Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The team is currently competing in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. The club's home football ground is Fratton Park, located in the Milton area of the city and has an all-seated capacity for 20,867 supporters. Portsmouth are nicknamed Pompey, a local nickname used by both His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth and the city of Portsmouth. The club adopted blue shirts in 1912 and have mostly used a combination of white shorts and red socks since 1946.
Founded on 5 April 1898, Portsmouth began their early history in the Southern and Western leagues, before being elected into the English Football League and newly formed Third Division in 1920. Portsmouth won two promotions in 1924 and 1927 to reach the First Division, becoming the first football club south of London to do so. After finishing runners-up in two FA Cup finals in 1929 and 1934, Portsmouth won for the first time in 1939. Normal professional football in England was suspended in September 1939 because of the outbreak of World War II, meaning Portsmouth retained the FA Cup trophy for seven consecutive years (the record) until the 1946 FA Cup final.
Portsmouth F.C. were formed on 5 April 1898, at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, as "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company", with John Brickwood as chairman. Although the founding of Portsmouth F.C. had been agreed on 5 April 1898, a football ground or a team of players did not exist until 1899.
In 1899, work began on developing a plot of former agricultural land near Goldsmith Avenue, Milton, Portsmouth into a new football ground, bought in 1898 from the local Goldsmith farming family. The new football ground was to be named Fratton Park after the nearby and convenient Fratton railway station. Frank Brettell was announced as Portsmouth Football Club's first manager-secretary in February 1899. A bold and ambitious application for Portsmouth's direct entry into the Southern League First Division, without the usual probationary period in the lower divisions, was accepted, and the club joined the Southern Football League Division One for the 1899–1900 season.
Portsmouth's first 1899–1900 season in the Southern Football League Division One was successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the table behind champions, Tottenham Hotspur. In their second 1900–01 Southern Football League Division One season, Portsmouth finished in third place and joined the 1900–01 Western Football League, where they finished as Division One champions. Portsmouth won the 1901–02 Southern Football League championship title but were not promoted. In the 1902–03 Western Football League, Portsmouth won the Division One championship for a third consecutive season.
In the 1906–07 Western Football League, the top Division One was split into equal 'A' and 'B' sections, with a play-off between the two section winners to decide a Division One champion. In their last Western Football League appearance, Portsmouth finished in fourth position of the 'B' section of Division One. At the end of the season, all fourteen members of the split 'A' and 'B' sections of Division One resigned from the Western Football League. Portsmouth ended their season in sixth place before the following season saw the team relegated. A severe financial crisis struck between seasons and a public appeal for funds in May 1911 kept the club afloat.
