The youngest team in the Premier League is well over 100 years old and there is some contention about which club can lay claim to being the oldest, not just in the Premier League but in the entire country.

Here, Vodacom Soccer ranks the Premier League clubs playing in the 2023/24 season by the year of their formation, going from youngest to oldest.

20. Chelsea - 1905

The youngest Premier League team, Chelsea, was founded 118 years ago when Gus Mears bought the Stamford Bridge athletics track in Fulham to turn it into a football pitch.

He couldn't name the new team after the borough because Fulham Football Club already existed - so the neighbouring Chelsea was chosen instead.

19. Brighton & Hove Albion - 1901

The Seagulls came into existence four years before Chelsea. The towns of Brighton and Hove were desperate for a competitive team after Brighton United collapsed in 1900.

The former manager came up with the idea of forming a semi-professional side called Brighton & Hove United but the name was changed to Albion before a ball was even kicked, although nobody is quite sure why.

18. West Ham United - 1895

The Hammers trace their history back to the formation of the Thames Ironworks, the works team of the massive shipbuilder called Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company - and the reason another nickname for the side is "The Irons".

17. Bournemouth - 1899

The exact date of Bournemouth's formation is disputed but it is generally believed to have come together from players and remaining members of the Boscombe St John's Institute Football Club that went defunct in 1899.

16. Newcastle United - 1892

Newcastle West End faced major financial trouble in 1889 and eventually folded, with most of its players and backroom staff opting to join city rivals from the Northern League, Newcastle East End.

The new amalgamated team grew rapidly as the only senior club in Newcastle for fans to support and its takeover of the St James' Park lease in May 1892 is generally accepted as the start of Newcastle United.

15. Liverpool - 1892

The story of Liverpool's formation explains the club's intense rivalry with Everton very well.

The club was essentially founded in the aftermath of a falling out between Everton and a man named John Houlding, the club's president at the time and owner of the Anfield land.

The original club moved to Goodison Park and Houlding founded Liverpool FC, originally named Everton Athletic.

14. Sheffield United - 1889

The Blades were formed by members of the Sheffield United Cricket Club, but you are wrong if you thought that is where the nickname comes from.

Instead, it is a reference to the city of Sheffield's status as a major producer of cutlery and one of the club's earlier nicknames was "The Cutlers".

13. Brentford - 1889

Brentford were essentially formed after several meetings at the Oxford and Cambridge pub between, very likely inebriated, members of Brentford Rowing Club and Boston Park Cricket Club who were trying to decide how to best make use of a new recreation ground.

12. Arsenal - 1886

Scotsman David Danskin banded together with 15 fellow munitions workers of the Royal Arsenal complex to form the Dial Square Football Club in 1886, named after the location of their workshop.

The club was renamed Royal Arsenal in 1887 and was the first London club to turn professional.

11. Southampton - 1885

The Saints were originally formed by the St Mary's Church of England Young Men's Association, St Mary's Y.M.A. for short, and played most of their early games on The Common in Southampton where games were constantly interrupted by pedestrians.

10. Luton Town - 1885

Luton Town came about after a Luton Wanderers player named George Deacon, apparently bored of the competition in his area, pitched the idea of creating a "town" team that would include all the best players in Luton and compete against other such sides.

Eventually, Wanderers just renamed themselves Luton Town, which did not go down particularly well with the club's fans or the local community.

9. Tottenham Hotspur - 1882

Led by Bobby Buckle, a group of Hotspur Cricket Club boys looking for something to do in the winter came up with the idea of forming a football club.

The young team was aided in their early years by Bible class teacher John Ripsher, who supported the team and helped find the club premises.

They decided to rename the club to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club after mistakenly receiving post for another London club named Hotspur.

8. Burnley - 1882

Burnley Football Club came about when a bunch of members of the rugby team Burnley Rovers voted for the club to change codes to association football because several other clubs in the area had done the same thing.

It seems following the crowd and fear of missing out were a big deal before the internet too.

7. Fulham - 1879

Formed as Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School Football Club by worshippers at the Church of England on Star Road, West Kensington (which still stands to this day), the Cottagers' early members were also mostly cricketers looking for something to do during the many months of the year it rains in England.

6. Manchester United - 1878

The Red Devils began life as Newton Heath LYR Football Club. LYR stood for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot and they initially played most of their games against other departments and railway companies.

Their first record game was against a Bolton Wanderers reserves team. They played in a green and gold kit and were thrashed 6-0.

5. Everton - 1878

The Toffees were originally formed as St Domingo's FC so members of the St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel could play sport in the winter.

The team became so popular that the name was changed to Everton in 1879 because members of the local area outside of the church wanted to join.

4. Wolverhampton Wanderers 1877

Wolves are yet another club that counts their origins as involving both cricket and the church.

Originally formed as St. Luke's FC, the team's name eventually became Wolverhampton Wanderers after a merger with the football section Blakenhall Wanderers, a separate local cricket club.

3. Aston Villa - 1874

Formed in 1874, the area around which Aston Villa was formed experienced such a lack of football teams that the Villains' first match was played against the Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team.

The first half of the game was played using rugby rules and the second they played football.

2. Nottingham Forest - 1865

A group of fed-up shinty players looking for something new to do met up at the Clinton Arms on Nottingham's Shakespeare Street and, assumingly after several pints, decided to play association football and found a new football club named Nottingham Forest.

To be able to tell themselves apart from the opposition they agreed, at the same meeting, to buy 12 tasselled 'Garibaldi Red' caps - and that remains the colours of the club to this day.

1. Crystal Palace - 1861

While Crystal Palace claim they are the oldest club in England, it is an idea that has only been around since 2020 - and one not everyone agrees with.

Until a couple of years ago, everyone agreed Crystal Palace was formed in 1905 but the club published research in 2020 suggesting they could trace their roots back to a club named Crystal Palace Football Club founded in 1861.

The claim is disputed, with some historians even producing evidence of newspapers celebrating the founding of Crystal Palace in 1905, but the club did already change the date on their crest from 1905 to 1876 in June of 2022.

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Ranking the 2023/24 Premier League clubs by year of formation