Macclesfield Football Club is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The club currently competes in the

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

, the sixth tier of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. Macclesfield is a phoenix club of the former

Macclesfield Town F.C. Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

founded in 1874, which was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. The club joined the North West Counties Premier Division, the fifth step of the

National League system The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

ahead of the 2021–22 season. Macclesfield recorded three promotions in the four subsequent seasons, winning the North West Counties Premier Division in 2022, the NPL Division One West in 2023, and the NPL Premier Division in 2025. The team also reached the semi-final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

in 2024.

History

Macclesfield F.C. is a successor to Macclesfield Town. Founded in 1874, Macclesfield Town was liquidated and expelled from the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in 2020 because of debts of over £500,000. Its assets were put up for sale, including the

Moss Rose Moss Rose, known as The Leasing.com Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, which is the home ground of Macclesfield F.C., and the former home of Macclesfield Town F.C., a club wound up in Se ...

stadium on the

Rightmove Rightmove plc is a British company which runs rightmove.co.uk, the UK's largest online real estate property portal. Rightmove is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Rightmove was incorporat ...

property website. In October 2020, the stadium and all available assets were purchased by Robert Smethurst, the owner of Stockport Town, with the aim of returning professional football to Macclesfield by creating the phoenix club as Macclesfield F.C. Smethurst appointed the Welsh former professional footballer Robbie Savage as a member of the board for the new phoenix club with Danny Whitaker as manager. He also invested in upgrading the stadium to improve the commercial viability of the new club. In May 2021, it was announced that Macclesfield would be placed in the NWCFL Premier Division, the fifth step of the

(ninth tier in the English football pyramid), for their first season. Savage announced that the club would be joining with his foundation to offer free tickets to foundation participants to encourage youth attendance at the club's matches. Macclesfield entered the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

for the first time in 2021–22.

2021–22 season

On 31 July 2021 Macclesfield played their first competitive match, a 1–0 win at home against

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. The town is located approximately north-northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Its north ...

in the NWCFL Premier Division played in front of a restricted capacity sell-out crowd of 2,018; Leon Arnasalam scored the only goal. The club's first away match was on 3 August, a 4–4 draw at Winsford United, also in the NWCFL Premier Division, with Tom Clare scoring all four Macclesfield goals. On 7 August Macclesfield played their first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

match, beating Burscough 4–0 in the Extra Preliminary Round, but were then knocked out of the FA Cup in the Preliminary Round losing 6–4 at Squires Gate. On 30 August Macclesfield defeated local rivals Congleton Town 1–0 in the NWCFL Premier Division in front of a record crowd of 3,502, James Berry-McNally scoring the only goal. The match was suspended for several minutes late in the second half due to crowd trouble. It was the first time the neighbouring towns had met in a league match since the 1964–65 season. On 11 September, Macclesfield played in the

for the first time, losing 3–2 at

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the English football pyramid respectively. ...

Premier Division side Winterton Rangers in the first qualifying round. Macclesfield F.C. was featured in a

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

documentary film, ''Robbie Savage: Making Macclesfield FC'', broadcast on 13 November 2021, which followed the launch of the new club following the collapse of Macclesfield Town. Despite a relatively poor run of form at the start of the new year (L2, D1, W2 in January), a run of ten consecutive wins followed, in which 37 goals were scored and only four conceded. On 12 March 2022, Macclesfield secured the North West Counties Premier Division title and promotion to the NPL Division One West after a 4–0 win against Ashton Athletic, becoming the first club in England's top nine tiers in 2022 to guarantee promotion. Macclesfield finished their league campaign on 2 April, 15 points clear of second-placed Skelmersdale United.

2022–23 season

In October 2022, with the club three points clear at the top of the NPL West Division, Danny Whitaker was replaced as Macclesfield manager by David McNabb. McNabb stepped down in December 2022, with midfielder Neil Danns being appointed interim manager. A 3–1 win against

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...

on 1 April 2023 saw the club crowned champions and achieve back-to-back promotions.

2023–24 season

During the summer of 2023, manager Neil Danns left to take up an assistant role at

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

, and his assistant Mark Duffy was named as the new head coach. Record goal-scorer James Berry departed for a club record fee to join

side Chesterfield. Luke Duffy joined for a record fee from Warrington Town, and John Rooney,

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

's younger brother, returned to the Silkmen having started his career with 41 league appearances for Macclesfield Town. Macclesfield entered the

in the first qualifying round. Victories over Whickham,

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

, and Warrington Rylands secured a place in the fourth qualifying round against

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

. After four defeats in five games, including a 3–1 FA Cup defeat at Alfreton, Duffy was sacked as head coach on 27 October 2023, and was replaced by Alex Bruce. The Silkmen entered the

in the third qualifying round; in the fourth round proper they defeated

opposition

Dorking Wanderers Dorking Wanderers Football Club is a professional football club based in Dorking, Surrey, England. Affiliated to the Surrey County Football Association, they are currently members of and play at Meadowbank. Formed in 1999 by a group of friends ...

