Watford Merchandise

Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. The club plays in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Founded in 1881 as Watford Rovers, the club entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade later. After finishing the 1914–15 season as Southern League champions under the management of Harry Kent, Watford joined the Football League in 1920. The club played at several grounds in its early history, before moving to a permanent location at Vicarage Road in 1922. Watford spent most of the following half century in the lower divisions of The Football League, changing colours and crest on multiple occasions. England manager Graham Taylor's tenure at the club saw Watford scale new heights. Between Taylor's appointment in 1977 and departure in 1987, Watford rose from the Fourth Division to the First Division. The team finished second in the First Division in the 1982–83 season, competed in the UEFA Cup in 1983–84, and reached the 1984 FA Cup Final. Watford qualified for the 1985–86 UEFA Cup through the Fair Play route, and reached the quarter-finals of the competition. Watford were runners-up in the 1990 FA Cup, and competed in the UEFA Cup in 1991–92 and in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1992–93.

Since 2002, Watford have been owned by the Pozzo family, who also own Udinese Calcio in Italy and Granada CF in Spain. In 2014, Pozzo's son Gino Pozzo became Watford's head of operations, overseeing Watford's transfer activity and recruitment. Watford finished the 2015–16 season 13th in the Premier League, and qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League after finishing third in the 2016–17 Premier League.