South London
Dulwich Hamlet
Pink and navy, brass band on the terrace, the most fashionable rope in football.
Find your
second team
Your second club is out there. Go find it.
Your first club is in your blood. Your second team is where you go for more matchdays, more places and more football to love, without replacing the one you already have.
Dealing from 1,046 clubs worldwide
Chosen, not inherited /Colours first /Away days over trophies /Non league counts /One scarf is never enough /
Chosen, not inherited /Colours first /Away days over trophies /Non league counts /One scarf is never enough /
The Manifesto / No. 02
One club you were
born into.
One you pick yourself.
A second team isn't disloyalty, it's curiosity with a fixture list. More trips, more stories, more scarves on the wall, and a whole new reason to care about a Tuesday night in a town you've never been to.
Start Discovering- 01
Twice the matchdays
Blank weekend at your first club? Somewhere else the floodlights are already on. Two calendars, double the noise.
- 02
A reason to travel
A second team turns a city break into a pilgrimage. Flights, trams, a pre match bar you now have opinions about.
- 03
Football without the dread
No inherited pain. You get the kit, the anthem, the chaos, and none of the Monday morning misery.
- 04
Money where the game lives
Most great second clubs sit below the spotlight. Your ticket keeps a foundation, a youth side and a postcode going.
Every club profile: travel, nearest airport, things to do, fixtures, honours
Sidekick
Local Derby
Clubs on your doorstep
A second club does not have to be 900 miles away. Tell us where you wake up and we will find the grounds you could reach before kick-off.
Share your location or drop in a city and we will rank every ground we know by how far you would have to travel.
Top European Leagues
Start with a division
The Passport Rail
Clubs in top holiday destinations
The Kit Room
Adopt them for the shirt alone
The A-List
Clubs owned or adopted by famous faces
The Non-League Files
Saturday, 3pm,
No Cameras
No VAR, no kick-off changes, no £70 shirt. Just a gate, a tea hut and a club that will know your name by the third home game. Your second team might be eight tiers down.
Climb the pyramid
- Step 1National LeagueOne promotion place from the Football League
- Step 2National League North & SouthRegional, ruthless, 46 games
- Step 3-4Northern Prem / Southern / IsthmianFloodlights, sloping pitches
- Step 5-6County Premier divisionsWhere the pyramid gets personal
- Step 7+Parks and combination leaguesTwo quid, a raffle, a rope
Non-league rules of engagement
- 01Pay on the gate with a fiver and get change
- 02Swap ends at half time so you're behind the goal you're attacking
- 03Programme, raffle ticket, chips: the holy trinity
- 04Clubhouse open long after the final whistle
- 05The manager does his own team talk within earshot
Cult clubs worth a Saturday
Moston
FC United of Manchester
Owned by its members, built by its members, singing louder than clubs ten tiers up.
Crosby
Marine AFC
Houses back onto the pitch. You can watch the game from a bedroom window.
Sussex
Lewes FC
Equal pay for the men's and women's teams since 2017. The Dripping Pan is a proper ground.
East London
Clapton CFC
The away kit outsold the club's own attendance figures. Antifascist by constitution.
Lancashire
Bamber Bridge
Irongate, a burger van that knows your order, and a pint you can take pitchside.
