Cardiff City

Cardiff City is a football (soccer) club from England.

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Cardiff City Football Club is a association football team based in Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff are currently playing in the Football League Championship. Until May 2009, Cardiff City played their home games at Ninian Park, and as of July 2009, they will be playing their home games at Cardiff City Stadium, a brand new 27,000 all seater stadium, based in the Leckwith area of Cardiff.

Cardiff City were founded in 1899 and are the only non-English side to have won any of the three major English competitions. They won the FA Cup in FA Cup Final 1927, during a decade when they were one of the strongest sides in the English league, finishing runners-up in 1923–24 in English football and also losing 1–0 to Sheffield United in the FA Cup Final of FA Cup Final 1925. They have also been regular winners of the Welsh Cup, and as the winner of the Cup in 1966–67 in English football gained entry to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, reaching the semi-finals in European Cup Winners' Cup 1967–68. They played in old Football League First Division periods of 1921–29, 1952–57 and 1960–62.

Their history in recent years has been less successful but they have made some improvement in the last few seasons. In 1986 in football (soccer), they were relegated to the Football League Fourth Division, and over the next 14 years slipped into the league's basement division three times. In 1996 they were the league's third lowest placed team. However, a Football League Second Division playoff triumph in 2003 in football (soccer) lifted them into the Football League First Division; In the 2008–09 season they failed to make the play-offs for the Premier League on goals scored to Preston on the final day of the season.

History

Cardiff City was formed in 1899 by Bartley Wilson as a way of keeping players from the Riverside Cricket Club together and in shape during the winter months. Their first season saw them playing friendlies against local sides at their Sophia Gardens ground, but in 1900 they joined the Cardiff & District League for their first competitive season. In 1905 Cardiff was granted city status by Edward VII of the United Kingdom, and as a result Cardiff City put in a request to change their name to Cardiff City, but the request was turned down as they were deemed to be not playing at a high enough level. To combat this they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907 and the following year they were granted permission to change the name of Cardiff City to Cardiff City.

Interest in Cardiff City began to rise during this time, but they were forced to turn down the opportunity to join the newly formed Southern League Second Division due to the lack of facilities at their Sophia Gardens ground. Over the next two years Cardiff welcomed many of United Kingdom's top sides to Cardiff, including Middlesbrough F.C., Bristol City F.C. and Crystal Palace F.C., with the matches being played at various grounds in Cardiff and nearby towns. Cardiff City would eventually move into their new ground, Ninian Park, in 1910. Cardiff City made its first signing the following year with the accquisition of Jack Evans (Welsh footballer) from fellow Welsh club Cwmparc FC.

With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division, and Bartley Wilson was quick to hire Cardiff City's first manager in Davy McDougall, who became player-manager. Their first match was a 2–1 defeat to Aston Villa F.C., in which new signedd Evans scored the only Cardiff goal. They went on to finish in an impressive fourth place in their first year in the league. They stayed in the division for the next decade, apart from when the league was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I.

Early glories

Cardiff are one of a handful of Welsh sides to play in the English football league system, rather than the Welsh football league system. The other teams are Swansea City A.F.C., Wrexham F.C., Newport County A.F.C., Merthyr Tydfil F.C. and Colwyn Bay F.C.. Their most successful period so far was the 1920s in which they finished runners-up to Huddersfield Town F.C in 1924 in football (soccer) in the old Football League First Division on Goal Average, followed by two FA Cup Finals in FA Cup Final 1925 against Sheffield United Ernie Curtis, the 19 year old centre-wing said of the goal:

It is believed that this cup final attracted one of the highest audiences ever, as it was the first to be broadcast by BBC Radio. Captain Fred Keenor received the FA Cup trophy from George V of the United Kingdom only 7 years after Cardiff City had entered the Football League and six seasons since they had been promoted to the top division.

Ferguson still features on the record books for Cardiff City, having scored five goals in the First Division fixture with Burnley on 1 September 1928. In fact, Ferguson's 32 goals in all competitions in 1926–27 stood until Robert Earnshaw overtook it in March 2003. He scored the first in the 2–1 victory over Corinthian F.C. in the 1927–28 Charity Shield and his two goals won the Welsh Cup later that same season for Cardiff against Bangor; but despite a healthy return of 77 goals during his four seasons there his days at Ninian Park were numbered.

