of English football) in 2015. Wigan returned to the Championship as champions in the 2017-18 season but in July 2020 the club went into administration and with the subsequent points deduction were relegated from the Championship. After narrowly avoiding relegation to League Two, the following season, Wigan bounced back to win the League One title in 2022. However, they were relegated at the end of the 2022/23 season.