Bangor 1876

Pre-League of Wales era (1876–1992)

Bangor City F.C. was one of Wales' older football clubs, and has played in European football, the English pyramid system and the Cymru Premier.

The club was a founding member of the North Wales Coast League in 1893, the Welsh National League in 1921, the North Wales Combination in 1930, the Welsh League North in 1935, the Northern Premier League in 1968, the Alliance Premier League (now National League) in 1979, and in 1992 the League of Wales.

In 1947 and 1950 Bangor challenged for election to the football leagues Third Division North yet failed on each occasion. In the 1961–62 season, they won the Welsh Cup, and consequently entered in the European Cup Winners' Cup for the first time. In the first round, they were drawn against the Italian Cup winners, Napoli. In the first leg, played at Farrar Road, Bangor won 2–0; three weeks later, in front of a crowd of 80,000 in Naples, the result was 3–1 in Napoli's favour. A playoff had to be played, at Arsenal's Highbury Stadium, in London and AS Napoli won 2–1.

At the end of 1977–78 when Southport was relegated from the English Football League Fourth Division, Bangor City, Boston United and Wigan Athletic were considered for promotion in its place. Due to Wigan Athletic having installed crush barriers, they were elected ahead of Bangor and Boston in the same year Bangor was invited to the 1977–78 Anglo-Italian Cup.

In 1979–80 Bangor City was invited to compete in the Alliance Premier League, which would become the English game's de facto fifth division.

On 12 May 1984 they became the first Welsh club to play at Wembley since Cardiff in 1927, when reaching the FA Trophy final against Northwich Victoria. The match finished 1–1. The replay was played in Stoke's Victoria Ground and Bangor lost 2–1.

In 1985 the club returned to European football in the European Cup Winners' Cup, in the first round drawn against the Norwegian Football Cup winners, Fredrikstad. The first leg in Norway was a 1–1 draw, while the return leg in Bangor was a 0–0 draw, resulting in Bangor progressing to the second round on the "away goals rule", where the club was drawn against the Spanish side Atlético Madrid. The first leg in Bangor was won 2–0 by Atlético. In the return leg in Madrid, Bangor lost 1–0.

The captain of the club during that season was midfielder Mark Palios, who later became chief executive of the English Football Association during 2004–05.

Early League of Wales years (1992–2007)

In 1992 the club left the English football pyramid to join the new national League of Wales. In the second season the club were league champions and as champions, entered the UEFA Cup. They were drawn against the Icelandic champions, IA Akranes. Akranes won the tie 4–1.

In 1995 the club retained the League of Wales championship and this time drew the Polish runners-up Widzew Łódź in the preliminary round of the UEFA Cup. Łódź triumphed over City, winning 4–0 in Bangor and 1–0 in Łódź.

In 1998 the club were back in the Cup Winners' Cup, having won the Welsh Cup under the management of Graeme Sharp. Between winning the Welsh Cup and playing their opponents, FC Haka, the manager and most of the team had left, so new manager John King had to put together a completely new side, a week before the start of the Welsh football season (and three-quarters of the way through the Finnish football season). Bangor were beaten 3–0 on aggregate. Bangor city qualified for the 1997–98 FAW Premier Cup but were knocked out by Newtown in the quarter finals

In 2006 the club made it to the Welsh Cup final where they were beaten by Rhyl 2–0 at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.

Powell years (2007–2016)

The club won back the Welsh Cup in 2008 defeating Llanelli 4–2 after extra time at Latham Park, Newtown. Victory in the Welsh Cup meant that Bangor had again qualified for Europe and in the following season's UEFA Cup they were drawn to face FC Midtjylland of Denmark. The tie saw Bangor beaten 10–1 on aggregate.

Bangor ended the 2008–09 season with yet more silverware as they retained the Welsh Cup by defeating Aberystwyth Town 2–0 in a match held at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli.

The 2008–09 Welsh Cup success meant that Bangor participated in the inaugural Europa League competition at the start of the 2009–10 season. They were drawn to face Honka Espoo in the second qualifying round and were eliminated at the first hurdle losing 3–0 on aggregate.

Bangor made it three Welsh Cup wins in a row in 2009–10 with a 3–2 success against Port Talbot in the Welsh Cup Final, again held at Llanelli.

In the 2010–11 Europa League campaign, Bangor City were drawn against Honka Espoo. They overcame the Finnish side in the Europa League second qualifying round with a 3–2 aggregate scoreline. Bangor succumbed to Portuguese side Marítimo in the third qualifying round. Marítimo won 10–3 on aggregate.

The 2010–11 season marked a significant change in the set-up of the Welsh Premiership, with Bangor one of the 12 sides (down from 18) contesting the championship. They won their opening 15 games of the season, eventually winning their first league title in 16 years on the final day of the season. This was achieved by beating TNS, 1–0.

By winning their competitive league, they were involved in the 2011–12 Champions League campaign. Bangor City were against HJK Helsinki in the second qualifying round but lost 3–0 at home. In the away fixture, Bangor City were beaten 10–0 in the game and 13–0 on aggregate. Bangor finished second in 2011–12's Welsh Premiership, keeping in contention for the title until the final game of the season, a decider against TNS who won the league.

In July 2012 Bangor City forward Les Davies made the 32-man longlist for UEFA's best player in Europe award.