Bournemouth

History

AFC Bournemouth began life in 1899 as Boscombe, taking their present name only in 1971, and spent decades in the lower divisions before their name became familiar to a wider audience. The Cherries nickname comes either from the cherry-red shirts the team wore in its early years or from the orchards that once stood by Dean Court, now the Vitality Stadium and still the smallest ground in the Premier League. Bournemouth's rise from the fourth tier to the top flight inside a decade, sealed under Eddie Howe with their first-ever season among England's elite in 2015-16, remains one of the more remarkable climbs in modern English football.

Records & quirks

• •The "AFC" prefix was added simply so the club would appear alphabetically ahead of Arsenal and Aston Villa in league tables.
• •Ted MacDougall scored 9 goals in an 11-0 FA Cup win over Margate in 1971 — still the biggest individual haul in the competition's history.
• •Bournemouth's biggest Premier League win is 6-1 against Hull City, October 2016.
• •The club won 8-0 away at Birmingham City in October 2014, during a seven-match winning run under Eddie Howe.