Club of Pioneers

The Club of Pioneers is a worldwide network of the oldest continuing association football clubs from each country.

The Club of Pioneers was founded in 2013 by Sheffield FC, the first and oldest association football club in the world.

The Club of Pioneers aims to discover and connect the world's oldest existing football clubs, to build a global network of like-minded football clubs to promote the importance of football history and the grass roots and amateur game.

According to today's historical knowledge and available sources of football history, the Sheffield Football Club Foundation awards the honorary membership within the Club of Pioneers to those football clubs, who: The club has a work team made up of great professionals who have been working in the field of football for many years.

(December 2024) Members of the Club of Pioneers, can also take part in a Pioneers Cup: a football tournament where only 'oldest' clubs can participate, to showcase their pioneering heritage.