Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton & Hove Albion were founded in 1901 and spent most of a century in the lower divisions, with one national honour, the 1910 Charity Shield, won by beating Football League champions Aston Villa. Their four top-flight seasons from 1979 brought the 1983 FA Cup final, a 2–2 draw with Manchester United remembered for "and Smith must score", lost 0–4 in the replay. By 1997 the Goldstone Ground was sold and the club was ninety minutes from dropping out of the league.

Tony Bloom, a lifelong supporter who made his fortune in sports betting analytics, took over as chairman in 2009, funded the Amex and the training ground, and built the data-led recruitment model the rest of the league now copies: Caicedo sold for a then-British-record £115m, Cucurella and João Pedro likewise, and the team kept improving. Promotion in 2017 became a best-ever sixth in 2022/23, a first European campaign, and under Fabian Hürzeler back-to-back top-eight finishes.