Live from the National League ladder
See all 53 clubs →
AFC HornchurchHornchurch Stadium, Upminster · Est. 2005
Aldershot TownRecreation Ground · Est. 1992
Alfreton TownNorth Street, Alfreton · Est. 1959
AltrinchamMoss Lane, Altrincham · Est. 1903
AveleyParkside, Aveley · Est. 1927
BarrowHolker Street · Est. 1901
Bath CityCannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park · Est. 1889
Boreham WoodMeadow Park, Borehamwood · Est. 1948
Boston UnitedBoston Community Stadium · Est. 1933
Carlisle UnitedBrunton Park · Est. 1903
Chelmsford CityMelbourne Stadium, Chelmsford · Est. 1938
Chesham UnitedThe Meadow, Chesham · Est. 1917
Chippenham TownHardenhuish Park, Chippenham · Est. 1873
Curzon AshtonTameside Stadium · Est. 1963
Dorking WanderersMeadowbank, Dorking · Est. 1999
Eastbourne BoroughPriory Lane Langney, Eastbourne · Est. 1964
EastleighTen Acres · Est. 1949
Enfield TownQueen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield · Est. 2001
FarnboroughCherrywood Road, Farnborough · Est. 1967
Farsley CelticThrostle Nest, Farsley · Est. 2010
Forest Green RoversThe New Lawn · Est. 1890
FyldeMill Farm, Wesham · Est. 1988
GatesheadGateshead International Stadium · Est. 1889
Halifax TownThe Shay · Est. 2008Clubs in Holiday Hotspots
Book the flight, then the ticket
Clubs with Celeb Fans
Famous faces in the family stand
Clubs Superstars Started At
Where the greats got their first shirt
That's Interesting
Rabbit holes worth falling into
Est. 1857
The World's Oldest Club
Sheffield FC and Hallam FC still play a derby older than most nations' leagues.
Carbon neutral terraces
The Green Clubs
Forest Green and friends run on solar panels, vegan pies and a lot of self-belief.
Reborn by the fans
Phoenix Clubs
Liquidated, restarted, owned by supporters. The purest second-club story there is.
Origin Stories
Where the superstars actually started
The Ancients
The oldest clubs and grounds still standing
New Blood
Founded in your lifetime, already worth it
The Colour Code
Pick a palette, get a club
Stateside
Major League
Second Teams
Kick-offs that land after your Saturday is done, no relegation to lose sleep over, and cities you'd fly to anyway. MLS is the easiest second team a European fan can adopt.
No relegation
Nobody goes down. The stakes live in the playoffs, the draft and the trade window instead.
Conferences
East and West run separately all season, then meet in the MLS Cup final. Geography is the rivalry.
Designated Players
Three big salaries outside the cap. It's how Beckham, Messi and Son ended up on a Saturday night broadcast.
Season shape
February to December, summer heat, thunder delays, and a Cup final in the cold.
Scenes worth the airfare
Providence Park
Portland Timbers
Timbers Army, a chainsaw, and a log sliced after every goal. The loudest 25,000 in North America.
Lumen Field
Seattle Sounders
The march to the match down Occidental, then 30,000 under a football stadium roof.
Fort Lauderdale
Inter Miami CF
Pink shirts, palm trees and the most photographed No.10 on the planet.
Mercedes-Benz
Atlanta United FC
A golden spike, 70,000 in the building and a five-dollar beer that shamed the rest of US sport.
CITYPARK
St. Louis City SC
A downtown ground built for football only, in a city that has been playing it longer than most.
BMO Stadium
Los Angeles FC
The 3252 behind the north goal, black and gold, Hollywood ownership, genuine noise.
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Austin2021
Colorado Rapids1996
FC Dallas1996
Houston Dynamo2005
Inter Miami2018
LA Galaxy1995
Los Angeles FC2014
Minnesota United2010
Montreal Impact2010
New York City2013
New York RB1995
Portland Timbers2009
Real Salt Lake2004
SJ Earthquakes1995
San Diego2023
Seattle Sounders2007
Sporting KC1995
St. Louis City2023
Toronto2006
Vancouver Whitecaps1986
Long weekend road trips
- 01PortlandFly PDX, ride the MAX, drink coffee you'll talk about for years
- 02SeattleSEA to Pioneer Square, ferry to Bainbridge on the Sunday
- 03AustinVerde smoke at Q2, then barbecue on East 6th
- 04MiamiBeach in the morning, Little Havana after full time
- 05VancouverBC Place downtown, mountains and sea in the same photo
Clubs with screen time
Some allegiances start in a cinema seat. Fifty-odd films, dramas and docuseries that made ordinary clubs famous, and the grounds that played themselves.
