Full name | AFC Wimbledon |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Dons, The Wombles |
Founded | 30 May 2002 |
Ground | Kingsmeadow |
Capacity | 4,850 (2,265 seats) |
Chairman | Erik Samuelson |
Manager | Neal Ardley |
League | League One |
2015–16 | League Two, 7th (promoted via Play-offs) |
Website | Club home page |
AFC Wimbledon is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England. After the 2016 League Two play-offs, the club was promoted to League One of the English Football League, the third tier in the English football league system. They play at Kingsmeadow, in Kingston upon Thames, a ground which is shared with Isthmian League club, Kingstonian.
The club was founded by Wimbledon F.C. supporters in June 2002 as a direct reaction to the decision by an independent commission appointed by the Football Association to allow Wimbledon F.C. to relocate to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, about 56 miles (90 km) north of Wimbledon. The large majority of Wimbledon F.C. supporters very strongly opposed the idea of moving the club so far away from Wimbledon, feeling that a club transplanted to Milton Keynes would no longer represent Wimbledon F.C.'s legacy and traditions, and, having campaigned against the proposed move, viewed its official sanctioning as the "death of their club". Wimbledon F.C. physically moved in 2003 and then changed the name of the club to Milton Keynes Dons in 2004. Although founded in similar circumstances to the 1961 Washington Senators to replace a club which continued its existence elsewhere AFC Wimbledon has come to be considered a successor or "phoenix" version of the original team.