York City Football Club, a professional association football club based in York, North Yorkshire, England, was founded in 1922. They were elected to play in the Midland League for the 1922–23 season.[1] After seven seasons in the Midland League, York were elected to play in the Football League in 1929 and were placed in the Third Division North.[2] The team reached the semi-final of the 1954–55 FA Cup, and were defeated by eventual winners Newcastle United in a replay, which is the furthest the club have reached in the competition.[3] York played in the Third Division North until the 1958–59 season, when they were placed in the Fourth Division on league reorganisation.[4] They won the first promotion in their history this season, after finishing third in the Fourth Division.[5]
York were promoted to the Second Division in 1974 and the 1974–75 season saw them achieve their highest league placing after finishing in 15th place.[3] Two successive relegations and a finish of 22nd in the Fourth Division saw the club apply for re-election to the Football League at the end of the 1977–78 season.[3] York won their first and only title after finishing first in the Fourth Division in the 1983–84 season with 101 points,[3] becoming the first team to reach a three-figure points total in a Football League season.[6] The club's first play-off success came in the 1992–93 season, against Crewe Alexandra in the final.[7] After a 1–1 extra-time draw, York won 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out at Wembley Stadium to earn promotion to the Second Division.[8] The following season saw York compete in the Second Division play-off semi-final, where they were beaten 1–0 on aggregate by Stockport County.[9]
York were relegated to the Conference National after finishing bottom of the Third Division in the 2003–04 season, ending 75 years of Football League membership.[10] The team reached the 2009 FA Trophy final in 2008–09, which was played at the new Wembley Stadium, where York were beaten 2–0 by Stevenage Borough.[11] The 2011–12 season concluded with two victories at Wembley; after Newport County were defeated 2–0 in the 2012 FA Trophy final,[12] York's Football League status was restored with a 2–1 victory over Luton Town in the 2012 Conference Premier play-off final.[13] The club endured successive relegations from League Two to the National League North in the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons,[14][15] but finished the latter with a 3–2 win over Macclesfield Town at Wembley in the 2017 FA Trophy final.[16] York spent five years in the National League North, being promoted to the National League via the play-offs in the 2021–22 season.[17]
As at the end of 2023–24, the club's first team had spent 2 seasons in the second tier of English football, 38 in the third, 32 in the fourth, and 22 in non-League football.[3] The table details their achievements in first-team competitions, and records their top goalscorer and average home league attendance, for each completed season since their first in 1922–23.
Key
Key to divisions:
- Midland – Midland League
- Division 2 – Football League Second Division
- Division 3 – Football League Third Division
- Division 3N – Football League Third Division North
- Division 4 – Football League Fourth Division
- Conference – Conference National/Premier
- League 2 – Football League Two
- National – National League
- National N – National League North
Key to rounds:
- Group(N) – Group stage Northern section
- QR1 – First qualifying round, etc.
- R1 – First round, etc.
- R1(N) – First round Northern section, etc.
- QF – Quarter-final
- QF(N) – Quarter-final Northern section
- SF – Semi-final
- SF(N) – Semi-final Northern section
- RU – Runners-up
- W – Winners
- DNE – Did not enter
Details of abandoned competitions are shown in italics and appropriately footnoted.