Founded as Boscombe FC back in 1899, the club managed to achieve league status in 1923 as the renamed Boscombe and Bournemouth Athletic.
The club took its current name, AFC Bournemouth, in 1972, taking out the name Boscombe due to its lack or recognition and also to shorten the name.
Since 1923, they have spent the majority of their time in the two lowest leagues, although they did reach the second tier in a successful period under Harry Redknapp, including a famous FA Cup win against Manchester United.
A number of high-profile players have worn the colours of the Cherries down the years such as George Best, Jermain Defoe, Rio Ferdinand and Luther Blissett.
Throughout the last couple of decades the club has been plagued by financial problems and in 1997 they were just 15 minutes away from being shut down before being saved by the formation of a trust fund – with Bournemouth becoming the first community-owned club in English football.
However, in 2007 there were more worrying monetary issues and the club were relegated to League Two after being handed a ten-point deduction for falling into administration.
At the start of the 2008/09 season Bournemouth could not overcome their debts once again, and were this time handed a massive 17-point deduction. However, promising young manager Eddie Howe managed to mastermind an end-of-season rally that saw the club narrowly retain their Football League status.