Reel to terrace
Film1981
Escape to Victory
Pelé, Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles alongside half the Ipswich first team. Kevin Beattie doubled for Michael Caine, Paul Cooper for Stallone.
Docuseries2022-
Welcome to Wrexham
Two Hollywood actors bought a fifth-tier Welsh club and turned the oldest international ground in the world into appointment television.
Adoptable clubWrexham AFCThe Racecourse Ground
TV2020-2023
Ted Lasso
AFC Richmond's Nelson Road is Selhurst Park with a new sign. Palace's ramshackle charm beat the shinier bowls to the part.
Film2009
The Damned United
Clough's 44 days at Leeds, with Chesterfield's old Saltergate standing in for a 1974 Elland Road that no longer existed.
Docuseries2018-2024
Sunderland 'Til I Die
The bleakest and best access-all-areas doc ever made. Two relegations, one city, no filter, and it made thousands of neutrals Mackems.
Film2005
Goal! The Dream Begins
Filmed on real matchdays with Shearer, Zidane and Beckham cameos. Darlington's ground doubled for St James' in the close-ups.
Film1939
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery
A player poisoned mid-match at Highbury, with the actual Arsenal squad and manager George Allison playing themselves. Football's first proper film star club.
Film2019
Diego Maradona
Asif Kapadia's archive epic. Seven years that turned a southern Italian city into a religion, the best argument ever filmed for adopting Napoli.
Adoptable clubSSC NapoliStadio Diego Armando Maradona
42 entries
- Green Street 2005West Ham UnitedUpton Park, the ICF myth and Elijah Wood in a Hammers shirt.
- The Football Factory 2004ChelseaStamford Bridge and a very particular slice of late-nineties London.
- Fever Pitch 1997ArsenalHighbury, 1989, Michael Thomas at Anfield, the last-minute title that ends the film.
- Looking for Eric 2009Manchester UnitedCantona plays himself as a postman's guardian angel. Ken Loach, obviously.
- Mike Bassett: England Manager 2001Leicester CityFilbert Street and Loftus Road do the heavy lifting. Four-four-fuckin'-two.
- Bend It Like Beckham 2002Hounslow HarriersA fictional west London side, with real Southall and Hounslow park pitches.
- There's Only One Jimmy Grimble 2000Manchester CityMaine Road in its final years, and a pair of magic boots.
- The Firm 1988 / 2009West Ham UnitedGary Oldman's original and Nick Love's remake, both circling the same east London terraces.
- Awaydays 2009Tranmere RoversPrenton Park, Merseyside in 1979, and the best soundtrack of any football film.
- Purely Belter 2000Newcastle UnitedTwo Geordie lads spend a year trying to afford St James' Park season tickets.
- Gregory's Girl 1981Scottish schools footballCumbernauld's playing fields, and the best goalkeeper in the film is a girl.
- Robbery 1967Leyton OrientThe Great Train Robbery gang plot on Brisbane Road's North Terrace, filmed at a real match.
- The Beautiful Game 2024Homeless World CupBill Nighy's squad of rough sleepers head to Rome. Sentimental, and it works.
- Next Goal Wins 2014 / 2023American SamoaThe doc and Taika Waititi's remake about world football's most cheerful underdogs.
- All or Nothing 2018-Manchester CityPep's touchline monologues; the franchise later moved on to Spurs and Arsenal.
- All or Nothing: Tottenham 2020Tottenham HotspurMourinho, lockdown, and 'it's the same coach' as an existential crisis.
- All or Nothing: Arsenal 2022ArsenalArteta's whiteboard era, filmed the season before it clicked.
- Take Us Home: Leeds United 2019Leeds UnitedBielsa, Spygate and a promotion two years in the making. Russell Crowe narrates.
