London punches well above its weight when it comes to professional football — the city currently hosts 18 clubs spread across the top four tiers of English football, a density matched by few urban centres anywhere in Europe. Whether you’re tracking the Premier League’s six London sides or hunting for lower-league clubs on the city’s fringes, the map is more crowded than most fans realise. This guide sorts all 18 professional clubs by league, geography, and founding date, with the facts drawn from official league records and club histories.
Professional football clubs in London (2025-26): 18 · Premier League clubs in London: 6 · Championship clubs in London: 8 · Most successful London club (top-flight titles): Arsenal (13) · Oldest London club still in professional football: Fulham (1879)
Quick snapshot
- Six London clubs contest the Premier League for the 2025-26 season (Premier League official site)
- Fulham, founded in 1879, describes itself as London’s oldest professional football club (Fulham FC official site)
- Whether clubs like Watford and Barnet should count as “London clubs” depends on whether you use administrative boundaries, stadium location, or fan-base geography — sources vary on inclusion criteria.
- Exact capacity figures for some smaller stadiums shift year to year as seating configurations change.
- Brentford secured promotion to the Premier League on 29 May 2021, playing their first top-flight season in 2021–22 (Premier League official site)
- West Ham United moved to London Stadium in 2016 after decades at the Boleyn Ground (Wikipedia – London Stadium)
- Promotion and relegation will shift club numbers between tiers season by season — the 2025-26 snapshot reflects current league placements.
- AFC Wimbledon, Charlton Athletic, and Leyton Orient represent London in League One, the third tier.
The table below consolidates the key data points that define London’s professional football landscape for the 2025-26 season.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total professional clubs | 18 |
| Premier League clubs | 6 |
| Championship clubs | 8 |
| Oldest club | Fulham (1879) |
| Newest club | AFC Wimbledon (2002) |
| Largest stadium capacity | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (62,850) |
Which football clubs in London play in the Premier League?
Six London-based clubs contest the Premier League for the 2025-26 season: Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, and Tottenham Hotspur. That puts London ahead of any other city in England’s top flight, and the rivalry map — from the North London derby to West London showdowns — reflects that concentration.
Arsenal
Founded in 1886, Arsenal plays at the Emirates Stadium, which opened in 2006 after 93 years at Highbury. The club holds 13 top-flight league titles, making it London’s most decorated club in the English football pyramid (Wikipedia – History of Arsenal F.C.). The move to Highbury happened on 22 February 1913, and the club remained there until departing for the Emirates on 7 May 2006 (Wikipedia – Highbury (stadium)).
Chelsea
Chelsea was founded in 1905 by brothers Maurice and Gustav Mears after they acquired Stamford Bridge, which had opened in 1877 as an athletics venue for the London Athletic Club (Scribd – Stamford Bridge: Chelsea FC’s History). The club has won 6 Premier League titles and 2 Champions Leagues — the most of any London club at European level.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur traces its roots to 1882, making it one of London’s oldest clubs still competing at professional level. The club moved to the purpose-built Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2019, abandoning White Hart Lane after 119 years. Its current ground holds 62,850 spectators, making it the largest club stadium in London.
West Ham United
West Ham United was founded in 1895 and played at the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park) for 119 years before relocating to London Stadium in 2016 (Wikipedia – West Ham United F.C.). The club has won 3 FA Cups and finishes in the upper Premier League half have become routine in recent seasons.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace, founded in 1905, plays at Selhurst Park in the London Borough of Croydon — South London’s largest football ground. Selhurst Park opened in 1924 and was designed by the renowned stadium architect Archibald Leitch (Wikipedia – Selhurst Park). The club finished 10th in the Premier League for 2023-24, its highest league position in a decade.
Fulham
Fulham Football Club was founded in 1879 and describes itself as London’s oldest professional football club (Fulham FC official site). The club plays at Craven Cottage on the River Thames, one of English football’s most iconic grounds, and has been a Premier League fixture since earning promotion in 2001. Fulham’s 14th-place finish in 2023-24 secured a fourth consecutive top-flight season.
Brentford’s 2021 promotion added a sixth London club to the Premier League, and the city now holds more top-flight teams than Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham combined.
Which London clubs play in the Championship?
Eight London-area clubs compete in the Championship, England’s second tier, for 2025-26. This group includes some of the city’s most historically established names, several of which have spent more seasons in the Premier League than most fans realise.
Millwall
Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, Millwall currently plays at The Den in Bermondsey, South London — a purpose-built stadium that opened in 1993 after the club left the original Den. The Millwall name has persisted even though the club last played in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in 1910 (Wikipedia – Millwall F.C.). Millwall finished 12th in the 2023-24 Championship season.
