This is a list of seasons played by Aberdeen Football Club from 1903 to the present day. It details the club's achievements in major competitions, and the top league goal scorers for each season. Records of minor competitions such as the Aberdeenshire Cup and Northern League are not included.
The club has won the Scottish Football League championship 4 times, most recently in 1985. In addition, Aberdeen has won 7 Scottish Cup titles, the Scottish League Cup six times and the European Cup Winners' Cup once.
History
The club was formed in 1903 after an amalgamation of three Aberdeen-based football clubs, Orion, Aberdeen and Victoria United. An application to join the Scottish Football League in 1903 was defeated in a vote of member clubs, so the club spent its first season in the Northern League. In 1904, Aberdeen was elected to the Second Division. Despite finishing 7th, they were elected to the First Division in time for the 1905-06 season, where they have remained since, having never been relegated.[1]
Aberdeen have finished bottom of the league on two occasions, 1916–17 and 1999-2000. They were spared relegation in 1917 after having to withdraw from the league because of World War I. In 2000, they avoided a play-off against the second and third place teams in the First Division because Falkirk's ground did not comply with SPL regulations.[2]
In 1983, Aberdeen became the second Scottish club to win the European Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Real Madrid in the final. Later that year, they became the first and only Scottish club to win the UEFA Super Cup.
Seasons
Key
Key to league record
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Key to rounds
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See also
Notes
- ↑ The League Cup competition did not start until the 1946–47 season.
- ↑ European club competitions did not begin until the 1955–56 season.
- ↑ Despite only finishing 7th, Aberdeen were promoted due to a reordering of the league system.
- ↑ The Scottish Cup was not held between 1914 and 1920 because of the first World War.
- ↑ Scottish football was still held through the war, but due to a disastrous financial situation, the team (along with Dundee and Raith Rovers) had no choice but to drop out.
- ↑ In this cup, Aberdeen scored a record 13 goals in one game against Peterhead.
- ↑ This was Aberdeen's first Scottish Cup final. They lost out to league champions Celtic 2-1 away from home.
- ↑ This is the most goals Aberdeen have ever scored in one season.
- ↑ The League was renamed as Division A.
- ↑ Aberdeen won the cup for the first time that season; Hibernian were the runners up losing 2–1 at Hampden.
- ↑ In the first ever Scottish League Cup final, Aberdeen were comfortably beaten 4–0 at Ibrox Stadium by Rangers.
- ↑ This season saw Aberdeen's highest attendance - 45,061 against Hearts in March 1955.
- ↑ This was Aberdeen's first ever league title, ahead of runners-up Celtic by three points. The European competitions began the following season, but Aberdeen were not given Scotland's place in the tournament, which went to Hibernian by special invitation.
- ↑ In 1955, the Scottish Cup was expanded to include amateur football teams as well as professional, expanding the competition to nine rounds.
- ↑ First League Cup win.
- ↑ The league was again renamed, this time back to Division One.
- ↑ The Cup system was again reorganised, this time to include only professional teams, and containing six rounds.
- ↑ During this season, Aberdeen recorded a record 8–0 loss to Celtic in January.
- ↑ In Aberdeen's first ever European game, they beat Icelandic club KR Reykjavík 14–1 on aggregate, only to lose to Belgian Standard Liège 3–2, also on aggregate, in the next round.
- ↑ The cup was again expanded, this time to seven rounds.
- ↑ Aberdeen's first fixture of the tournament - against Hungarians Honvéd - resulted in the first ever penalty shootout in the cups history, which Honvéd won 5–4 in Budapest.
- ↑ The league was renamed to the Premier Division and reduced to ten teams. They played each other four times in a season for the first time.
- ↑ The cup format was changed to a straight knock-out competition because of criticism over the length of the original.
- ↑ First double, of Scottish Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup
- ↑ This was Aberdeen's first European trophy, and the most well known. In the final, they beat Real Madrid 2–1 to take the title.
- ↑ First and only treble, of Scottish League, Scottish Cup and European Super Cup.
- ↑ Aberdeen's first UEFA Super Cup final resulted in a 2–0 home win over Hamburg SV after a goalless draw in Germany.
- ↑ First double of Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.
- ↑ Second double of Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup
- ↑ The league was renamed the Scottish Premier League.
- ↑ The league was renamed the Scottish Premiership.
- ↑ 2019–20 Scottish Premiership suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland; season curtailed and standings at time of postponement declared final on 18 May 2020.[4]
References
- ↑ "Aberdeen Football Club Team Profile & History". Scottish Premier League. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
- ↑ "Falkirk FC History". Talkfootball.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
- ↑ 1940 | When The Football Stopped, Aberdeen FC, 18 March 2020
- ↑ "Celtic champions & Hearts relegated after SPFL ends season". BBC Sport. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.