The next few years

That FA Cup Final win, was not the end of their cup exploits this season; as they also won the Welsh Cup defeating Rhyl FC by a scoreline of 2–0, and would go on to win the Charity Shield after beating Corinthian F.C. 2–1 at Stamford Bridge (stadium).

The following season, 1927–28, once again resulted in a top flight, top 6 finish for Cardiff City. Having led the Championship for a brief spell during mid-season, their performances began to tail off, and they had to settle for 6th place.

In the 1928–29 season, Cardiff City were relegated from the Football League First Division of the Football League, despite conceding the least amount of goals of all teams in the division that year. However, this was only a sign of things to come for the Bluebirds, and after two seasons in the Football League Second Division, they were once again relegated in 1931 into Football League Third Division South having played 42 league matches, and only managing to win 8. During this time in the lowest division of recognised league football; Cardiff City were once again able to show some promise, and in fact they recorded their biggest ever win in the Football League, when they destroyed Thames A.F.C. by a scoreline of 9–2.
Results however continued to be below what was expected by the City faithful, and therefore in May 1933, Fred Stewart (football manager) resigned after 22 years in charge of the club.

Bartley Wilson was chosen to replace Fred Stewart; however the results continued to be extremely disappointing, and in March 1934, Ben Watts-Jones, was given the opportunity to manage Cardiff City he had supported as a youngster. However, he was unable to turn the clubs' fortunes around by the end of the season; meaning Cardiff City were forced to apply for re-election after finishing bottom of the division. Watts-Jones remained in charge for another three years until he was replaced by Bill Jennings, a former Welsh international who had been brought to Cardiff City originally as trainer four years previous.

To add to Cardiff City's woes, in January 1937 the centre stand at Ninian Park was destroyed by fire. However; this caused the fans and club members to pull together, in order to save the club. Suddenly, there were signs that the worst was over both on and off the field. The teams' results began to improve over the next two seasons, and in turn; this meant that more fans were coming to Ninian Park in order to see their beloved team's revival. The 1938–39 season saw the debut of a resourceful Midfield winger who would be a prominent member of future City sides; Billy Baker, however a final league position of 13th in the division was not thought to be good enough by new chairman Herbert Merrett, and he appointed Cyril Spiers as secretary-manager to replace Jennings for the 1939–40 season.
That season; Spiers set about changing the personnel, bringing in a number of new faces including Forward Trevor Morris from Ipswich Town F.C. and also young centre forward Wilf Wooller, a Welsh people Rugby union International who was also to captain Glamorgan at Cricket.
World War II caused the suspension of the Football League in September 1939; and this suspension continued until the 1947 Season. They crowned as champions of Football League Third Division South and returned to Football League Second Division in 1946–47 season.

Following the return of the Football League Cardiff chairman Sir Herbert Merrett established close links with Torquay United F.C. after being a regular visitor to a hotel owned by the Torquay chairman. The arrangement saw any players Cardiff thought not good enough would be offered to Torquay and Cardiff would get first refusal on any players who were thought good enough to make it in higher leagues. A number of players joined Cardiff from Torquay, the most successful being goalkeeper Phil Joslin, winger Mike Tiddy and forward Tommy Northcott. However the relationship became sour after Cardiff allowed Harry Parfitt to join the Devon based side in the understanding they could have him back when required. In 1954 Cardiff offered £2500 to bring him back but Torquay demanded £5000. Despite the Torquay chairman willing to let him return to Cardiff for £2500 several members of the clubs board decided to block the move until a higher price was agreed. Cardiff eventually paid the £5000 asking price but subsequentley broke off ties with Torquay.

During the 1960s Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time through the Welsh Cup. Their first ever match in European competition was in the European Cup Winners Cup during the 1964–65 season against Danish side Esbjerg fB, winning 1–0 on aggregate over the two legs, the only goal being scored by Peter King (footballer). They went on to reach the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Real Zaragoza. Despite their exploits in Europe, Cardiff City were still struggling in league competition under the stewardship of Jimmy Scoular, finishing in 20th position in Division Two. One high point at this time was the emergence of a 16-year old striker named John Toshack who would go on to become an important part of Cardiff City for several years, along with his strike partner Brian Clark (footballer), before a high profile switch to Liverpool F.C..

