Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The club was formed in 1863 and played their first competitive match in November 1883 in the FA Cup. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888, in which they struggled finishing bottom in the first two seasons and failed to gain re-election for the 1890–91 meaning that they played in the Football Alliance. They won the Alliance and re-joined the league. Stoke continued to struggle financially and in 1908 the club was liquidated and had to resign from the league. They re-branded as Stoke F.C. (1908) and joined the Birmingham & District League and Southern Football League before regaining their league status for the 1919–20 season.