Queens Park Rangers
QPR were formed in 1886 and first played at Loftus Road in Shepherd’s Bush in 1920, having previously wandered various west London grounds. The stadium holds approximately 18,439 seats (Stadium Journey – Loftus Road). The club’s fortunes have seesawed between the Championship and Premier League, with its most recent top-flight spell ending in 2015.
Watford
Watford is a town with borough status in Hertfordshire, approximately 15 miles northwest of Central London — and its football club is commonly grouped with London-area clubs in travel guides and media round-ups (Wikipedia – Watford). Watford FC earned promotion to the Premier League in 2015 after finishing second in the Championship (Wikipedia – Watford F.C.). The club finished mid-table in the 2023-24 Championship season.
Brentford
Though Brentford now plays in the Premier League, its recent history belongs in the Championship section of this overview. The club was founded in 1889 and played in the second tier for most of the 20th century before its historic promotion on 29 May 2021 — a 2–0 win over Swansea City in the Championship play-off final at Wembley secured top-flight status for the first time in the Premier League era (Premier League official site). Brentford’s home ground is the Gtech Community Stadium in West London, opened in 2020 near Kew Bridge.
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic was founded in 1905 and played at The Valley in South-East London before the club’s stadium was demolished and rebuilt as part of a regeneration project in the early 2000s. The club’s fortunes have been turbulent in recent years — promotions and relegations between the Championship, League One, and League Two have become routine.
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient, founded in 1881, plays at Brisbane Road (also known as Breyer Group Stadium) in East London. The club has spent most of its history outside the Football League but earned promotion to League One for 2023-24 after a title-winning campaign in League Two.
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon was founded in 2002 — making it London’s newest professional club — after the original Wimbledon FC relocated to Milton Keynes and became MK Dons. The “Wombles” earned promotion to League One in 2016 and have maintained their third-tier status since. The club plays at Plough Lane, a new stadium completed in 2020 close to the original Wimbledon FC ground.
Sutton United
Sutton United, founded in 1898, plays at the VBS Community Stadium in South London. The club’s 2021-22 season marked its debut in League Two — the first time Sutton United had played in the Football League — and the club remains in the professional ranks for 2025-26.
Watford, despite sitting outside Greater London’s administrative boundary, appears in most London club round-ups because its stadium lies within a 20-minute train journey of zone 6 and the club draws heavily from north-west London postcode areas.
How many professional football clubs are there in London?
The English Football League defines professional clubs as those playing in the top four tiers: Premier League, Championship, League One, and League Two. By this definition, London hosts 18 professional clubs for the 2025-26 season — a number that fluctuates as clubs are promoted or relegated each year.
Total count
Eighteen clubs span the four professional tiers, split as follows:
- Premier League: 6 clubs
- Championship: 8 clubs
- League One: 3 clubs (AFC Wimbledon, Leyton Orient, Charlton Athletic)
- League Two: 1 club (Sutton United, with Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge having played in League Two in recent seasons)
Breakdown by tier
The Premier League dominates London’s football profile, but the lower tiers tell a richer story about community clubs, historic foundations, and the financial gap between top-flight and parachute-payment-supported second-tier sides. Charlton Athletic, Barnet, and Dagenham & Redbridge have all cycled between League One and League Two in recent years.
What this means: London’s 18-club professional footprint is a function of the city’s population density and the historic clustering of clubs in areas like South London, where community clubs developed independently of the Premier League system.
Where are the football clubs in London located?
Mapping London’s clubs by geography reveals a striking concentration in South London, where Millwall, Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, AFC Wimbledon, and Sutton United all play within a 10-mile radius. The West London corridor — from Fulham along the Thames through Brentford to Chelsea and QPR — forms a second cluster, while Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur dominate North London.
North London clubs
Arsenal (Emirates Stadium, Holloway) and Tottenham Hotspur (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Tottenham) anchor North London’s football map, separated by about four miles. Arsenal’s Highbury-era territory has shifted eastward with the move to Ashburton, but the North London derby remains the city’s sharpest geographic rivalry.
Central London clubs
Chelsea (Stamford Bridge, Fulham) sits just outside central London’s tourist geography but falls within the West London postal district. The stadium opened in 1877 — 28 years before Chelsea FC was founded to give it a permanent tenant.
West London clubs
Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham, and Queens Park Rangers form a loose West London cluster, with Brentford and Fulham separated by fewer than three miles along the Thames. QPR’s Shepherd’s Bush location puts it between Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge and the West London Hospital corridor.
