West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London, and have played their home matches at the 35,303 capacity Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904.
The club was originally founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895 and later reformed, in 1900, as their current incarnation. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the full Football League in 1919 and enjoyed their first top flight season in 1923, also featuring in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley. The club has never fallen outside the top two divisions and has won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980, and also captured the now defunct Cup Winners Cup in 1965 and the Intertoto Cup in 1999. They also won the first War Cup in 1940. The club's best league position was a third place finish in 1986 old top flight. West Ham currently holds the distinction for being the only team in the history of the Premiership to breach the 40 point boundary and still be relegated (in 2003).
They currently compete in the Premier League, after finishing in 15th position in the 2006-07 season. The club's current manager is Alan Curbishley who was appointed on 13 December 2006. ham_utd/6171205.stm" target="_blank">"Curbishley named West Ham manager", BBC news report, 13 December 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2007. The club's current captain is Australian _Lucas Neill.