- First Team: Juventus 2018JuventusTurin from the inside, in the last years of the Buffon dynasty.
- Boca Juniors Confidential 2018Boca JuniorsLa Bombonera as a pressure cooker. Bring earplugs.
- Inside Borussia Dortmund 2019Borussia DortmundBehind the Yellow Wall for a full season. Sancho at eighteen.
- Six Dreams 2018SevillaLa Liga's answer, following players, a sporting director and a manager at once.
- The Class of '92 2013Salford CitySix United kids grow up, then buy a non-league club. Still filming.
- Sunderland 'Til I Die 2018SunderlandNetflix's high water mark, and the reason half of Europe now checks Sunderland's score.
- Ronaldo / Messi / Neymar docs 2015-Real MadridThe star-vehicle era, all Bernabéu tunnels and private jets.
- Wrexham's rivals: Notts County 2023Notts CountyThe National League title race that Wrexham's cameras made globally famous.
- The English Game 2020Darwen FCJulian Fellowes on football's class war: Darwen's mill workers vs the Old Etonians.
- Dream Team 1997-2007Harchester UnitedSky One's gloriously unhinged soap. Players died. Regularly.
- Footballers' Wives 2002-2006Earls Park FCFictional, feral, and the reason a generation associates football with a burning hot tub.
- The Manageress 1989Fictional Second Division sideCherie Lunghi runs a men's club three decades before anyone else tried it on screen.
- Playing for Time / Rovers 2016Redbridge RoversSunday league sitcom, Sue Johnston, and a clubhouse with damp.
- Ted Lasso 2020Crystal PalaceSelhurst Park as Nelson Road, with Hayes and Richmond doubling for the rest.
- Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait 2006Real MadridSeventeen cameras on one man for ninety minutes at the Bernabéu. Art house football.
- Il Divin Codino 2021FiorentinaRoberto Baggio's ponytail, his Florence heartbreak and that penalty in '94.
- The Miracle of Bern 2003Rot-Weiss EssenWest Germany's 1954 fairytale, shot around Essen's Georg-Melches-Stadion.
- Der ganz große Traum 2011BraunschweigHow an English teacher smuggled football into 1870s Germany.
- Diamantes Negros 2013Real Madrid / KortrijkAfrican teenagers and the trafficking pipeline behind European academies.
- Offside 2006Iran national teamGirls sneak into the Azadi to watch a World Cup qualifier. Filmed at the real match.
- The Two Escobars 2010Atlético NacionalMedellín, narco-fútbol and Andrés Escobar. ESPN's finest hour.
- Once in a Lifetime 2006New York CosmosPelé, Beckenbauer and Studio 54. The strangest club story America ever produced.
- Sons of Ben 2013Philadelphia UnionA supporters' group formed a club before the club existed.
- O Leão da Estrela 1947Sporting CPPortuguese comedy classic, with genuine Sporting footage stitched through it.
The Cabinet of Curiosities
Crazy facts, crazier clubs
Ships that picked kit colours, a 149-0 scoreline, pitches on a hill. Pick your kind of madness.
Exhibit 01 · RecordRecife, Brazil
The worst team in the world, officially
Ibis Sport Club
Ibis went three years and eleven months without a win and got a Guinness World Record for it. They've leaned in ever since, trolling every club that dares lose a game.
Exhibit 02 · AbsurdAntananarivo, Madagascar
149-0, and they never touched the ball
AS Adema
In 2002 opponents SO l'Emyrne protested a refereeing decision by scoring 149 own goals. Adema stood still and won the biggest scoreline in football history.
Exhibit 03 · AbsurdHuancayo, Peru
A name that sold shirts in England
Deportivo Wanka
Named after the Wanka people of the Andes. British fans bought the shirt in bulk for reasons entirely unrelated to Peruvian topflight football.
Exhibit 04 · AbsurdGarðabær, Iceland
Goal celebrations as performance art
Stjarnan
Human bicycles, fishing a teammate out of the sea, a birthing scene. Iceland's most choreographed side turned scoring into a sketch show that circled the globe.
