West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in the city of London. They currently feature in the English Premier League and have spent their entire history in the top two divisions in England.

West Ham United play their home matches at Boleyn Ground, affectionately known as Upton Park, which has a capacity of 35,647. West Ham bear the nicknames the Hammers (because of the two hammers on their crest) and the Irons.

The club was formed in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks side by Dave Taylor and Arnold Hills. The club won the West Ham Charity Cup that year and the London League in 1897. The club turned professional in 1898 and entered the Southern League second division and the very next year got promoted to the First Division.

In June 2000 Thames Ironworks was defunct and on July 5,1900 was relaunched as West Ham United. In 1919 West Ham moved to the Football League Second Division and gained promotion to Division One in 1923 and made it through to the FA Cup final that year.

In 1932 West Ham United were relegated to the Second Division and for the next 30 players could not gain promotion. However, the club moved to the First Division in 1958 and won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965.

In 1978 West Ham got relegated again but still won the FA Cup in 1980 (no club outside the top division in England since then has won the FA Cup).

West Ham United have been pretty much consistent in the English Premier League and their glorious moment arrived in 2006 when they signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians. However, that was a short lived joy as the players were soon out of Upton Park.

West Ham United fans though have been linked with several cases of hooliganism in the past. The club fosters volatile rivalries like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea.