The history of Brighton & Hove Albion FC started in 1901. Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s started its journey in the English Southern League. Between 1902 and 1997, Goldstone Ground was its home ground.
The club played at Gillingham Stadiums for two years when Goldstone Ground was sold. Between 1999 and 2011, the club played its matches at Withdean Stadium.
A new stadium at Falmer was completed in 2011 and has been Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s home ground. Currently, Brighton & Hove Albion FC is playing in the Premier League and UEFA Europa League.
Brighton & Hove Albion Yesterday
Brighton & Hove Albion’s enthusiasts have had to endure despair over the years. It has been a journey of mixed stages.
From being relegated from the top flight in 1983 to losing an FA Cup final to Manchester United, and almost being downgraded to the English Football Conference league and liquidated in 1997, it has been a long journey to the European football.
The football club has suffered repeated failure in the Championship playoffs, losing three times between 2012 and 2016. It finally achieved Premier League promotion in the 2016/2017 season.
Let’s walk through the seasons from 1979 to 2022 before discovering the football club’s recent position in the Premier League and performance in the Europa League.
- 1979-1980: Earned a Second Division runners-up spot and promoted to the First Division
- 1981-1982: Brighton enjoyed a high-point stay in the English football top flight but was later relegated.
- 1983-1984: Brighton was sliding towards another relegation as it started its first Second Division campaign with three heavy defeats but later went five games unbeaten.
- 1984-1985: Brighton nearly returned to the English top flight, only missing a promotion spot by two points.
- 1985-1986: Brighton slumped to 11th place.
- 1987-1991: Brighton was relegated to Division Two in the 1991/1992 season. In the 1995/1996 season, Brighton was relegated to Division Three.
- 1996-1998: Brighton was near oblivion. Terrible starts in these seasons saw Brighton being almost relegated from the Football League, especially in the 1996/1997 season.
- 1999-2002: Brighton earned two important promotions. They were crowned Division Three champions and promoted to Division Two. After a successful campaign, Brighton was promoted to the Football League, its second promotion.
- 2003-2015: Ups and downs for Brighton, but stayed in the EFL.
- 2016-2017: Brighton gained an automatic Premier League promotion in 2017, making it the club’s second appearance in the English football top flight.
Brighton & Hove Albion Today, and Future
Brighton & Hove Albion significantly improved under Graham Potter, who joined Chelsea FC on 8 September 2022. Roberto De Zerbi became Brighton’s head coach on 18 September 2022.
Brighton enjoyed the best season in 122 years as it secured its highest-ever EPL finish and qualified for the UEFA Europa League competition for the first time.
Despite a head coach change, Brighton went from strength to strength under Roberto De Zerbi while adopting an attractive football brand lauded by the club’s football fans and neutrals across the country and the world.
Last season, the Seagulls managed to accumulate eleven points in a six-game EPL run, maintaining its push for European football while continuing with its FA Cup journey to a semi-final against Manchester United. Brighton finished the 2022/2023 season in 6th place, booking their place in the 2023/2024 Europa League competition.
In their first Europa League competition group stage game, Brighton was defeated by AEK Athens but managed to score their first two goals of European Football.
They’ll play against Ajax and Marseille in their next group matches and hope to advance to the following stages of the tournament and lift the trophy.
Brighton hopes to remain among the top six EPL teams and play more European football in the future.