Two years later Cardiff City would go on to reach the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup, the furthest Cardiff City has ever gone in European competition. Wins over Shamrock Rovers F.C., NAC Breda, and Torpedo Moscow set up a tie with German side Hamburger SV, whose squad contained a number of Germany national football team internationals in the likes of Uwe Seeler. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg, just over 43,000 fans turned out at Ninian Park to watch Hamburg triumph with a 3–2 victory. Despite their defeat, the cup provided inspiration for the side and they managed to finish in a more stable 13th position, with their strike partnership of Clark and Toshack finishing the season with 39 goals between them. Defeats against FC Porto and Göztepe A.Ş. saw them knocked out in the opening rounds of the tournament during the next two seasons.

At the start of the 1970–71 season Cardiff City paid £35,000 to sign midfielder Ian Gibson (footballer born 1943) from Coventry City F.C. to provide support for Clark and Toshack up front, but the strikeforce was broken up three months later when Toshack was sold to Liverpool for £110,000. Cardiff City paid £40,000 to bring Alan Warboys in from Sheffield Wednesday F.C. as a replacement but missed out on promotion by finishing third. Although the sale of Toshack did hamper the progress of the team, Cardiff City did manage to reach the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup where they faced Spanish giants Real Madrid. The first leg of the tie was held at Ninian Park where 47,000 fans watched one of the most famous victories in the clubs history when Brian Clark headed in to give Cardiff a 1–0 win. Despite going out after losing the second leg 2–0 the result would still go down in the clubs history. Cardiff City remained old Football League Second Division except seasons of 1975–76 and 1982–83.

1985–2000: A barren era

Between 1985 and 1993, Cardiff were continuously in the lower two divisions of the league after being relegated to the Football League Third Division. They relegated to Football League Fourth Division once in 1985–86 season. They promoted to Third Division in as runner-ups in 1987–88 one. Two years later they dropped into twice the Football League Fourth Division. Cardiff won the new Football League Third Division championship in 1992–93 in English football but were relegated two years later, and in 1995–96 in English football finished in their lowest-ever league position – 22nd of 24 in Division Three, with only Scarborough F.C. and Torquay United F.C. below them. They did better the following season, finishing seventh (although they lost in the playoff semi-final), but suffered a setback and slipped into the bottom half of the table in 1997–98 in English football. They finished third in Division Three in 1998–99 in English football and won automatic promotion to Football League Second Division.

Cardiff struggled in Division Two throughout the 1999–2000 in English football and were relegated in 21st place. They finished Division Three runners-up the following season and have made impressive progress since then, helped by the investment of Lebanese businessman Sam Hammam.

Revival and promotion: 2000–03

Having sold his interests in Wimbledon F.C., Sam Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City in August 2000, for a sum believed to be in the region of £11.5 million. Sam Hammam quickly picked up where he left off with the Crazy Gang. Shortly after taking over at Cardiff, Hammam controversially pledged to get the entire Welsh nation to support Cardiff by renaming Cardiff City "The Cardiff Celts" and changing Cardiff City colours to green, red and white. However, after lengthy talks with senior players and fans, Sam Hammam decided that the best policy was not to change the name of the club; however Cardiff City crest was redesigned. This new design incorporated the Cardiff City mascot Bartley the Bluebird, in front of the Flag of Saint David; and featured the Club's nickname superimposed at the top of the crest.
Lennie Lawrence guided Cardiff to promotion via a Football League Second Division playoff triumph in 2002–03 in English football against Queens Park Rangers F.C. Cardiff City finished in 6th position and played Bristol City F.C. in the Football League Second Division playoff semi-finals. On May 10th 2003; Cardiff City beat Bristol City F.C. 1–0 on Aggregate score, having won the match at Ninian Park 1–0 , and drawing the away leg 0–0 on 13 May 2003. Queens Park Rangers drew with Oldham Athletic A.F.C. away from home 1–1 on 10 May 2003, before claiming the advantage at Loftus Road on 14 May 2003; going through to the playoff final with a 2–1 aggregate victory.

