Crusaders F.C.
Crusaders Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview.
| Full name | Crusaders Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Crues, The Hatchetmen | ||
| Founded | 1898 | ||
| Ground | Seaview | ||
| Capacity | 3,383 | ||
| Chairman | Ronnie Millar | ||
| Manager | Stephen Baxter | ||
| League | NIFL Premiership | ||
| 2022–23 | NIFL Premiership, 5th of 12 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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Crusaders originally played as a junior level team until 1931. They then played intermediate level football until 1949, and during that time they were one of the top non-senior teams in the country, winning the Irish Intermediate League nine times and the Steel & Sons Cup on seven occasions. After the withdrawal of Belfast Celtic, Crusaders were elected to the top level in their place, in time for the start of the 1949–50 season. Since then, the club has won 31 senior trophies; seven league titles, six Irish Cups, two League Cups, eight County Antrim Shields, one Setanta Sports Cup, one Charity Shield, two Gold Cups, three Ulster Cups and one Carlsberg Cup.
The club's traditional kit colours are red and black, and the current manager is former player Stephen Baxter, who is now the club's longest serving manager, having been appointed in 2005. The club's closest rivals are Cliftonville, with whom they contest the North Belfast derby. Rivalries also exist with other Belfast sides such as Linfield and Glentoran.