After a tour of South America in 1914 to generate awareness of football in the continent, the club became the first side to play a national team from Brazil.

Exeter won their first league title in the 1989–90 season, gaining promotion as Fourth Division champions under the stewardship of Terry Cooper.

[5] On 10 September 1904, Exeter City played its first ever competitive match, a 2–1 victory at St James over 110th Battery of the Royal Artillery, in the East Devon League.

Brazil, featuring its first great star, Arthur Friedenreich, won this match at the Laranjeiras stadium, Rio de Janeiro, home of Fluminense Football Club with 2–0.

[8] City's historic first match in the Football League took place on Saturday 28 August 1920, when Brentford was the visiting team to St James Park.

In 1931, City reached the sixth round of the FA Cup, losing a replay 4–2 to Sunderland in front of its largest ever home gate.

[8] The end of the 1970s and the early 1980s were regarded as City's most successful spell in the Third Division, including an 8th-place finish in 1979–80 and an FA Cup run the following season.

[12] In that season, City won twenty league games at St James Park, and remained undefeated in 31 home matches, including dramatic draws against Norwich City in the FA Cup third round and Sunderland in the League Cup 4th round, both of which featured late equalisers for the visitors.

The departure of manager Terry Cooper and key players such as Shaun Taylor, Richard Dryden, Clive Whitehead, Brian McDermott and Steve Neville left new boss Alan Ball to pick up the pieces.

There were some successes under the former World Cup winner — including winning both games against local rivals Plymouth in the clubs' first derbies for a decade in the 1992/93 season[14]—but Ball left for Southampton in January 1994 and the returning Cooper was unable to save Exeter from relegation.

[20] Several million pounds in debt and with no big investor in sight, the Trust kept the club going through fundraising activities amongst rank-and-file supporters.

In May 2004 a friendly fixture was arranged against a Brazilian masters team at St James Park, a celebration of City's South American tour of 1914.

After beating Oxford United on penalties in the semi-final, City met Morecambe at Wembley in the final,[27] where they lost 2–1 despite taking an early lead.

[29] In the final Exeter met Cambridge United in front of a Conference play-off record crowd of 42,511, winning 1–0 with a goal from Rob Edwards, earning promotion to League Two.

[32] The club suffered a tragedy on 10 August 2010, days after the start of the 2010–11 season, when striker Adam Stansfield died of cancer aged 31.

But, in the 95th minute, Jack Stacey's long range shot with his weak foot fired Exeter into the final, earning them a spot at Wembley.

A further possibility was that it derived from a jeweller's shop in Sidwell Street, close to the ground, which had a clock hanging outside displaying the name 'Grecians' on its face.

[57] Famous fans include David Earl, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin,[58] Adrian Edmondson,[59] Noel Edmonds, swimmer Liam Tancock,[60] BBC broadcaster James Vickery, Spotlight reporter John Ayres, TV presenter Juliet Morris and Hoosiers drummer Alan Sharland.

[65] A survey conducted by Football Fans Census in 2003 revealed that Exeter City supporters consider their main rival to be Plymouth Argyle.

[66] The two clubs first met in a competitive fixture in 1908 when both sides were in the Southern League,[67] and have contested matches intermittently during their histories due to Plymouth Argyle usually being in a higher division.

[66] The two clubs are closer geographically and have met more often during their respective histories, having first played a competitive match in 1927 after Torquay were elected to the Football League.

[69][70] Despite their on-field rivalry, Torquay helped Exeter during their financial difficulties of 2003 by waiving their gate receipts in a pre-season friendly.

This gesture was returned in 2015 when Exeter gave the Gulls their gate receipts as a result of Torquay's financial difficulties, having had to close down their academy and terminate the contract of manager Chris Hargreaves.

He retired from professional after just one season at the club suffering a career ending broken leg, Gee had formerly played for Burnley.

[8] Other well-known players include the prolific 1930s striker Fred Whitlow, Arnold Mitchell, who played 495 games for City,[76] Tony Kellow, City's record goalscorer, Ian Main, the gifted goalkeeper from the club's most successful years who died very young, Fred Binney and Darran Rowbotham in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Former England winger Lee Sharpe played four games for Exeter at the beginning of their 2002–03 Division Three campaign, scoring two goals.

He went on to manage several successful clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur,[78] before becoming a football media pundit for ITV and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Watkins, meanwhile, who while at the club was named 2017 EFL Young Player of the Season and left Exeter for a 'club record fee',[79][80] won his first England cap in 2021.

In a survey published by the Professional Footballers' Association in December 2007, Alan Banks was listed as the all-time favourite player amongst Exeter City fans.

[82][83] The following players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame: [84] [85] [86] [87] [88] [89] [90] [91] [92] [93] [94] [95] Scott Hiley Jon Hill The following have been chairman of the club:[128] † Indicates spell as co-chairman League Cup