HullCity

“Hull City are in the Premier League.” Phil Brown's words, sung back at him by several thousand delirious supporters on the Wembley turf in May 2008, remain the most famous sentence in this club's history — and the perfect summary of what Hull City AFC means. Founded in 1904, the Tigers spent 104 years waiting for the top flight, and when Dean Windass's volley beat Bristol City in the play-off final, a whole city exhaled at once. Hull is a proud, overlooked, fiercely loyal football town at the end of the line in East Yorkshire, and its club has spent the years since proving — through miracles, heartbreaks and one unforgettable cup final — that it belongs in the big time. Now, after the play-off final triumph at Wembley last spring, the Tigers are back. And this time, they intend to stay.

The early decades were unremarkable by design: Boothferry Park, the club's home from 1946 to 2002, hosted mostly second- and third-tier football, enlivened by local heroes like Ken Wagstaff and Chris Chilton, the strike partnership that fired the imagination in the 1960s. The move to the KC Stadium — now the MKM Stadium — in 2002 changed everything: a modern, 25,000-capacity home shared with the rugby league club, and a platform for the most dramatic decade in Hull's history. Phil Brown's side won back-to-back promotions to reach the Championship play-off final in 2008, and Windass — the 39-year-old Hull-born striker — scored the goal that changed the club forever, a dipping volley that beat Bristol City's Adriano Basso and sent an entire region into ecstasy.

The first Premier League season was a glorious chaos: Hull won at Arsenal and Tottenham, Geovanni's free-kicks bent the laws of physics, and survival was secured on the final day. Relegation followed in 2010, but Steve Bruce's side came back in 2013 — and then came the greatest cup run in club history. The 2014 FA Cup final: Hull 2-0 up against Arsenal inside eight minutes at Wembley, James Chester and Curtis Davies scoring, the dream alive for 71 minutes before Arsenal's class told and Aaron Ramsey won it in extra time. Defeat, but the heroic kind — and it earned Hull a first European campaign, the Europa League qualifiers of 2014-15. Nick Barmby, the Hull-born England international who managed the club to the 2012 play-off final, and Geovanni, the Brazilian magician, are the modern era's folk heroes alongside Windass.

The Allam years that followed were turbulent in a different way: the family's attempt to rename the club “Hull City Tigers” sparked a supporter revolt that defined an era, relegation in 2017 began a slide that bottomed out in League One in 2020, and only promotion in 2021 steadied the ship. Acun Ilıcalı's takeover in January 2022 brought new energy and new ambition — and, after the controversial sacking of Liam Rosenior in 2024, the appointment of Sergej Jakirović in the summer of 2025. The Croatian, all intensity and tactical detail, built a side in his image: organised, aggressive, lethal in transition.

Last season was the vindication. Hull marched to Wembley and won the Championship play-off final, Oli McBurnie — the Scotland striker signed the previous summer — scoring the winner that made him an instant club immortal. The summer recruitment was smart and ambitious: Konstantinos Tzolakis, the Greek goalkeeper, installed as the new No. 1; Mohamed-Ali Cho, all raw pace from Nice; Semi Ajayi, the experienced, set-piece-threatening centre-back; Matt Crooks, the box-crashing midfielder with Premier League nous; Mohamed Belloumi, the Algerian winger whose pace and end product made him the Tigers' early top scorer; Regan Slater, the metronome at the base of midfield; and through it all, Lewie Coyle — the academy-bred, all-action captain who embodies everything this club is.

The 2026-27 season has been the best start of any promoted side. Five games, eight points: a stunning 2-0 win over Manchester United on the opening day at the MKM, a 1-0 victory at Coventry, a disciplined 0-0 draw with Aston Villa, a thrilling 2-2 draw at Chelsea, and only a narrow 2-1 defeat at Newcastle on 19 September to blemish the record. Tzolakis has kept the clean sheets that made him an instant fan favourite; Belloumi has been unplayable at times; Coyle has led like a man possessed. Jakirović's Tigers press in packs, counter with venom, and defend their box like it owes them money. Nobody is treating them as relegation fodder anymore.

What happens next is the question every promoted club faces, and Hull's answer so far is: we belong. The MKM is rocking again — 25,000 voices, the amber and black everywhere, the sense of a city behind its team. The squad has depth, the manager has a plan, and the captain has the armband and the town's heart. There will be harder months; there always are. But Hull City have waited long enough, lost enough, and dreamed enough to know exactly what this means. The Tigers are back in the Premier League. This time, they're planning to stay.