Association Football
Denmark
- Formation of the Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union or DBU)
England
- The Football League – Preston North End 40 points, Aston Villa 29, Wolves 28, Blackburn Rovers 26, Bolton Wanderers 22, West Bromwich Albion 22
- FA Cup final – Preston North End 3–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers at The Oval.
- Preston North Ends wins the inaugural Football League championship unbeaten, an achievement that will not be equalled until 2003–04 by Arsenal. Preston also wins the FA Cup to become the first team ever to complete The Double. The team earns the nickname of "Invincibles".
- The Football Alliance is founded as a rival to the Football League. It is short–lived and collapses in 1892 when the Football League expands. The Alliance is brokered by Sheffield Wednesday president John Holmes. Founder members include Sheffield Wednesday, Newton Heath (Manchester United), Nottingham Forest, Small Heath (Birmingham City) and Grimsby Town. Ardwick (Manchester City) will join in 1891 for the final season.
- Sheffield United is founded. With Sheffield Wednesday having left Bramall Lane in 1887, the management committee of the Bramall Lane complex decides to form a new football club at the ground, using Sheffield United Cricket Club as its basis. Bramall Lane is the world's oldest professional football venue, though not the longest in continuous use (which is Deepdale).
- The 1889–90 Football League season features the same 12 teams as in 1888–89.
Netherlands
- 8 December — formation of the Royal Dutch Football Association (i.e., the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond or KNVB).
Scotland
- Scottish Cup final – Third Lanark 2–1 Celtic (replay; the SFA declared the original match void due to adverse conditions). Celtic reaches the Scottish Cup final in the club's inaugural season.
Read more about this topic: 1889 In Sports
Famous quotes containing the words association and/or football:
“The spiritual kinship between Lincoln and Whitman was founded upon their Americanism, their essential Westernism. Whitman had grown up without much formal education; Lincoln had scarcely any education. One had become the notable poet of the day; one the orator of the Gettsyburg Address. It was inevitable that Whitman as a poet should turn with a feeling of kinship to Lincoln, and even without any association or contact feel that Lincoln was his.”
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)
“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)