How to Bet on Fulham

Fulham were formed in 1879 as a church Sunday school side by worshippers at St Andrew's, and it took until 1896 to settle at Craven Cottage, where the first game was against Minerva. Professional status came on 12 December 1898, and the Southern League brought titles in 1905–06 and 1906–07. A quirky first arrived in 1926, when hot dogs went on sale at the ground, a first for a British club. The post-war years were less glamorous: Fulham finished bottom of the First Division in 1951–52, but an FA Cup final appearance in 1975 gave the supporters a day to remember. Years of financial mess followed, and it took Jimmy Hill to keep the doors open with a new company in 1987. Everything changed in the summer of 1997, when Mohamed Al-Fayed took over for £6.75 million. A ground-share at Loftus Road while Craven Cottage was rebuilt marked the early Premier League years in 2002–03 and 2003–04. A seventh-place finish in 2008–09 was the best league position the club had ever managed, and 2009–10 went one better in the eyes of many as the high point of the entire story.

Craven Cottage is the most distinctive ground in English football, and it sits in Fulham itself, right beside the river. Fulham first played there in 1896, although the club bought the land and the cottage in 1894 and had to wait before a ball could be kicked. Before that, the early years from 1879 were spent moving between a number of pitches around the district. The capacity is 28,107, which keeps the atmosphere compact and close to the touchline, and visiting teams often find it a strange place to play: pretty, old-fashioned and a lot louder than it looks. A tight ground and a loyal crowd are a quiet edge for the home side.

Fulham supporters name Chelsea as their main rivals, and the reasoning is plain geography: Stamford Bridge sits inside Fulham, a mere 1.8 miles from Craven Cottage, which makes the West London Derby a proper local fixture even when the two clubs have rarely shared a division. Queens Park Rangers come next as the secondary rivals, with Brentford third in the pecking order, a rivalry sharpened when Fulham beat them 2–1 in the Championship play-off final on 4 August 2020. Crystal Palace are another London club on the list, though to a lesser extent. Outside the capital, Gillingham still count as rivals to some Fulham fans after some bitter, short-fused meetings in the lower divisions, even though the clubs have not played in the same division since 2000–01.