Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910. They are regarded as one of the most successful clubs in English football.
Manchester United have won the most League titles (20) of any English club, a joint record 11 FA Cups, four League Cups, and a record 20 FA Community Shields. The club has also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup. In 1998–99, the club won a continental treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
The 1958 Munich air disaster claimed the lives of eight players. In 1968, under the management of Matt Busby, Manchester United was the first English football club to win the European Cup. Alex Ferguson won 28 major honours, and 38 in total, from November 1986 to May 2013, when he announced his retirement after 26 years at the club. On 19 May 2014, Louis van Gaal was appointed as the club's new manager after Ferguson's successor David Moyes was sacked after only 10 months in charge, with the club's record appearance-maker, Ryan Giggs, appointed as his assistant after a brief period as caretaker manager.
Manchester United is the third-richest football club in the world for 2011–12 in terms of revenue, with an annual revenue of €395.9 million, and the world's second most valuable sports team in 2013, valued at $3.165 billion. It is one of the most widely supported football teams in the world. After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was purchased by Malcolm Glazer in May 2005 in a deal valuing the club at almost £800 million, after which the company was taken private again. In August 2012, Manchester United made an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