On 25 May; the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, hosted one of the most unforgettable playoff finals in history. Both Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers F.C. had been set up with defence minded formations. The game was comparatively scrappy with only occasional glimpses of class shown by both sides. However after a nerve-wracking final, substitute Andy Campbell came off the bench to guide Cardiff past Queens Park Rangers with a spectacular lob after 114 minutes of play.

The former Middlesbrough F.C. striker, who had replaced Robert Earnshaw in the second half, shrugged off Danny Shittu and then calmly lobbed Chris Day, the Queens Park Rangers F.C. Goalkeeper to ensure Cardiff returned to Division One after an 18-year absence. Chances had been few and far between in normal time, but as both sets of players tired, the game opened up in those nail-biting final 30 minutes. No more so than when Day made a superb one-handed save from a Spencer Prior header after Graham Kavanagh's in-swinging free-kick.

Since 2003: The Premier League dream

Cardiff City have remained at Football League Championship level ever since. However, Lawrence was relieved of his duties to make way for David Jones in 2004–05 in English football.

The Bluebirds established themselves in Division One during 2003–04 in English football as they finished it off in an impressive 13th position. They struggled to a 16th position finish at the end of the 2004–05 in English football campaign and saw renewed hope as they were impressive in the 2005–06 in English football with an eleventh position finish

The record transfer paid by Cardiff City for a player is £4 million to Sunderland A.F.C. for Michael Chopra in 2009–10 in English football. The previous record was £1.7 million for Peter Thorne, from Stoke, in 2001. Cardiff City have also paid fees in excess of £1m for Defender Darren Purse from West Bromwich Albion F.C., £950,000 for striker Andy Campbell from Middlesbrough F.C. and £850,000 for another striker, Alan Lee (footballer) from Rotherham United F.C..

The record transfer fee received is up to £5 million for Michael Chopra which activated a release clause in his contract. This transfer occurred on the 13th of July during the summer transfer market of 2007–08 when he transferred to newly promoted Premier League side Sunderland A.F.C In 2006 Cardiff City received £3 million for Cameron Jerome when he transferred to Birmingham City. Cardiff also received a similar amount for the sale of Welsh International striker Robert Earnshaw and a combined £3.5m fee from West Ham United F.C. for the services of Welsh International defenders Danny Gabbidon and James Collins.

After failing to get the new stadium plans agreed by Cardiff Council due to concerns over financial security in 2006, Hammam agreed to a £27 million takeover by a consortium led by new chairman Peter Ridsdale and including the lead developer of the new stadia Paul Guy. However, the takeover was in doubt until 22 December 2006 with Cardiff City in threat of Administration (insolvency) until the consortium agreed to pay Hammam's company Rudgwick an extra £500,000 and £90,000 to Hammam's brother. Ex-Wales Rugby Union captain Mike Hall (rugby union) said after the deal was completed: "That was money which would have been spent on players. But instead it's gone into Sam's pocket. It was the only way the deal was going to be done. I know people say he's a complex character, but at the end it was total greed and self-interest. It was amazing, but football is a murky world."In 2008 Cardiff made it to the FA Cup Final, where they lost to Premier League Portsmouth F.C.. They finished their Football League Championship campaign as 12th with 64 points in the 2007–08 in English football. In the following 2008–09 in English football Cardiff sustained an automatic promotion bid throughout the whole season, only to see a very poor last four games not only dash automatic hopes, but to fall out of the playoff picture too.

In recent years Cardiff City have been establishing a healthy tradition of cut-price hidden goal-scoring gems that have been unearthed at Ninian Park. These include Cameron Jerome who was sold for £4m in the summer of 2006 to Birmingham City and Michael Chopra who was sold to Sunderland AFC for a fee of £5m the next summer. £120,000 summer signing Ross McCormack is looking to continue that tradition after making a storming start to the 2008–09 season, netting nine goals in just 11 starts.

Cardiff City had many fine players at their disposal at the start of the 21st century, including Robert Earnshaw, Jason Koumas, John Robinson (footballer), Graham Kavanagh, Danny Gabbidon, Michael Chopra, Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey.

