Watford Football Club is an English professional football club located within Watford, Hertfordshire. They are part of the EFL Championship, the second highest level in English football.
The club's founding date was 1881, and was a part of its predecessor, Watford Rovers, and was founded with the name of Watford Football Club in 1898. After in 1914-15 in the role of Southern League champions under the supervision under the leadership of Harry Kent, Watford joined the Football League in 1920. They played on a variety of venues in the early days that included the present west Herts Sports Club, before changing into Vicarage Road in 1922. They have a long-running rivalry with the nearby club Luton Town.
Graham Taylor's time as Watford's manager between 1977 between 1977 and 1987 was a time of growth for the club. Watford move from the fourth division to the top. The team was 2nd to the First Division in 1982-83, participated for the UEFA Cup in 1983-84, and made it to an 1984 FA Cup Final. Watford fell from 1987 to 1997 prior to when Taylor was appointed manager and led the team to multiple promotions from the newly renamed Second Division to Premier League for one season during 1999-2000. They played in the top division during 2006-2007 under Aidy Boothroyd's direction, and after that from 2015 until 2020, and reached their 2019 FA Cup Final, their second FA Cup final, but losing to a record-setting score of 6-0. On April 20, 2021 Watford was promoted to the Premier League having spent just one season in the Championship and were then sent again to the Championship in the month of May 2022.
