Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish

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 from

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

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 ...

, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a Boarding school, boarding and day school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1588 as a boy's school and was open for nearly four centuries. In the late 19th century, ...

and remain the only professional club in British football to have originated from a school team. Hamilton have won the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...

Club history

Hamilton Academical F.C. was formed in late 1874 by the rector and pupils of

. The club soon became members 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 ...

and initially began competing in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Qualifying Cup, before joining the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

in November 1897 following the resignation of Renton. Throughout its history, the club has only reached two Scottish Cup finals. The first, in

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

, resulted in a goalless draw against Celtic at Ibrox Park. The replay, again held at Ibrox, attracted a crowd of 45,000 spectators and ended in a 2–0 defeat for Hamilton Academical. Their next chance at major silverware was the

1935 Scottish Cup final The 1934–35 Scottish Cup was the 57th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Rangers who defeated Hamilton Academical in the final. Fourth round Semi-finals ---- Replays ---- Final Tea ...

. Despite a Bertie Harrison goal (the club's only in a final of a major competition), Rangers went on to win the match in front of over 87,000 spectators by two Jimmy Smith goals. In the 1970s, Hamilton briefly resigned from the league due to mounting debts. In 1994 the club sold its home ground,

Douglas Park Douglas Park was a football stadium in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, the home ground of Hamilton Academical from 1888 to 1994. The stadium holds the record for Hamilton Academical's largest ever attendance, 28,690 people against Hearts in 193 ...

, to

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

supermarket, and subsequently ground-shared in Coatbridge and Glasgow for seven years. During this period the club went through financial hardships and unpaid players went on strike. As a result, Hamilton was unable to fulfil one fixture during the 1999–2000 season and were docked 15 points, the result of which was relegation to the Third Division. The club moved into its

New Douglas Park New Douglas Park, also known as ZLX Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which serves as the home of Scottish League Two side Clyde, also formerly being home to Scottish League One sid ...

stadium in 2001. In 2008, for the first time in 20 years, Accies gained promotion to the top division of Scottish football, the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

.Hamilton Accies 2-0 Clyde
BBC Sport, 19 April 2008 In the 2009–10 season, a 3–0 victory against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

on 17 April 2010 secured a third straight season in Scotland's top flight with four games remaining. The Accies' stay in the SPL ended in the 2010–11 season, when they were relegated after a 1–0 defeat away to

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

. Despite their relegation, Hamilton's time in the top flight was most notable for their emphasis on youth, including midfielders James McCarthy and

James McArthur James McFarlane McArthur (born 7 October 1987) is a Scottish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central midfielder. McArthur started his career at Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamil ...

, both of whom went on to play for English club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

before gaining international recognition.

Return to the Premiership

After a hard-fought campaign during the 2013–14 Scottish Championship season, Accies finished in second position on the final day of the season following a 10–2 home victory over Morton. Despite the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, they went on to defeat

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

2–1 on aggregate in the first stage of their Premiership play-off to face top-flight

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

over two legs for a place in the

2014–15 Scottish Premiership The 2014–15 Scottish Premiership was the second season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 9 August 2014 and ended on the 31 May 2015. Celtic were the defending champions. Twelve teams ...

. Hamilton lost the first leg 2–0 at New Douglas Park, but two away goals in the return leg at

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-largest ...

, including an injury time strike, forced the tie to extra time and penalty-kicks. Hamilton converted all of their spot-kicks and gained promotion back to the top flight. Manager Alex Neil left the club in January 2015, to take up a position at English club

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. Hamilton found themselves in another playoff at the end of 2016–17, this time as the Premiership incumbents. A close tie against

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

representatives

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

ended in a 1–0 aggregate victory, with Accies youth graduate

Greg Docherty Greg Alexander Docherty (born 10 September 1996) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Charlton Athletic. He has previously played for Hamilton Academical, Rangers, Shrewsbury Town, Hibernian and Hull Ci ...

scoring the only goal.