Exhibit 05 · RivalryLa Plata, Argentina
The dark arts, weaponised
Estudiantes de La Plata
Osvaldo Zubeldía's 1960s side researched opponents' personal lives to insult them accurately, mastered the offside trap and won three straight Libertadores doing it.
Exhibit 06 · AbsurdThimphu, Bhutan
The Other Final
Bhutan & Montserrat
On World Cup final day 2002 the bottom two nations on earth played each other instead. Bhutan won 4-0 and both squads shared the trophy.
Exhibit 07 · OriginSheffield, England
Older than the rules themselves
Sheffield FC
Founded 1857, before the FA existed. Their early code allowed pushing an opponent with the hands. Corners, free kicks and crossbars all trace back here.
Exhibit 08 · OriginBilbao, Spain
Basque players only, forever
Athletic Club
Over a century of signing only players born or forged in the Basque Country, and never once relegated from La Liga. A self-imposed handicap that became an identity.
Exhibit 09 · GroundYeovil, England
The famous sloping pitch
Yeovil Town
The old Huish ground dropped roughly two metres from one touchline to the other. Visiting First Division sides came, wobbled, and lost in the FA Cup.
Exhibit 10 · GroundLondon, England
Underhill's uphill battle
Barnet
Barnet's old home had a slope so steep that keepers at one end could barely see the far post. Kick uphill first half, pray downhill second.
Exhibit 11 · RecordOswestry, Wales
A Welsh club playing in England
The New Saints
TNS represent Wales in Europe from a ground on the English side of the border, and once held the world record for consecutive wins: 27.
Exhibit 12 · RecordGlasgow, Scotland
Liquidated, demoted, still packed out
Rangers
Dropped to the fourth tier in 2012 and still averaged crowds bigger than most of the English Championship on the way back up.
Exhibit 13 · OriginLondon, England
Fans rebuilt a club from a pub meeting
AFC Wimbledon
After their club was moved 70 miles to Milton Keynes, supporters started again in the ninth tier and climbed all the way back to the Football League.
Exhibit 14 · OriginSão Paulo, Brazil
The team that voted on everything
Corinthians
Sócrates' Corinthians Democracy put every decision, transfers, training times, kick-off routines, to a squad vote, and printed political slogans on the shirt.
Exhibit 15 · GroundBerlin, Germany
Fans bled for the stadium
Union Berlin
Supporters donated 140,000 hours of labour to rebuild An der Alten Försterei, and donated blood to fund the club. They also sing Christmas carols on the pitch every year.
Exhibit 16 · OriginBuenos Aires, Argentina
Colours chosen by a passing ship
Boca Juniors
Unable to agree on a kit, Boca decided the next ship into the harbour would decide. It flew Swedish colours. Blue and gold ever since.
Exhibit 17 · OriginSplit, Croatia
Founded in a Prague pub
Hajduk Split
Croatian students watched Slavia play, walked into the U Fleků beer hall and drew up a club on the spot. The name means outlaw.
Exhibit 18 · OriginPalermo, Italy
Pink because pink is harder
Palermo
Pink and black were picked to reflect the club's sweet-and-sour fortunes. It also produced one of the most copied shirts in Europe.
Twinned Towns & Cities
Your town already has a sister club
Affiliated Teams
Shared owners, shared allegiances
Your Favourite Colour
Pick a palette, meet a club
The Matchday Journal
Dispatch from Tuscany
Why ACF Fiorentina is the perfect autumn fling
There is something about the deep purple of Viola that mirrors the setting sun over the Arno. We spent 48 hours finding the best schiacciata near the stadium...
The Kit Room
10 Kits that deserve a secondary allegiance
From the neon patterns of the 90s to the minimalist masterpieces of the modern era, these jerseys are reason enough to buy a ticket.