St. Mirren

F.C.

St. Mirren Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of St Mirren, in the Scottish county of Fife. The team plays in Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish football league system. The club has played in the Scottish Premier League since its establishment in 1994.

Founded in 1887, St Mirren played its early years in the local Scottish Cup. In 1902, the club entered the Scottish Division Two and finished as runners-up in 1911. In 1923, St Mirren Football Club merged with neighbouring team St. Norbert after being forced to move out of their original home of Parkhead due to the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge. In 1924, St Mirren were promoted to the top flight for the first time. They remained in the Premier Division for the next 46 seasons, making only one relegation in that time. In 1983–84, St Mirren became Scottish League Champions for the first time.

In 1994, St Mirren were promoted to the Scottish Premier League. The club has since competed in the Premier Division, Scottish League Cup, Scottish Cup Winners’ Cup and Scottish League Cup. In 2012, the club reached the Scottish Cup final for the first time in its history, but lost 2–1 to Rangers.

In 2013, the club announced that its home ground would be moved to Lovech Stadium, in Lovech, Bulgaria, for the 2014–15 season due to a lack of capacity at St Mirren Park. However, the club played its home matches athome during the first two months of the season while a new stadium was built. On 7 October 2016, it was announced that St Mirren had agreed to merge with fellow Scottish Premiership side Inverness Caledonian Thistle, with both clubs needing to secure Approved Registration Status from the Scottish Football Association in order to enter the Scottish Premiership for the 2017–18 season. The merger was completed on 15 November 2016.