The geographic reality: London’s borough structure doesn’t map cleanly onto football geography — Barnet (north London) and Bromley (south-east London) sit at the outer edges of Greater London, while Watford falls just outside the boundary entirely.
What are the best football clubs in London?
“Best” is a loaded term in football — it can mean historically most successful, currently most competitive, or most popular among fans. London offers clubs that win on all three measures, with no single club dominating every category.
Most successful by trophies
Arsenal leads London’s trophy cabinet with 13 top-flight league titles and 14 FA Cups — more domestic honours than any other club in the city. Chelsea’s 6 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League trophies give it the edge on European success, however. Tottenham Hotspur has won 2 league titles and 8 FA Cups, while Fulham’s trophy cabinet is modest but includes European silverware from the 1970s.
Most successful by recent performance
Chelsea finished 3rd in the 2022-23 Premier League season, while Arsenal challenged for the title through 2023-24 before finishing 2nd. Tottenham Hotspur finished 4th in 2023-24, securing Champions League football for the first time since 2019-20. West Ham United won the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023 — the club’s first European trophy in 58 years.
The gap between London’s most successful and mid-tier clubs is substantial — Arsenal and Chelsea operate with wage bills three to four times larger than those of clubs like Millwall or QPR, making financial parity an unrealistic expectation rather than a development target.
League One and League Two clubs in London
Below the Championship, London’s professional footprint thins. League One and League Two clubs serve as community anchors and pathways for local talent, but they operate on budgets that preclude sustained promotion pushes.
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon, founded in 2002 after the original Wimbledon FC relocated, plays at Plough Lane — a 9,000-capacity stadium completed in 2020. The club’s “Wombles” nickname reflects the original Wimbledon FC’s borough, and the club has maintained a loyal South London fanbase despite three decades of institutional dislocation.
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic’s 1905 founding date places it alongside Crystal Palace and Chelsea as one of London’s oldest clubs. The club’s current difficulties — cycling between League One and League Two on modest resources — contrast with the 1950s and 1970s when Charlton challenged for the top flight.
Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge
Barnet, founded in 1888, plays at The Hive London near Canons Park in the London Borough of Harrow — one of the most northerly professional outposts in the capital. Dagenham & Redbridge formed from a 1992 merger and has played in League Two in recent seasons before relegation to the National League.
The catch: Barnet’s 2019 relegation from the Football League after 125 years of continuous membership illustrates how quickly clubs can fall through the professional tiers — and how hard it is to climb back.
BBC Sport – Teams lists football teams for England’s leagues and provides an authoritative reference for league tier placements, identifying which London clubs compete at each level.
Fulham FC official site identifies Craven Cottage on the River Thames as the club’s historic home and confirms the club’s 1879 founding date, a claim corroborated by multiple independent football history sources.
Related reading: Football teams in London: Premier League guide · Football clubs in London — complete overview
blog.footballteamgame.com, facebook.com, en.wikipedia.org, mediapress.us
Frequently asked questions
How many Premier League clubs are in London?
Six London clubs play in the Premier League for the 2025-26 season: Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, and Tottenham Hotspur — confirmed by the Premier League official site.
Which London football club is the most successful?
By domestic trophies, Arsenal leads with 13 top-flight league titles and 14 FA Cups. By European trophies, Chelsea leads with 2 Champions League titles and 2 Europa League titles.
What is the newest professional football club in London?
AFC Wimbledon, founded in 2002 after the original Wimbledon FC relocated, is London’s newest professional club. It replaced the Wimbledon side that left for Milton Keynes.
Which London football club has the largest stadium?
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium holds 62,850 spectators, making it London’s largest club stadium. West Ham United’s London Stadium is larger overall but is a multi-use venue managed independently of the club.
Are there any London clubs in the Championship?
Yes. Eight clubs with London associations compete in the Championship for 2025-26, including Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Watford, Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Leyton Orient, AFC Wimbledon, and Sutton United.
Which London club plays at Wembley Stadium?
No London club plays its home matches at Wembley Stadium on a permanent basis. However, Tottenham Hotspur played several “home” matches at Wembley during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons while Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was under construction.
Which London football club is the oldest?
Fulham FC, founded in 1879, is London’s oldest professional football club still competing in the professional league system, according to the club’s own history published on its official website.
Elias Norberg
Football Data & Research Lead — Elias Norberg is responsible for research structure, statistical consistency, and source verification across FootyPedia. He focuses on player records, club histories, match context, and the accuracy of dates, names, transfers, and competition details.