New ownership

The new ownership has brought a degree of stability back to the club. After being £40 million in debt, most of which has been cleared, Cardiff City will hopefully be playing for years to come. Despite a promising start to the 2006–07 season, when Cardiff were early season pace-setters, a miserable run of form towards the end of the season was responsible for causing Cardiff to plummet down the table; finally finishing with 64 points and 13th position.

The Cardiff City manager, Dave Jones promised a clear-out during the summer holidays, with around 17 players being shown the exit door, either by contract termination, transfer to another club or no contract extension. Although many may have considered Cardiff to be worthy promotion contenders, their lack of top-class training facilities, an over reliance on Michael Chopra and a small squad cost them dear.

Cardiff City added several big name signings in the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair for the Cardiff City F.C. season 2007–08 season but a mediocre start to the season saw them hovering above the relegation zone by mid November, before they managed to pull themselves out of a possible relegation battle to become one of the form teams in the division by January as they sat on the brink of a play-off place, settling into a mid-table place by early March. The season was boosted by Cardiff reaching the semi-final of the FA Cup for the first time in 81 years after beating Middlesbrough F.C. 2–0 on 9 March. After coming through their semi-final against Barnsley F.C. with a 1–0 win at Wembley Stadium on 6 April with a goal from Joe Ledley, eventually lost 1–0 to Portsmouth F.C. in the final.

Throughout that season Cardiff City were involved in a court case with financial backers Langston over the repayment of a £31m loan taken out by former chairman Sam Hammam in 2004. The Langston Corporation claimed that Cardiff City had broken its agreement with the company and began legal proceedings in order to force Cardiff to repay the loan back immediately. In March the two parties attended a meeting at the High Court of Justice as Langston sought a summary judgement meaning that Cardiff City would be forced to pay back the loan without a full trial, but the claim was rejected by the High Court judge. During the procedures Cardiff City told the High Court it believed that former chairman Hammam was behind the company. Chairman Peter Ridsdale has called for talks with Langston in an attempt to prevent the case going to a full trial in the future.

A new era

After the FA Cup final, Cardiff have built on their success, nearly qualifying for the The Football League 2008–09 Playoffs, finishing in seventh position in the Championship. During the January transfer window they kept hold of star players, such as £7M rated Joe Ledley and added Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Chris Burke (footballer) and Michael Chopra to the side. The fee for Chopra, which is in the region of £3m–£4m, dwarfed the previous record transfer fee paid by Cardiff City for a player which stood at £1.75M for Peter Thorne (footballer) from Stoke City F.C. in 2001. With a new stadium on the way, Cardiff City fans are more excited than ever as they hope to make the Premier League dream a reality.

Possible alternate route to European competition

In recent years, with Cardiff on the verge of a place in the Premier league, doubts have been cast on the opportunities for Welsh clubs playing in the Football League to qualify for European competitions. The Football Association had previously stated that they would not nominate Cardiff for a place in Europe should they earn one on the grounds that they don't have the option. However their words were contradicted by a UEFA spokesman saying that Cardiff could play in Europe as European countries are allowed to nominate teams even if they don't play within its boundaries, UEFA president Michel Platini later pledged his support to Cardiff should the FA refuse them entry to European competition, commenting: "If England don't do anything, we will."

Following Platini's statement the FA announced that they would be reviewing their stance on the situation. UEFA also commented on the possibility of Cardiff City being given a wild card entry into Europe, but the FA eventually backed down from their previous statement and confirmed that it would allow Cardiff City to play in Europe should they win the FA Cup final. However, Cardiff lost the 2008 FA Cup final 1–0 against Portsmouth F.C., who hadn't already won a qualification place.

Rivalry

Cardiff City's most significant rivalry over the last 25 years was with neighbours Newport County A.F.C. and Swansea City A.F.C.; though traditionally there is also plenty of ill-feeling between Cardiff City's supporters and followers of Bristol City F.C., known as the Severnside Derby, (and Bristol Rovers F.C. to a lesser extent). In April 2006 relationships between Cardiff City supporters and Swansea City supporters were not helped after Swansea won the Football League Trophy final against Carlisle United F.C. 2–1 in the Millennium Stadium Cardiff. During their celebrations, Lee Trundle and Alan Tate brandished a Welsh flag with an anti-Cardiff obscenity written on it in huge black writing. As well as carrying the flag, Trundle was also seen wearing a T-shirt with an image of a Swansea City A.F.C. player urinating on a Cardiff City shirt.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) said the images paraded at the match, which took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 2 April, were "of an extremely offensive and insulting nature and such behaviour is totally unacceptable". After committing these deeds the two players in question were arrested by the Police on suspicion of section four public order offences, fined £2,000, and handed one match suspensions. Lee Trundle now plays for Cardiff's Severnside rivals Bristol City F.C..

