 | ||
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club, currently based in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. The club was formed on 30 May 2002 by a group of supporters of Wimbledon Football Club, led by Kris Stewart, Marc Jones and Trevor Williams who strongly opposed the decision of an independent commission appointed by the FA to allow the relocation of Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes, who were subsequently reformed as Milton Keynes Dons in 2004.
Contents
AFC Wimbledon was accepted into the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League for the 2002–03 season. The club's average home attendance at league fixtures for their first season exceeded 3,000 – higher than the average attendance in the same season of Wimbledon F.C., who were still playing in the First Division (now the EFL Championship). AFC Wimbledon have also broken the record for the longest run of unbeaten league games at any level of senior football in the United Kingdom. The club remained unbeaten for 78 league matches between 26 February 2003 (a 3–1 away win at Chessington United) and 27 November 2004 (a 2–1 away win at Bashley).
The club went on to achieve 5 promotions in 9 years, ensuring that they were the first club to be formed in the 21st century to make it into the Football League and making them the youngest of the 72 Football League clubs by some distance. On 30 May 2016, AFC Wimbledon achieved their 6th promotion to Football League One after victory in the 2016 Football League Two play-off Final, exactly 14 years to the day since the club's formation.
To date, AFC Wimbledon has played more than 600 league fixtures against almost 150 opponents, maintaining an unbeaten winning record against 43 of them (namely Ash United, Ashford Town (Kent), Ashford Town (Middlesex), Banstead Athletic, Basingstoke Town, Bedfont, Bishop's Stortford, Bognor Regis Town, Burgess Hill Town, Carshalton Athletic, Chessington United, Chessington & Hook United, Cobham, Cove, Croydon, Dorking, Dulwich Hamlet, Fisher Athletic , Fleet Town, Frimley Green, Godalming & Guildford, Histon, Horley Town, Maidenhead United, Maidstone United, Maldon Town, Merstham, Molesey, Newport (Isle of Wight), North Greenford United, Notts County, Peterborough United, Raynes Park Vale, Redbridge, Salisbury City, Sandhurst Town, Southport, Team Bath, Thurrock, Viking Greenford, AFC Wallingford, Walton Casuals and Westfield (Surrey).