Southampton

The club that plays these games began in a church hall. St Mary's Church of England Young Men's Association formed a football side on 21 November 1885, and the name stuck to the players long after it stopped describing them — The Saints, a halo in the badge, a stadium called St Mary's when the club moved into it in 2001. It holds a shade over 32,000.

The early trophies came in the Southern League, six of them before the First World War. What the club is remembered for nationally arrived much later: the FA Cup in 1976, won 1–0 against Manchester United while Southampton were a division below them. There have been other finals — three more in the FA Cup, two in the League Cup, in 1979 and 2017 — and none were won.

For a stretch in the 1980s and 1990s the club's identity was largely one player. Matt Le Tissier scored 209 goals in 540 appearances and stayed when leaving would have been the ordinary decision; he remains the only man to be named the club's Player of the Season three times. Mick Channon scored more, 228 in all, and Terry Paine played more games than anyone, 816 of them.

The colours travelled further than the team. Athletic Bilbao bought 50 Southampton shirts in 1909, and red and white has been the Basque club's kit since.

The fixture that shapes the season locally is against Portsmouth, 20 miles east — the South Coast derby. Both are in the Championship now, which makes it a league match again rather than an occasional cup draw.