Wigan Athletic Football Club (/'wIg@nthe) is an English professional association football team that is based within Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team plays in the Championship the second tier of the English league system of football after being promoted during the 2021-22 season. The club was founded in 1932 and have been playing at the stadium that seats 25,138 people DW Stadium since 1999, prior to that, they played in Springfield Park. The club's colors are white and blue stripes, but blue shirts with all-blue stripes have been a common feature throughout the history of the club. The club views Bolton Wanderers as its primary derby opponent.
Wigan played with the Cheshire County League for the initial nine seasons of its existence. It won three league titles before it was moved to the Lancashire Combination in 1947. The club remained within the Lancashire Combination and secured four league titles during that time. It was from 1961 to 1968 returning to the Cheshire County League, picking another league title in 1964-65. Inviting to become a founding part of the Northern Premier League in 1968 The club was awarded two league titles, and made it to the FA Trophy final in 1973. Wigan was admitted into the Football League in 1978 and was elevated out of the Fourth Division in 1981-82. Wigan won the Associate Members Cup in 1985, but was then relegated back to the fourth division in 1993. The club won it the Third Division title in 1996-97 and winning the Football League Trophy in 1999 and the Second Division in 2002-03, after which it was promoted out of the Championship in 2004-05.
Wigan was the last team to be eliminated during the League Cup in 2006 and took home the FA Cup in 2013, defeating Manchester City in the final. But, the team was then relegated after which brought its time as a member of the Premier League to an end. Its FA Cup success did, however, secure it a spot in the UEFA Europa League group stages the next season. The club was relegated from Championship In 2015 the club took home its League One title in 2015-16 and again in 2017-18 following another loss. On July 1, 2020, less than one month after the change of ownership, the club was placed into administration , and then relegated from the Championship because of the points reduction. After narrowly avoiding the relegation in League Two in 2020-21 under new ownership, Wigan won the League One title for the four-time in the 2021-22 season.