Over several previous meetings between Cardiff City and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. fighting has broken out between the two sets of supporters resulting in 17 arrests during one meeting last season. This has led to the 20 January 2007 meeting being moved forward to 1.00 pm with no Cardiff City fans allowed to attend the match. This decision, which was taken by Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club' Chairman Jez Moxey, was met with widespread criticism from many supporter groups throughout the UK, including the Football Supporters Federation (FSF). A peaceful protest, organised by the FSF, took place in Wolverhampton on the day of the game and was attended by fans of many clubs who wished to show their opposition to such a ban. An FSF statement read: "We are appealing to all football supporters who can make it to be there to show their opposition to all away fan bans. It could be your club next. Time to reclaim the game!"

Stadia

Cardiff's first ground was at Sophia Gardens recreational park where they played from their founding in 1899 until 1910 when, due to the lack of facilities at the ground and the increasing amount of support for the club, Bartley Wilson contacted Bute Estate, who owned large amounts of Cardiff at the time, in an attempt to find land suitable for building a stadium. They eventually agreed on an area of waste ground on Sloper Road. The land was a former rubbish tip and required extensive work to get a playable surface, but with the assistance of Cardiff Corporation and volunteers the work was completed. The ground was originally to be known as Sloper Park but was instead named after Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, who was a large force in helping Cardiff City get the ground built, and became Ninian Park.

The stadium was initially built with one stand before the opening of another in 1928 which could hold 18,000 people to replace an earth embankment. Cardiff City record attendance in the ground is 57,893 which was achieved during a league match against Arsenal F.C. on 22 April 1953. The record has stood for more than fifty years and is unable to be beaten due to the scaling down of the ground throughout the seventies and eighties due to safety fears which have seen the ground capacity fall to 22,000. The ground is the only one above Football League One level that still contains standing areas.

New stadium plans

In June 2009, Cardiff City completed a state of the art 26,500 seater stadium on the site of the now demolished old Cardiff Athletics Stadium. The project also includes a retail park and required the rebuilding of the athletics stadium, to be known as Cardiff International Sports Stadium, on the opposite side of Leckwith Road in Cardiff.

The plan required the demolition of the Cardiff Athletics Stadium, and the council initially insisted that its replacement be built before the start of construction on the new football stadium, which would allow the city to have a major athletics facility for the 11 months between the demolition of the old stadium and the building of a new athletics facility nearby. But developers said that the main infrastructure work including highway improvements, drainage, gas supply and electricity cables could be carried out in a way that would allow Leckwith to remain open until July 2007.

Construction began on the new Cardiff International Sports Stadium in January 2007, and that venue was opened in January 2009. The new football ground, officially named Cardiff City Stadium, opened in July 2009.

On 20 September 2007 it was announced that the Cardiff Blues rugby union club would leave their Cardiff Arms Park home to become tenants of Cardiff City at the new Leckwith stadium.

Club logo history

- 2007–08 crest

- 2008–09 crest

Cardiff City crest featuring a daffodil and dragon was resurrected for the 2008–09 season and onwards after being selected by a fan vote organised to decide the clubs badge and style of kit for their final season at Ninian Park.

