Scottish Football Teams. Alloa.

Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire.

According to the official club history, they were formed as Clackmannan County in 1878, the football club shortly changing its name to Alloa Association and then to Alloa Athletic in 1883.

They compete in Scottish League One as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League.

The club was elected to the second tier of the Scottish Football League in 1921–22, earning promotion to the top flight in its first season after winning the Second Division. Below the top two tiers, Alloa Athletic has finished runners-up in the third tier a record nine times without ever winning, the most recent coming in 2016–17, when they failed to gain promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.

Alloa Athletic first entered in the Scottish Cup in 1883, its best result reaching the quarter-finals on three occasions, the last in 1988. The club’s best result in a national cup competition was reaching the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup thrice; winning in 1999 and finishing runners-up in 2001 and 2015.

The club’s nickname is ‘The Wasps’, referring to its home colours of black and gold hoops. Alloa Athletic has been based at Recreation Park in Alloa since 1895.

There is some dispute over the foundation date of Alloa Athletic. The official club version has the club being founded in 1878.

However, recent research has produced information that states that The Alloa Football Club was formed on August 6, 1880, at a meeting held in McGechaen’s Hall and instigated by James Rigg, who became the first captain. The club soon changed its name to Alloa Association which led to A.A.F.C. being misinterpreted by the Dunfermline secretary in October 1880, and Alloa Athletic being reported in the Dunfermline press. The club liked this name better, and so adopted it in 1881. It has often been claimed that the club was originally Clackmannan County. Although several of its players joined Alloa, this was a separate club, formed in September 1879, and who Alloa played several times during the 1880–81 season.

Admitted to the Scottish Football Association in 1883, the club had to wait until 1921 to be elected to the Scottish Football League.