5–0. Macclesfield were the only side outside of the National League to reach the semi-finals, but were knocked out of the competition in a 2–1 defeat at

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

on 7 April. On 21 February 2024, Bruce stepped down as Macclesfield manager to take up a coaching role at Salford City, and was replaced by Michael Clegg, previously manager at Warrington Rylands. Under Clegg, Macclesfield finished second, qualifying for the NPL play-offs, but lost the play-off final 2–1 to Marine.

2024–25 season

Ahead of the 2024-25 season prolific forward Kane Drummond departed to Chesterfield and Luke Murphy was released. On 17 June 2024, Clegg left his role as manager by mutual consent, and Robbie Savage was appointed head coach on the same day. Notable summer signings included winger Justin Johnson, midfielder Danny Whitehead, who had four spells at Macclesfield Town, striker Danny Elliott following his departure from

side Scunthorpe United, and goalkeeper Max Dearnley from

. The team began the season with a 1-0 win away at Worksop Town and remained undefeated until a 2-1 loss away to

Mickleover Mickleover is a village in the unitary authority of Derby, in Derbyshire, England. It is west of Derby, northeast of Burton upon Trent, southeast of Ashbourne and northeast of Uttoxeter. History The earliest recorded mention of Mickleov ...

on 28 November. 35 league goals from golden boot winner Danny Elliott and 23 clean sheets from Max Dearnley, helped the team to 109 points - a division and club record. Macclesfield's promotion to the

was confirmed with six matches still to play after defeating

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is a large village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". People who live in Bamber Bri ...

2–1 on 22 March 2025, becoming 2024–25

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division champions, and ending two seasons in the seventh tier.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Player of the Season Awards

Management

Team management and coaching staff

Macclesfield
NWCFL.com. Retrieved: 15 November 2021.

Club management and staff

Managerial history

:''As of 2 March 2025''

Seasons

''As of 30 April 2025''

Club records

Attendance

* Highest home attendance (Top 3): ::5,329 v Marine, 6 May 2024 – NPL Premier Division play-off final ::4,725 v Whitby Town, 26 April 2025 – NPL Premier Division ::4,720 v AFC Liverpool, 2 April 2022 – NWCFL * Lowest home attendance: ::241 v

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

, 5 November 2024 –

Cheshire Senior Cup The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. I ...

second round * Highest away attendance (Top 3): ::3,031 v

, 6 April 2024 –

semi-final ::2,342 v

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

, 26 August 2023 – NPL Premier Division ::2,024 v Leek Town, 16 August 2022 – NPL Division One West * Lowest away attendance: ::181 v

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

, 16 November 2022 –

first round

Results

* Biggest home win: * :: 7–0 v Tadcaster Albion, 13 September 2022 -

first qualifying round * Heaviest home defeat: :: 2–5 v

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

, 30 January 2024 –

quarter-final * Biggest away win: :: 0–6 v

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors Limited , ;Company No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. is a British Automoti ...

, 22 February 2022 – NWCFL Premier Division * Heaviest away defeat: :: 3–0 v Lancaster City, 22 August 2023 – NPL Premier Division * Highest scoring draw: :: 4–4 v Winsford United (A), 3 August 2021 – NWCFL Premier Division * Highest aggregate score: :: (10) 6–4 v Squires Gate (A), 21 August 2021 – FA Cup preliminary round

Player records

* Most appearances (All comps): :: 137 – Laurent Mendy, 31 July 2021 – ''present'' * Goals scored (All comps): :: 53 – James Berry, 7 August 2021 – 22 April 2023 * Goals in a season (All comps): ::33 – James Berry, 2022–23 * Goals in a season (League): ::24 – James Berry, 2022–23 * Goals scored in a match: :: 4 – James Berry v

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

(H), 19 March 2022 – NWCFL Premier Division :: 4 – Tom Clare v Winsford United (A), 3 August 2021 – NWCFL Premier Division :: 4 – Kane Drummond v Atherton Collieries (H), 21 November 2023 – NPL Premier Division

Cup performances

* Best

performance: :: Fourth qualifying round, 2023–24, 2024–25 *Best

performance: :: Semi-finals, 2023–24 *Best

performance: :: First qualifying round, 2021–22 *Best

performance: :: Quarter-finals, 2022–23, 2023–24

Honours

League * NPL Premier Division (level 7) **Champions: 2024–25 **Runners-up: 2023–24 * NPL Division One West (level 8) **Champions: 2022–23 * NWCFL Premier Division (level 9) **Champions: 2021–22

Notable players

''Macclesfield F.C. players who have attained at least one international cap during their career.'' * Alex Bruce * Neil Danns * Justin Griffith (footballer) * Ali Hayder * Oumar Niasse

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord, 53, 14, 34, N, 02, 07, 38, W, type:landmark_scale:2000, display=title Football clubs in Cheshire Association football clubs established in 1874 1874 establishments in England Phoenix clubs (association football) Football clubs in England Northern Premier League clubs North West Counties Football League clubs National League (English football) clubs