Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club is an English football club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex. They play in Football League One, after their relegation following the 2005-06 season from the Championship. The team are nicknamed 'Seagulls', partly due to the city's seaside location and partly as a response to the similar sounding nickname 'Eagles' of their main rivals Crystal Palace. Prior to this nickname they were known as 'the Dolphins' or 'the Shrimps'. The team have historically played in blue and white stripes, though this changed to all white briefly in the 1970s (in the Freddie Goodwin era) and again to plain blue during the club's most successful spell in the 1980s.
Founded in 1901, Brighton played their early professional football in the Southern League. They were elected to the Football League in 1920. Between 1979 and 1983 they were in the old First Division. In 1983 they reached the final of the FA Cup, which they drew 2–2, but lost 4–0 in a replay to Manchester United. They were relegated from the First Division in the same season. Over the next decade or so, financial problems dragged the Seagulls down the league and in 1997 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference. A boardroom takeover saved Brighton from going out of business, and by 2001 they reached the Championship division. A second successive promotion was achieved, but they were relegated after one season. Promotion was gained at the first attempt, but the Seagulls went down again two years later.

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