Buckingham F.C.
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| Full name | Buckingham Football Club | |||
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| Nickname(s) | The Royals The Kingsmen | |||
| Short name | Bucks, BFC | |||
| Founded | 2018 | |||
| Ground | Crown Arena | |||
| Capacity | 65,200 | |||
| Owner | Prince William, Duke of Hanover | |||
| Manager | Ronald Koeman | |||
| League | Premier League | |||
| 2020-2021 | 2nd of 20 | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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Buckingham Football Club is an English football club based in London, England that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Popularly nicknamed The Royals or The Kingsmen, the club was founded in 2018 by Prince William, Duke of Hanover (formerly King William VI), whom prior to founding the club, was said to have had initial aspirations on securing the ownership of Manchester United from the Glazer family, which were ultimately unrealised. For the first three years, the club largely shared the Wembley Stadium with Liverpool, before later moving to a permanent stadium and training ground of their own, the Crown Arena stadium, which was officially opened in 2021. Meanwhile, it is the youngest Premier League club to date, having been founded just a few years prior.
Since joining the Premier League in 2018, the club so far has seen general success, notably in the 2019-2020 season, where after placing 8th the previous season, Buckingham finished the season at 2nd place behind Liverpool. Meanwhile, Buckingham has yet to win an international tournament, although they came close to doing so in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League before being eliminated in the quarter finals.
History
Founding
Buckingham was officially founded on June 5th 2018 by Prince William, Duke of Hanover, whom up until a year prior, was King of the British from 1997. According to a popular rumour that circulated around the time of its establishment, the club was reportedly established as a way for the British royal, a longtime Manchester United fan to supposedly challenge the owners of the Manchester United, all of whom are part of the Glazer family, an American family which first came to prominence under the late Malcolm Glazer, whom up until his death in 2014, simultaneously owned both Manchester United and the professional American football team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, this rumour was denied by William himself, whom otherwise framed it as "a personal venture of mine into the world of professional football".
As the club initially lacked a stadium and training ground of its own, they were nonetheless able to secure the rights to jointly sharing Wembley Stadium, alongside fellow Premier League competitor, Liverpool. Three years later, the arrangement was ultimately terminated with the opening of the Crown Arena stadium, which currently serves as Buckingham's stadium and training ground.
Debut
Just a few months after its foundation, the club made its debut in the 2018-19 Premier League season, with Dutch-born Ronald Koeman, whom previously managed Southampton and Everton respectively being hired as the club's manager. Regardless, the club ultimately finished at 8th place by the end of the 2018-19 season, which initially sparked doubts by some commentators and observers over the club's potential and capabilities. Nonetheless, during the subsequent transfer window period, the club was blessed with a series of successful transfers, made evident by the signings of, among others, Ivan Perišić from Inter Milan and John Stones from Manchester City at £26.9 million (€32.3 million) and £131 million (€158.2 million) respectively.
2019-20
The following season, amidst initial expectations that Buckingham would largely retain its previous ranking, or even slip further downwards towards relegation, the club, to the surprise of many, went on to achieve an almost unbroken winning streak throughout the entirety of the season, with only four draws and four defeats in total, thereby allowing them to surpass most of their more established rivals, and eventually reach 2nd place behind Liverpool in 1st place by the end of the season, an achievement that was described by ESPN as "a truly shocking and unexpected comeback", while The Guardian otherwise wrote that "just as how almost everyone is talking about the Duke's so-called failed experiment the year before, now almost everyone is instead talking about just how unbelievable the club has been by the end of the season". However, despite the success in the Premier League, the club otherwise failed to secure any international cups for themselves, having only managed to reach the third round stage in both the FA Cup and EFL Cup respectively.