Blackpool F.C. Logo

Blackpool's most notable achievement is winning the 1953 FA Cup Final, the so-called "Matthews Final", in which they beat Bolton Wanderers 4–3, overturning a 1–3 deficit in the closing stages of the game. During that post-war period, Blackpool made three FA Cup Final appearances in six years and, during the 1950s, had four top-six finishes in the Football League First Division, their best position being runners-up to Manchester United in the 1955–56 season. In 1953, four Blackpool players were in the England team against Hungary at Wembley, causing the Daily Mirror to declare that "Blackpool are playing Hungary today", though England lost in a famous defeat. Since the 1950s Blackpool's fortunes have varied, and when they won promotion to the Premier League, at the end of the 2009–10 campaign, Blackpool became the first club in English football to have won promotion from every division of the Football League via the play-off system. Blackpool's least successful period was in the 1980s, particularly when, in the 1982–83 season, they finished 21st in English League football's lowest tier, their lowest-ever League finish.

The club's motto is Progress, as featured on the club crest. Blackpool have a local rivalry with Preston North End, and matches between the two clubs are known as the West Lancashire derby. They have not met in the League since February 2010.