clubs
This championship confronts the oldest active association football clubs around the world.
Britain, the propulsor of the sport, is the biggest representative in Pioneers, containing 16 clubs from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
European clubs follow suit and make majority, as old giants like France, Hungary, Switzerland or Germany, among many others, have stolen all the trophies in the first couple of seasons.
Football later travelled outside of Europe, and America are given very strong representation with decanos from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and, of course, Brazil.
Africa are currently a heavy weight in the top divisions. The continent's contribution to the sport can never be understated, as Ghana, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia make sure to express.
With only two clubs present, Asia have the chance every chance to rewrite history and make it big, with India and small Hong Kong on the rise.
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BRITAIN
Sheffield Football Club - England - 1857
Cray Wanderers Football Club - England - 1860
Notts County Football Club - England - 1862
Stoke City Football Club - England - 1863
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club - England - 1864
Wrexham Assotiation Football Club - Wales - 1864
Nottingham Forest Football Club - England - 1865
Queen's Park Football Club - Scotland - 1867
Kilmarnock Football Club - Scotland - 1869
Reading Football Club - England - 1871
Rangers Football Club - Scotland - 1872
Aston Villa Football Club - England - 1874
Hearts of Midlothian Football Club - Scotland - 1874
Bolton Wanderers Football Club - England - 1874
Hibernian Football Club - Scotland - 1875
Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club - Northern Ireland - 1879
EUROPE
Turn-und Sportverein München von 1860 - Germany - 1860
Le Havre Athletic Club - France - 1872
Koninklijke Haarlemsche Football Club - Netherlands - 1879
Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879 - Switzerland - 1879
Royal Antwerp Football Club - Belgium - 1880
Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux - France - 1881
Újpest Football Club - Hungary - 1885
Boldklubben Frem - Denmark - 1886
Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona - Spain - 1886
Örgryte Idrottssällskap - Sweden - 1887
Associação Académica de Coimbra - Portugal - 1887
Hamburger Sport-Verein - Germany - 1887
Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club - Hungary - 1888
Real Club Recreativo Huelva - Spain - 1889
Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis Football Club - Greece - 1890
St George's Football Club - Malta - 1890
Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892 - Italy - 1892
Genoa Cricket and Football Club - Italy - 1893
First Vienna Football-Club 1894 - Austria - 1894
AMERICA
Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata - Argentina - 1887
Club Atlético Rosario Central - Argentina - 1889
Albion Football Club - Uruguay - 1891
Club Atlético Peñarol - Uruguay - 1891
Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers - Chile - 1892
Club de Regatas do Flamengo - Brazil - 1895
Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama - Brazil - 1898
AFRICA
Al Ahly Sporting Club - Egypt - 1907
Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club - Ghana - 1911
Ésperance Sportive de Tunis - Tunisia - 1919
Moghreb Athlétic de Tétouan - Morocco - 1922
ASIA
Hong Kong Football Club - Hong Kong - 1886
Mohun Bagan Athletic Club - India - 1889
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It's impossible to satisfactorily fill only 48 slots, so the selection is inherently imperfect, mainly because, as aforementioned, its criteria tends to representa different parts of the world.
As such, there were included many clubs that aren't as old as others. For example, Al Ahly, founded in 1907, was included instead of Manchester United, founded in 1878, as it i the oldest active club in Africa. Whereas, England, the craddle of the sport itself, already has 9 clubs competing in Pioneers, all of them older than any other Premier League side. If the list was 100% "correct", only a small percentage of clubs would belong outside of Britain.
The selection was made after some research, using a variety of articles and a particularly helpfull site: footballhistory ). Here's a list of honourable mentions that didn't make the final cut:
BRITAIN: Maidenhead United (1870) - Stanraer (1870) - Grantham Town (1874) - Birmingham City (1875) - Blackburn Rovers (1875) - Middlesbrough (1876) - Wolverhampton Wanderers (1877) - Manchester United (1878) - West Bromwich Albion (1878) - Lisburn Distilley (1880) - Athlone Town (1887) - Bohemian FC (1890)
EUROPE: Sevilla (1890) - Club Brugge (1891) - Hertha Berlin (1892) - SK Slavia Praha (1892) - FC Basel (1893) - FC Porto (1893) - Odds BK (1894) - Le Chaux-de-Fonds (1894) - Floriana (1894) - Winterthur (1896) - Udinese Calcio (1896) - Hannover 96 (1896) - Lausanne-Sport (1896) - FC Zurich (1896) - Juventus (1897) - Red Star (1897) - Athletic club (1898) - Rapid Wien (1898) - Standard Liège (1898) - Tatran Presov (1898) - AC Milan (1899) - Barcelona (1899) - Olympique Marseille (1899) - Werder Bremen (1899) - Cerce Brugge (1899) - Ferencvárosi (1899)
AMERICA: Ponte Preta (1900) - River Plate (1901) - Montevideo Wanderers (1902)
AFRICA: Savages FC (1882) - Gezira SC (1882) - Alexandria SC (1890) - CDJ Oran (1894) - CAL Oran (1897) - unfortunately, none of these clubs exist in the Soccer Manager Worlds database
ASIA: PSM Makassar (1915) - Esteghlal (1945)
And because it is imperfect, feel free to comment which clubs you'd include.
