Hibernian F.C.

association football club in Edinburgh, Scotland

Hibernian Football Club, also known as Hibs, is a professional football club based at Easter Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. They play in the Scottish Premiership. Their city rivals are Hearts. It is one of three SPFL clubs in the city, the others being their Edinburgh derby rivals Hearts and Edinburgh City. Hibernian was founded in 1875 by Irish immigrants, but support for the club is now based on geography rather than ethnicity or religion. The Irish heritage of Hibernian is still reflected, however, in its name, colours and badge.[1]

Hibernian F.C.
Full nameHibernian Football Club
Nickname(s)The Hibees
The Cabbage
Founded1875
GroundEaster Road,
Leith, Edinburgh
Capacity20,421
ChairmanRon Gordon
ManagerJack Ross
LeagueScottish Premiership
2020/21Scottish Premiership, 3rd

In 1887 Hibernian defeated Preston North End in a match nicknamed the Association Football Championship of the World decider, because of the two teams’ achievements in their domestic cup trophies. Hibs enjoyed enormous success throughout the 1940s and 50s where they won the 1947/8, 1950/1 and 1951/2 League Competitions. Their not-so-secret weapon was the attacking formation known as ‘The Famous Five’ consisting of Bobby Johnstone, Willie Ormond, Lawrie Reilly, Gordon Smith and Eddie Turnbull.

Hibs became the first British team to enter European competition in 1955. They competed in the Champions Cup and gave a fantastic performance against the German club, Rot Weiss Essen, winning 4-1 and drawing 1-1 on the return match in Scotland.

Hibernian F.C. was in grave danger of being closed down at the beginning of the 1990s when Wallace Mercer of rivals, Hearts of Midlothian, decided he wanted just one main club in Edinburgh. However, the club was saved in 1991 by Sir Tom Farmer CBE.

Hibernian became the first team to be relegated via the SPFL playoffs in 2014.[2] In 2016 they ended their 114 year wait for the Scottish Cup, winning a final against Rangers 3-2.[3]

In 2019, Tom Farmer sold the club to Ron Gordon.[4] Gordon died in 2023.[5][6]

Squad change

As of June 15 2008.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF   Scotland Kevin McCann
4 DF   England Chris Hogg (vice-captain)
5 DF   England Rob Jones (captain)
6 MF   Scotland Brian Kerr
7 MF   Morocco Merouane Zemmama
8 FW   England Clayton Donaldson
9 FW   Scotland Steven Fletcher
10 FW   Morocco Abdessalam Benjelloun
11 MF   Republic of Ireland Alan O'Brien
12 MF   Portugal Filipe Morais
16 MF   Scotland Lewis Stevenson
17 MF   Scotland Sean Lynch
19 DF   Cameroon Thierry Gathuessi
20 MF   Scotland John Rankin
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 GK   Scotland Andrew McNeil
22 MF   Northern Ireland Dean Shiels
23 MF   Scotland Ross Chisholm
24 FW   Scotland Colin Nish
25 DF   Scotland Darren McCormack
26 MF   Scotland Ian Murray
28 FW   Scotland Ross Campbell
29 FW   England Damon Gray
31 GK   Poland Zbigniew Małkowski
33 DF   Scotland Paul Hanlon
34 DF   Scotland Martin Canning
41 GK   Hungary David Grof
50 GK   Belgium Yves Makabu Ma-Kalambay
–– DF   Republic of Ireland David van Zanten

References change

  1. "Hibernian F.C." Football Wiki. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/25/hibernian-hamilton-scottish-premiership-play-off
  3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36292302
  4. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11755087/hibernian-taken-over-by-american-businessman-ron-gordon
  5. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11792/12816593/ron-gordon-hibernian-executive-chairman-and-majority-shareholder-dies-aged-68
  6. AFootballReport. "Hibernian Football Club". afootballreport.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.