Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.
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22 Facts About Wigan Athletic
2.
Wigan Athletic competed in the Cheshire County League for the first nine seasons of the club's existence, winning three league titles before being placed in the Lancashire Combination in 1947.
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3.
Wigan Athletic was the beaten finalist in the League Cup in 2006 and won the FA Cup in 2013, beating Manchester City in the final.
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4.
Wigan Athletic was formed in 1932, following the winding-up of Wigan Borough the year before.
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5.
On 27 August 1932, Wigan Athletic played their first-ever league game against Port Vale Reserves.
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6.
In 1950, Wigan Athletic came close to election to The Football League, narrowly losing out to Scunthorpe United and Shrewsbury Town.
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7.
In 1968, Wigan Athletic was a founder member of the Northern Premier League.
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8.
Wigan Athletic finished the season just one point outside the promotion places in the final season before the Football League introduced the play-off system for promotion and relegation.
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9.
The following year Wigan Athletic became Division Three champions on the last day of the season, Graeme Jones scoring a club record 31 league goals in the process.
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10.
Wigan Athletic was succeeded by Ray Mathias, who returned for his third stint as Wigan Athletic manager.
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11.
Wigan Athletic led the team to the top of Division Two in his first six months, but they were only able to qualify for the play-offs.
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12.
Wigan Athletic was temporarily replaced by club stalwart Colin Greenall, before the surprise appointment of Steve Bruce for the final eight games of the season.
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13.
Wigan Athletic's arrival brought renewed vigour to Wigan Athletic performances, but the club ultimately lost in the play-offs again, this time against Reading, and Bruce left for Crystal Palace.
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14.
Wigan Athletic went on a run to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, beating Premier League opponents West Brom, Manchester City and Fulham en route.
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15.
The club lost only four times all season, and Wigan Athletic secured promotion to the second tier of the English Football League for the first time in their history.
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16.
Good league form was coupled with an equally strong performance in the Football League Cup, with Wigan Athletic reaching their first ever major cup final after defeating Arsenal on away goals in the semi-final.
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17.
Wigan Athletic eventually finished the season in 10th place, which remains the club's highest ever league placing.
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18.
Zaki had scored 10 Premier League goals by February 2009, as Wigan Athletic reached seventh place in the table with 34 points from 25 games.
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19.
In 2013, after beating Everton in the quarter-final and Millwall in the semi-final, Wigan Athletic reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in their history.
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20.
On 9 September 2020, with the club's situation set to be discussed at an EFL meeting, the administrators were reportedly "quietly optimistic" about Wigan Athletic being allowed to start the EFL season despite being ownerless.
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21.
Wigan Athletic owns the stadium, but leases the ground to rugby league team Wigan Warriors.
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22.
Wigan Athletic Warriors did not figure in the equation until Whelan bought the rugby league club some 12 months later after protracted negotiations with the directors of the rugby league club.
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