Coventry City was founded in 1883 by Willie Stanley, who worked for city cycle firm Singers, and was known as Singers FC until it changed its name in 1898 to Coventry City, who reached the FA Cup quarter-finals as a non-League club in 1910.

The Sky Blues were elected to Football League Division Two immediately after the First World War, but Coventry City's first season in the League (1919-20) was a disaster as the football club lost their opening game 0-5 and did not win a match until Christmas Day.

Coventry football club struggled throughout the 1920s, with relegation coming in 1925. Fortunes improved in the 1930s, however, with Coventry City scoring 100 goals in four out of five seasons and returning to Division Two in 1936 after becoming Third Division South Champions.

While the 1950s were troubled times for Coventry City FC relegation into Division Three South in 1952 and Division Four in 1958 for a season, the 1960s were a boom time for both the city and the football club following the arrival of Jimmy Hill as manager in 1961.

Coventry Football Club became Division Three champions in 1964 and Second Division champions in 1967, reaching the top flight for what was to be a long stay.

As founder members of the Premiership in 1992, Coventry City had already spent 25 years in Division One making a total of 34 consecutive seasons in the top flight before relegation in 2001.

However, the football club's finest moment came in 1987 as Coventry City secured their only major trophy success, beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 to win the FA Cup in one of the most memorable finals in the modern era.