STOKE CITY FC

They are also known as “The Potters”. This is the oldest football club in UK. It was found in 1863. At that time I guess there were no known football clubs all over Africa, Tanzania in particular. The Potters have their own history when it comes to football talk in UK.

Stoke City has been using Victoria ground from the time it was established till 1997, when they built a new stadium called Britannia. The Britannia stadium can take 27598 seasted spectators. The current team coach is Mark Hughes.

Stoke City has some notable players like Robert Huth, Peter Crouch, Matthew Upson and Jermain Pennant.

The club finished on the 13th in the last season of UK premier league. In 2010-2011 season Stoke City reached the FA cup final for the 1st time. In that final Stoke was defeated by Manchester City.

Marc Muniesa Joins Stoke City from FC Barcelona.

Photo: www.mirror.co.uk

The signing of Peter Crouch from Tottenham Hotspur was a record for the club history. It was a £10 million signing.  

Stoke City participated in UEFA Europa League in the season of 2011-2012. It went on four levels before being eliminated by Valencia in the round of 32. In the 3rd qualifying stage Stoke played with FC Hajduk Split from Croatia and won 1-0 on both home and away legs. The team advanced on a 2-0 aggregate victory.

After eliminating FC Hajduk Split, Stoke went in the play-off stage and encountered FC Thun from Switzerland. Stoke won 4-1 at home and 1-0 on the away match. On aggregate Stoke was 5-1 ahead of FC Thun and they advanced to the group stage.

Highlights Stoke City vs FC Thun in UEFA Cup (2011-2012)

Stoke was then placed in group E with Besiktas, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dynamo Kiev. It finished on the 2nd position in group E, and qualified to play in the round of 32 with Valencia of Spain. Valencia put off Stoke dream to go to the final as it defeated Stoke by 1-0 at home and away.

Preparation for the next season is up on the move and Stoke have some new signings. Jermain Pennant has been signed on a one year deal. Erik Pieters has been signed from PSV Eindhoven at €3,600,000 on a 4 year deal. Marc Muniesa from Barcelona has been given a four year contract. Muniesa played for the Spain national team of Under 21.