Brief history of Wigan Athletic F.C.

Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, who compete in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded in 1932, the club is the most recently formed club in the division.

They have played at the DW Stadium since 1999, sharing the stadium with rugby league club Wigan Warriors. They previously played at Springfield Park for 67 years. The club's nickname is Latics, derived from a contraction of the word "Athletic". They are the current holders of the FA Cup. They have also won the Second Division, Third Division and are two-times winners of the Football League Trophy, along with numerous regional football competitions from their time as a non-league club. The club embarked on its first European campaign during the 2013–14 season in the UEFA Europa League group stages.

One of Wigan Athletic's longest and recently forgotten rivalries was with Lancashire based club Chorley F.C., although the two clubs have not played a league game since 1971 when they were in the Northern Premier League. Since Wigan Athletic's admission to the Football League in 1978, the club has built up several rivalries, mainly with Bolton Wanderers, the club's main derby match. They also have a lesser rivalry with Preston North End. There is also a long standing issue with Wigan Rugby League which predates the club. This worsened when Latics entered the Football League in 1978 and was exacerbated in the mid-1980s when one of the then directors of the rugby club, Maurice Lindsay, made derogatory comments about the football club during a television interview. 


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