Watch: World’s oldest football club plans new stadium in Sheffield

The world’s top football team, seventh-tier Sheffield FC, plans to build a new stadium in Sheffield.

Plans have been submitted for a purpose-built facility to be shared between Sheffield FC and Sheffield Eagles Rugby Club.

The new stadium, which will be built on a site in Meadowhead, will have professional football and rugby facilities, as well as a cricket pavilion, a football museum and a shared indoor gym.

Richard Tims, who was chairman of Sheffield FC for 24 years, said: “This development will not be just another joint rugby and football ground. It will be a new destination for Sheffield Eagles and Sheffield FC ‘The World’s First Football Club’.

The team, who currently play at a site in Dronfield and have never had a permanent home in their 165-year history, will move to a purpose-built 5,000-seat stadium in Meadowhead.

Mr Tims said: “(When I became chairman) I played in a rented stadium in the Don Valley in front of a man and his dog and decided that the first football club in the world should be neater than it had been in the past. , so I got involved. And then, as a marketing person, he realized that here is a brand called the first football club in the world – and there is only one.”

Sheffield FC’s profile has risen significantly since Mr Tims became chairman, with the stadium plans just the latest in a series of steps forward for the club.

In 2004 Sheffield FC became one of two clubs to receive the FIFA Order of Merit and in 2007 the club played a commemorative match against Inter Milan at Bramall Lane.