London Fulham FC

Fulham Football Club, founded in 1879, hold the distinction of being the oldest professional football club in London. Their home, Craven Cottage, sits on the north bank of the River Thames in the affluent west London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and is widely regarded as one of the most picturesque grounds in English football. The Johnny Haynes Stand, a Grade II listed structure, gives the venue a character and charm unlike anything else in the Premier League.

For much of their history, Fulham have been a second-tier club - competitive, well-supported, and capable of producing fine players like Johnny Haynes and George Cohen, but rarely challenging for major honours. That changed dramatically when Mohamed Al Fayed purchased the club in 1997 and invested heavily, hiring managers like Jean Tigana and eventually guiding Fulham to the Premier League in 2001. The most remarkable achievement of the Al Fayed era was the 2009-10 Europa League run under Roy Hodgson, which took Fulham all the way to the final in Hamburg, where they lost to Atletico Madrid.

The post-Al Fayed era, under the ownership of American businessman Shahid Khan since 2013, has been characterised by instability. Fulham became synonymous with the yo-yo tag, suffering three relegations from the Premier League in a decade. The appointment of Marco Silva as manager in 2021 proved to be the turning point. Silva guided Fulham to the Championship title in 2021-22 and has since established the club as a comfortable mid-table Premier League side, playing attractive attacking football anchored by the prolific Aleksandar Mitrovic and later Raul Jimenez.

Craven Cottage is undergoing significant redevelopment, with the new Riverside Stand adding capacity and premium facilities. Under Silva's management and Khan's long-term investment, Fulham are attempting to break the cycle of promotion and relegation and establish themselves as a permanent Premier League presence.