Stoke City was formed by the former pupils of the Charterhouse school, and is the second oldest league club in the World to Notts County 1862.. In 1875 Stoke City FC played on Sweetings Field, which was a strip of land owned by the then Lord Mayor of Stoke Alderman sweeting. Stoke later In merged with Stoke Victoria Athletic Club in 1878 when all their matches were played on Victoria’s oval shaped ground, later to site the Boothen end stand. Stoke's first game at the Victoria Ground was a friendly against Talke Rangers on 28th March 1878, which they won 1-0 .

Stoke became a professional football club in 1885 and 3 years later they were one of only 12 clubs who formed the 'Football League'. Stoke played their first ever Football League game against West Brom on 8th September 1888 infront of a crowd of about 4,500. Unfortunately, Stoke ended that first year in last place, were relegated from the League and replaced by Sunderland. However the number of League teams was soon increased to 14 allowing Stoke to re-enter the top-flight

Stokes fortunes changed as they were relegated from various divisions. However, after the First World War things began to improve, and by 1923, the now Stoke City 1923 won the Third Division championship. By 1933 they were Champions of Division Two, which meant a return to top-flight football once again

During the Second World War the Football League was temporarily suspended until 1946. In the first full season after the end of the war Stoke came back with a vengeance, narrowly missing out on the First Division crown to Liverpool. For several years after Stoke failed to match this success and by 1953 were once again relegated.