Editing Sheffield (section)

===Football===
[[File:Bramall Lane End.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bramall Lane]], the home of [[Sheffield United F.C.|Sheffield United]], is close to the city centre.]] [[File:Hillsborough Stadium interior.jpg|thumb|left|[[Hillsborough Stadium|Hillsborough]], the home of [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]], is the city's largest stadium with a capacity of just under 40,000.]]
Sheffield has a long sporting heritage, and the city claims to be the birthplace of professional [[association football]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Rory |date=14 February 2024 |title=An English City Gave Soccer to the World. Now It Wants Credit. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/world/europe/sheffield-england-football-soccer.html |access-date=20 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1857 a collective of [[cricket]]ers formed the world's first-ever official football club, [[Sheffield F.C.]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7060059.stm |title=Stars mark team's 150th birthday |date=24 November 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=19 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107182211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7060059.stm |archive-date=7 January 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the world's second-ever, [[Hallam F.C.]], who also play at the [[Sandygate Road|world's oldest football ground]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/worlds-oldest-football-ground-sheffield-secures-protected-status-437953 |work=The Star |title=World's oldest football ground in Sheffield secures protected status |date=4 February 2018 |access-date=1 June 2020 |archive-date=7 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807060306/https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/worlds-oldest-football-ground-sheffield-secures-protected-status-437953 |url-status=live }}</ref> in the suburb of [[Crosspool]]. Sheffield and Hallam are today Sheffield's two major non-league sides, although Sheffield now play just outside the city in nearby [[Dronfield]], Derbyshire. Sheffield and Hallam contest what has become known as the Sheffield derby. By 1860 there were 15&nbsp;football clubs in Sheffield, with the first ever amateur league and cup competitions taking place in the city.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Adrian |title=Football: the first hundred years: the untold story |url=https://archive.org/details/footballfirsthun00harv |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/footballfirsthun00harv/page/n116 92]–125 |chapter=Britain's first football culture—Sheffield 1857–67 |isbn=0-415-35019-0}}</ref>

Sheffield is best known for its two professional football teams, [[Sheffield United F.C.|Sheffield United]], nicknamed ''The Blades'', and [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]], nicknamed [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.#Nickname|''The Owls'']]. United, who play at [[Bramall Lane]] south of the city centre and Wednesday, who play at [[Hillsborough Stadium|Hillsborough]] in the north-west of the city, both compete in the [[EFL Championship]] for the [[2024–25 EFL Championship|2024–25 season]]. The two clubs contest the [[Steel City Derby]], which is considered by many to be one of the most fierce football rivalries in English Football.<ref>{{cite news |title=The 20 fiercest rivalries in English Football |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/picturegalleries/11197636/The-20-fiercest-rivalries-in-English-football-by-Jonathan-Liew.html?frame=3090046 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |access-date=7 August 2015 |location=London |date=11 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814202727/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/picturegalleries/11197636/The-20-fiercest-rivalries-in-English-football-by-Jonathan-Liew.html?frame=3090046 |archive-date=14 August 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the pre-war era, both Wednesday and United enjoyed large amounts of success and found themselves two of the country's top clubs; Sheffield Wednesday have been champions of the Football League four times—in [[1902–03 Football League|1902–03]], [[1903-04 Football League|1903–04]], [[1928-29 Football League|1928–29]] and [[1929-30 Football League|1929–30]], whilst Sheffield United have won it once, in [[1897-98 Football League|1897–98]]. During the 1970s and early 1980s the two sides fell from grace, with Wednesday finding themselves in the [[Football League Third Division|Third Division]] by the mid-70s and United as far as the [[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]] in [[1980-81 in English football|1981]]. Wednesday once again became one of England's high-flying clubs following promotion back to the [[Football League First Division|First Division]] in [[1983-84 in English football|1984]], winning the [[1991 Football League Cup Final|League Cup in 1991]], competing in the [[1992–93 UEFA Cup|UEFA Cup in 1992–93]], and reaching the final of both the [[1993 Football League Cup Final|League Cup]] and [[1993 FA Cup Final|FA Cup]] in the [[1992-93 in English football|same season]].

United and Wednesday were both founding members of the [[Premier League|FA Premier League]] in 1992, but The Blades were relegated in [[1993-94 in English football|1994]]. The Owls remained until [[1999-00 in English football|2000]]. Both clubs had gone into decline in the 21st&nbsp; century, Wednesday twice relegated to [[Football League One|League One]] and United suffering the same fate in [[2010-11 in English football|2011]], despite a brief spell in the Premier League in [[2006-07 in English football|2006–07]]. United was promoted to the Premier League in 2019 under manager, and Sheffield United Fan, Chris Wilder. Despite being written off by most football pundits, and declared favourites for relegation from the Premier League, United exceeded expectations and finished in the top half of the table in the 2019–20 season. In the 2020–21 season, United sat at the bottom of the Premier League table by the conclusion of the season and were relegated.

Sheffield was the site of the deadliest sports venue disaster in the United Kingdom, the [[Hillsborough disaster]] in 1989, when 97 [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] supporters were killed in a stampede and crush during an [[FA Cup]] semi-final at the venue.

[[Rotherham United F.C.|Rotherham United]], who play in the Championship, did play their home games in the city between 2008 and 2012, having moved to play at Sheffield's [[Don Valley Stadium]] in 2008 following a dispute with their previous landlord at their traditional home ground of [[Millmoor]], Rotherham. However, in July 2012, the club moved to the new 12,000 seat [[New York Stadium]] in Rotherham. There are also facilities for golf, [[climbing]] and bowling, as well as a newly inaugurated national ice-skating arena ([[IceSheffield]]).