Editing East Midlands (section)

==Sports==
{{See also|:Category:Sport in Loughborough}}

The region has a good sporting tradition, with some of the most well-known sports personalities –- David Gower ([[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire C.C.C.]]), [[Gary Lineker]], [[Rory Underwood]] ([[Leicester Tigers]]) and [[Jonathan Agnew]].

The [[British Gliding Association]] is based in Leicester on Meridian Business Park, off the A563 in Braunstone. The [[National Ice Skating Association]] is based in Nottingham (and many of Britain's Olympic ice skaters train in Nottingham); [[Nottingham Panthers]] are in the [[Elite Ice Hockey League]]. The [[British Caving Association]] is at Great Hucklow, the UK sports governing body. The [[British Canoe Union]] is in Bingham.

The first [[1978 BDO World Darts Championship]] was held in Nottingham, in February 1978, being largely the idea of Nick Hunter, a BBC sports producer, and the event first introduced [[Sid Waddell]].

===Football===
[[File:Nottingham Forest FC (Amsterdam, 1980) - Francis, Clough, Robertson.jpg|thumb|right|Brian Clough in April 1980]]
[[Notts County F.C.]] is the world's oldest professional football club, with [[Nottingham Forest F.C.]] being the oldest football league side after Notts County's relegation to the [[National League (division)|National League]] in 2019. [[Sam Weller Widdowson]] brought in [[shin pad]]s in 1874. The first [[Referee (association football)|referee]]'s whistle was at Nottingham in 1872.

[[Admiral Sportswear]] at [[Wigston]] in Leicestershire made the England [[Kit (association football)|football strip]] from 1974 to 1982, when the company went bankrupt; in 1974 it was the first company to introduce replica kits. [[Umbro]] took over the [[England national football team|England kit]] after the [[Template:England squad 1982 FIFA World Cup|1982 World Cup]] in 1984. Nike make the England kit today.

The East Midlands is home to several professional and semi-professional association football (soccer) clubs.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team !! Location!! League 2024–25
|-
| [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]] || [[Leicester]] || data-sort-value="1" | Premier League
|-
| [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] || [[West Bridgford]] ||data-sort-value="1"| Premier League
|-
| [[Derby County F.C.|Derby County]] || [[Derby]] || data-sort-value="2"|Championship
|-
| [[Lincoln City F.C.|Lincoln City]] || [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]] || data-sort-value="3"|League One
|-
| [[Mansfield Town F.C.|Mansfield Town]] || [[Mansfield]] || data-sort-value="3"|League One
|-
| [[Northampton Town F.C.|Northampton Town]] || [[Northampton]] || data-sort-value="3"|League One
|-
| [[Chesterfield F.C.|Chesterfield]] || [[Chesterfield, Derbyshire|Chesterfield]] || data-sort-value="4"|League Two
|-
| [[Notts County F.C.|Notts County]] || [[Nottingham]] || data-sort-value="4" |League Two
|-
| [[Alfreton Town F.C.|Alfreton Town]] || [[Alfreton]] || data-sort-value="6"|National League North
|-
| [[Boston United F.C.|Boston United]] || [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]] || data-sort-value="6"|National League North
|-
| [[Buxton F.C.|Buxton]] || [[Buxton, Derbyshire|Buxton]] || data-sort-value="6"|National League North
|-
| [[Brackley Town F.C.|Brackley Town]] || [[Brackley, Northamptonshire|Brackley]] || data-sort-value="6"|National League North
|}

===Rugby Union===
The East Midlands is home to two top-tier ([[Aviva Premiership]]) clubs.

[[Leicester Tigers]] are an English rugby union club based in Leicester at the Welford Road stadium and play in the Aviva Premiership. They were formed in 1880; their colours are green, burgundy and white. Leicester Tigers are one of the most successful Rugby Union teams in Europe and the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, having won the European Cup twice, the first tier of English rugby ten times, and the Anglo-Welsh Cup seven times.

[[Northampton Saints]] are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They were formed in 1880, and play in black, green, and gold colours. The team play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 15,500. Their biggest rivals are Leicester Tigers.

===Cricket===
[[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] ([[Trent Bridge]]), [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] ([[Grace Road]]), [[Derbyshire County Cricket Club|Derbyshire]] ([[County Cricket Ground, Derby]]) and [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] ([[County Cricket Ground, Northampton]]) are in the Cricket [[NatWest t20 Blast|T20 North group]]; Northamptonshire was formerly in the previous [[Friends Life t20|Midlands group]].

[[File:LeicesterCommunitySportsArena.jpg|thumb|right|Leicester Riders arena in September 2016]]

===Basketball===
[[Leicester Riders]], who play at [[Leicester Arena]], are the oldest club in British basketball, founded in 1967.

===Motor sports===
[[RML Group]] ([[Ray Mallock]]) [[British Touring Car Championship|BTCC]] and [[World Touring Car Championship|WTCC]] motorsport team is in Wellingborough, next to the UK HQ of [[Vredestein Banden B.V.|Vredestein]] tyres (Dutch). [[Bamboo Engineering]] WTCC are at Silverstone.

===Swimming===
The [[Amateur Swimming Association]] is the world's first swimming governing body, founded 1869, now based in Loughborough. [[British Swimming]] have one of its three Intensive Training Centres at Loughborough University's [[Loughborough Pool]] in their [[Sport Development Centre]].