2017 fraud incident

In October 2017, an elaborate

voice phishing Voice phishing, or vishing, is the use of telephony (often Voice over IP telephony) to conduct phishing attacks. Landline telephone services have traditionally been trustworthy; terminated in physical locations known to the telephone company, and ...

fraud was perpetrated on Hamilton Academical. Posing as a fraud investigator for the club's bank (

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

), the culprit convinced the club's account handler that funds were at risk from corruption within the company and should be moved temporarily, providing instructions to evade suspicion in the bank's genuine checks when monies began to be transferred. The account handler also spoke to an accomplice via a telephone number provided by the main culprit to 'confirm' the legitimacy of the instructions. With the employee sufficiently deceived, a total of close to £1 million was transferred out of the club's accounts over several transactions, with the fraud being discovered the following day. The incident involved most of the club's working funds, causing the abandonment of a project to improve the youth academy. In February 2018, having only been able to recover a small percentage of their funds, Hamilton publicly declared that they were preparing to take legal action against the bank for a portion of the loss, believing the bank's security measures to have been inadequate in detecting the fraud (due to the unusual pattern of the transactions and the large sums involved); RBS rebutted this but stated they were working with the club and the police to identify those responsible. The ''Accies'' chief executive Colin McGowan later described RBS as "morally bankrupt" after he was informed during discussions to prevent future losses that the bank's system did not allow customers to set daily transfer limits.

Decline

After spending seven years in the Scottish Premiership, Hamilton were eventually relegated, finishing 12th in the Scottish Premiership in the 2020–21 season, meaning the club returned to the Scottish Championship. Following their return to the Scottish Championship, Hamilton continued to struggle on the pitch and once again found themselves battling relegation. However, they managed to avoid back-to-back relegations with two games to spare after a 1–0 win away to Greenock Morton ensured safety. Accies eventually finished 6th on their return to the Scottish Championship. The 2022–23 season was once again a difficult one for Hamilton, as they again found themselves in a relegation battle. They managed to avoid automatic relegation, entering the relegation play-offs. Despite winning the 2023 Scottish Challenge Cup final, the winning goal scored in the thirtieth minute by Reghan Tumilty, the club eventually lost in the Championship play-off final on penalties to Airdrieonians which confirmed the club's relegation to Scottish League One. This meant that Hamilton had been relegated twice in the space of three seasons, falling from the Scottish Premiership in 2021 to League One by 2023. Hamilton were promoted back to the Scottish Championship after defeating

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

5–3 on aggregate in the play-off final.

Stadium

The club played their fixtures at

, which was opened in 2001, until 2025. The pitch is an artificial surface. The stadium has an overall capacity of 6,018 and is composed of two permanent and one temporary stand. The ground replaced

, which was the home of Hamilton from 1888 to 1994. The ground was opened on 30 May 1888 with a match against Glasgow University. It was eventually sold to supermarket chain

in 1994, with the proceeds going towards the construction of the new stadium, which lies adjacent to the site of Douglas Park. Between 1994 and 2001 the club had no home. They ground-shared at

Cliftonhill Cliftonhill Stadium, commonly known as Cliftonhill and currently 'The Reigart Stadium' for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of former Scottish Professional Football Le ...

and

Firhill Stadium Firhill Stadium, also known as Wyre Stadium at Firhill for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football and former rugby union, rugby league and Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhil ...

. From 2022 until 2025, the club shared New Douglas Park with Clyde following their eviction from

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...

. In May 2025 it was announced that due to a dispute with the owner of New Douglas Park, Hamilton would play their home fixtures at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld until further notice.

Honours

Hamilton Academical FC League Performance

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

** Winners: 1985–86, 1987–88, 2007–08 ** Runners-up: 2013–14 (second tier) *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...

** Winners: 1903–04 ** Runners-up: 1952–53 (second tier), 1964–65 (second tier), 1996–97 (third tier), 2003–04 (third tier), 2023–24 (third tier) *

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

** Winners: 2000–01 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1910–11, 1934–35 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,1991–92, 1992–93,

2022–23 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 ...

** Runners-up: 2005–06, 2011–12

Club records

Match records

* Record victory: 10–2 vs. Cowdenbeath (October 1932) and 10–2 vs. Morton (May 2014)

Transfer records

* Biggest transfer purchase:

Tomáš Černý Tomáš Černý (born 10 April 1985) is a Czech retired professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Černý has played football in the Czech Republic, Scotland, Bulgaria and Greece ...

from

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Olomouc. The club currently competes in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2 ...

(July 2009; £180,000) * Biggest transfer sale: James McCarthy to Wigan Athletic (July 2009; £1,200,000)

Players

Current squad

Player of the Year

Captains

The following is a list of the officially appointed

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Hamilton Academical first-team.

Former players

Coaching staff

Managers

References

External links

*
Club history
. ''Hamilton Academical Memory Bank''. {{Authority control Football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1874 Football in South Lanarkshire Hamilton, South Lanarkshire 1874 establishments in Scotland Scottish Premier League teams Scottish Football League teams Scottish Challenge Cup winners Scottish Professional Football League teams