Founded in 1879, Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is the Oldest Football Club in Ireland. We were founder members of the Irish Football Association in 1880 and of the Irish Football League in 1890.
Based on the Cliftonville Road since 1880, the famous Reds have played at our historic Solitude home since 1890. Recently transformed in a major redevelopment, the stadium - like the Club itself - has a long and rich history.
International games, representative games, major local Semi Finals and Finals have been played at our home ground and it has, of course, also witnessed three Irish League Championship title seasons. The new home stand and floodlights will hopefully soon be host to yet more silverware.
Pioneers of the game on the island, Cliftonville remained steadfastly amateur until 1972; the move to Semi Professional status saw a return to the success of our early days and the Club has again grown steadily ever since.
Backed by a large, vociferous, colourful and passionate support, the Reds are currently thriving. As well as securing a place in the recently established IFA Premiership, the Club has also achieved UEFA Licence standards for the last five seasons. We have competed in several UEFA tournaments and, in 2007, became the first Irish League side ever to reach the Semi Finals of a European competition.
The Club is an integral part of our North Belfast community and, as well as the senior team, we not only field a large number of youth outfits, from Under 9s up to our reserve (under 21) side, as well as two Ladies teams but we have a very successful Football Development Centre for our underage talent. |