Backroom staff

As of 16 April 2008

- Manager: Dave Jones
- Assistant manager: Terry Burton
- Reserve team manager: Paul Wilkinson (footballer)
- Club doctor: Dr Leonard Noakes
- Club physio: Sean Connelly
- Fitness coach: Alex Armstrong
- Goalkeeping coach: Martyn Margetson
- Kit manager: Ian Lanning
- Performance analyst: Enda Barron
- Masseur: Steffan Burnett
- Academy manager: Neal Ardley

Out on loan

Notable former players

Players with international caps in bold

Players with over 200 League appearances for Cardiff City

- Billy Hardy (footballer) 585
- Tom Farquharson 445
- Phil Dwyer 471
- Fred Keenor 436
- Don Murray (footballer) 406
- Ron Stitfall 402
- Jack Evans (Welsh footballer) 356
- Peter King (footballer) 356
- Alf Sherwood 354
- Alan Harrington 348
- Len Davies 305
- Colin Baker (Welsh footballer) 294
- Roger Gibbins 281
- Jason Perry (footballer) 281
- Derek Sullivan 276
- Scott Young (footballer) 275
- James Nelson (Scottish footballer) 240
- Damon Searle 234
- John Buchanan (footballer born 1951) 231
- Gary Bell (footballer) 223
- Neil Alexander 213
- Carl Dale 211
- David Carver (footballer) 210
- Barrie Hole 208
- Graham Vearncombe 208
- Brian Clark (footballer) 203

- Nathan Blake
- Jason Bowen (footballer)
- Robert Earnshaw
- Jeff Eckhardt
- Hughie Ferguson
- Daniel Gabbidon
- Wilf Grant
- Roger Johnson (footballer)
- Graham Kavanagh
- Andy Legg
- John Lewis (footballer born 1955)
- Glenn Loovens
- George McLachlan
- Leighton Phillips
- Chris Pike
- Gil Reece
- Ian Rodgerson
- Fred Stansfield
- Derek Tapscott
- Peter Thorne (footballer)
- John Toshack
- Nigel Vaughan
- Bob Wilson (footballer born 1943)
- Bobby Woodruff

- James Collins (footballer)
- Ernie Curtis
- Trevor Ford
- Gerry Hitchens
- Sam Irving
- Ken Jones (footballer)
- Peter Rodrigues
- Tom Sloan (footballer born 1900)
- Phil Stant
- Tony Vidmar
- Tony Villars
- Tom Watson (footballer born 1902)
- George Wood (footballer)
whilst playing for Cardiff City :
- 2002–03 in English football Graham Kavanagh, Robert Earnshaw (Second Division)
- 2003–04 in English football Danny Gabbidon, Robert Earnshaw (First Division)
- 2006–07 in English football Michael Chopra (Championship)
- 2008-09 in English football Joe Ledley, Roger Johnson (footballer) (Championship)

Manager history

{ senior and Wales national under-21 football team internationals Joe Ledley, Darcy Blake and Jonathan Brown (Welsh footballer) as well as former players such as Robert Earnshaw, James Collins (footballer), Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey.

Records

{ vs. England national football team. 17 October 1959
- Club Record Attendance: 57,893 vs. Arsenal F.C.
- Year Formed: 1899 (as Riverside A.F.C.)
- Previous Names: 1899 Riverside A.F.C.; 1902 Riverside Albion; 1908 Cardiff City
- Previous Grounds: Ninian Park, Riverside, Sophia Gardens, Old Park and Fir Gardens until 1910 in football (soccer)
- Record Transfer fee paid: £3,000,000 Michael Chopra 4 July 2009.
- Record Transfer fee received: £5,000,000 Michael Chopra and Roger Johnson (footballer).

Honours

FA Cup
- Winners 1927 FA Cup Final
- Runners-up: 1925 FA Cup Final, 2008 FA Cup Final

FA Community Shield Winners 1927 FA Charity Shield

First Division runners-up 1924

Second Division runners-up 1921, 1952, 1960

Division Two Play-Off Winners 2003

Third Division South Champions 1947

Third Division
- Champions: 1993
- Runners-up: 1976, 1983

Fourth Division runners-up 1988

Southern Football League Second Division Winners 1913

Welsh Cup Winners 1912, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1956, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1988, 1992, 1993

FAW Premier Cup Winners 2002

FAW Welsh Youth Cup
- Winners: 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006
- Runners-up: 1992, 2005, 2008

FAW Invitation Cup Runners-up 1998

Minor honours

Centenary Cup: 1999

Algarve Challenge Cup: 2008

VansDirect Cup: 2008 (shared)

Sources

Bibliography

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References

Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackpool, Bristol City, Burnley, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Doncaster Rovers, Ipswich Town, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Plymouth Argyle, Preston North End, Queens Park Rangers, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Swansea City, Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers