East Kilbride Football Club is a semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

, Scotland. They are members of , the fourth tier of the

Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gr ...

. Formed in 2010 with the intention of bringing senior football to one of Scotland's largest towns, the club initially competed in amateur football before becoming one of the founder members of the

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...

in 2013. The club became a full member of the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

(SFA) in 2014, entitling them to automatic entry to the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

in 2025 after winning the Pyramid play-offs.

History

The club was launched officially by two former Old Firm players,

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and TNT Sports. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his ti ...

and

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, once of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

respectively. The club was resurrected after folding in the 19th century, having been initially founded in 1871.

Original club

The original club was formed in 1871, making it one of the earliest formed clubs in Scotland.EKFC – Club History
EKFC. Retrieved 13-05-2015. The first office bearers included the quaintly titled Croupier, which today would be recognised as Treasurer. The first recorded match was a 1–0 defeat by a Queen's Park second eleven in April 1872. They drew 0–0 with the same team later that year. During the 1870s the club folded and resurrected several times, which was a regular occurrence at that time for football clubs. The original club colours were navy and gold according to evidence from the SFA Museum of Football. The original club did not have a badge, which was customary at the time too. The team played at Kirktonholme in 1876, winning three, losing nine and drawing three games. The team played at Show Park in 1877 and had a better season, winning six, losing six and drawing six. They participated in some of the earliest editions of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1878–79 and 1879–80, going out in the first round in both seasons.

Modern history

The club as it exists today was formed in May 2010 after the merger of Jackton Boys Club and Stewartfield FC. Later, local clubs EK Diamonds and EK Wanderers were incorporated into the structure. As yet they have no permanent home so they use the facilities at the training base, K-Park, until a site is found for a new stadium. They played in the inaugural

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

, although they had previously been elected to the South of Scotland League at the end of the 2012–13 season. Two men, tycoon James Kean and Iain King, who is a sports journalist, spent many years in the hope that East Kilbride Thistle (the town's former highest ranked football team) would become a senior sports team so much that they officially launched their youth development programme from under-21s right down to the under-5s. The dream never materialised and they had to admit defeat, and so their vision was to form a new club. John Hartson, the former Celtic striker, was appointed honorary president of the new club. On 10 September 2010, the club held their inaugural fundraising dinner which was attended by around 250 people and raised about £9500. The team played in the Scottish Amateur Football League until their election into the senior leagues in June 2013. They won the Division 2 title in 2011–12 and were crowned Division 1 champions in 2012–13. On 31 May 2013, East Kilbride were given a place in the South of Scotland League for season 2013–14. On 17 June 2013, East Kilbride were elected to play in the newly formed

, without playing a game in the South of Scotland League. Their first league fixtures were a 2–1 defeat at

Stirling University The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airthr ...

(10th) and a 1–0 home win over Whitehill Welfare (13th) in August 2013. The Kilby completed a debut season as a senior team with a

mid-table finish, winning the South Region Challenge Cup and reaching the Lowland League Cup semi finals. They claimed their maiden trophy as a senior team with a 2–0 Final victory over Dalbeattie Star at Palmerston on 24 May 2014. They were granted full SFA membership in April 2014 and therefore could enter the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2014–15. Their first

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Lothian Thistle on 13 September 2014. After a draw at

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

in the next round, East Kilbride suffered a heavy home defeat in the replay. In only their second season in the

, East Kilbride secured a second-place finish with two games left, with a defeat of

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

in their final home game. A 3–1 defeat of Gretna 2008 in the Lowland League Cup final on 17 May 2015, delivered a second cup success in as many seasons. On 5 November 2016, East Kilbride defeated BSC Glasgow 3–1 for a 27th consecutive victory and surpassed Ajax's record of 26 consecutive wins. On 19 November 2016, East Kilbride lost 0–1 to

to end their winning streak at 30 games. East Kilbride won the 2016–17 Lowland League, and progressed to a promotion/relegation playoff with

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

club

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

. They missed out on promotion to the SPFL after losing a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. In that period, defender Craig Howie became the first player to make 100 appearances for the club, having made his debut aged 17 in 2013. East Kilbride won their second

title during the 2018–19 season, beating defending champions Spartans at K Park to clinch the trophy. They lost to Cove Rangers in the SPFL promotion playoffs.

Badge

The badge for the new club features the

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family (biology), family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and Sout ...

bird and also the colour red, symbols of St Bridgit, after whom East Kilbride is named, cill being the Gaelic word for a religious cell, which was the common form of ancient Celtic religious organisation, thus Kilbride being the religious cell associated with St Bridgit/St Bride; East to distinguish from

West Kilbride West Kilbride () is a village and historic parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the west coast by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the Firth of Clyde to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran. West Kilbride and adjoining districts of Seamill and P ...

in Ayrshire.

John Hartson Foundation Trophy

The

Foundation Trophy is annual pre-season match at the K-Park between East Kilbride and another side, with all proceeds going towards Hartson's testicular cancer charity.EKFC rage at late call off
Daily Record. 24-07-2013. Retrieved 13-05-2015. The first match between East Kilbride and Fort William was supposed to take place on 20 July 2013, but Fort William cancelled the day before due to a shortage of players. The match did take place for the first time on 19 July 2014, with a strong Celtic under-20 team defeating East Kilbride 5–1.

Current squad

Coaching staff

Managerial history

* Ian King (2010–2014) * Billy Ogilvie (2014–2016) * Martin Lauchlan (2016–2017) *

Billy Stark William Stark (born 1 December 1956) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He made 500 league appearances in total, including successful spells at St Mirren, Aberdeen and Celtic. He then turned to management, which has seen him take c ...

(2017–2018) * Brian Kerr (2018) *

Stuart Malcolm Stuart Ross Malcolm (born 20 August 1979) is a Scottish football coach and former player who is the coach of East Fife. Born in Edinburgh, Malcolm has previously played for St Johnstone, Cowdenbeath, Plymouth Argyle, Ross County, Drogheda ...

(2018–2019) * Jim Paterson (2019–2020, interim) * David Proctor (2020, interim) * Stephen Aitken (2020–2021) * Chris Aitken (2021–2022, interim) *

Kevin Rutkiewicz Kevin Rutkiewicz (born 10 May 1980) is a Scottish football coach and former player. He managed Scottish League Two club Stirling Albion and Lowland League side East Kilbride. Ruthkiewicz played as a defender for Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Dunf ...

(2022–2023) *Martin Fellowes (2023, interim) *Mick Kennedy (2023–present)

Season-by-season record

† Season curtailed due to coronavirus pandemic.

Honours

League *

**Champions (4): 2016–17, 2018–19, 2023–24, 2024–25 **''Runners up (3)'': 2014–15, 2017–18,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* Scottish Amateur Football League Division 1 **Champions: 2012–13 * Scottish Amateur Football League Division 2 **Champions: 2011–12 Cup * SFA South Region Challenge Cup: **Winners (4): 2013–14, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2023–24 *Lowland League Cup **Winners (5): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2024–25 *East of Scotland Qualifying Cup **Winners (2): 2015–16, 2017–18 *East of Scotland City Cup **Winners: 2015–16 * SAFL Coronation Cup **''Runners up'': 2012–13Coronation Cup 2013
SAFL. Retrieved 13-05-2015.

References

External links

*
Daily Record

Website of the K-Park Training Academy
. {{Lowland League Association football clubs established in 2010 Football clubs in Scotland Football in South Lanarkshire East Kilbride 2010 establishments in Scotland South of Scotland Football League teams Lowland Football League teams Scottish Professional Football League teams