Ardent soccer fans will know their favorite English Premier League team’s nickname, and possibly a few others. You hear them thrown in abundance by pundits and among soccer communities, but do you know all of the EPL soccer clubs’ nicknames in the Premier League?
Even if you are new to soccer or don’t really follow the English Premier League, it could be handy to have a list of nicknames to refer to when the conversation meanders to English soccer.
2024/25 EPL Club Nicknames
Here is the list of the nicknames for each English Premier League team.
| Arsenal | The Gunners |
| Aston Villa | The Villans |
| Bournemouth | The Cherries |
| Brentford | The Bees |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | The Seagulls/The Albion |
| Chelsea | The Blues |
| Crystal Palace | The Eagles |
| Fulham | The Cottagers |
| Everton | The Toffees |
| Ipswich Town | The Blues/Tractor Boys |
| Leicester City | The Foxes |
| Liverpool | The Reds/Pool |
| Manchester City | The Cityzens |
| Manchester United | The Red Devils |
| Newcastle United | The Magpies/Toon Army |
| Nottingham Forest | Forest/The Tricky Trees |
| Southampton | The Saints |
| Tottenham Hotspurs | The Lilywhites/Spurs |
| West Ham | The Hammers |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | The Wolves |
History of English Premier League Nicknames
The Premier League in its current form was founded in 1992, but before that English soccer clubs played in the Football League First Division, or the Premiership. The roots of the English soccer league date back to 1888, and the first league was created by the Villans’ (Aston Villa) club director, William McGregor.
The league has not only seen drastic changes in the way soccer is played, but it even predates some of the essential modern soccer rules such as the penalty kick, offside laws, and even yellow and red cards. Some of these nicknames can be traced back to a club’s working roots. Such as the Gunners, which was established by a group of munition workers in the Royal Arsenal Factory in London. Sheffield and West Ham have similar origins, with the nicknames taking after Sheffield’s steel industry and the Thames Ironworks near West Ham.
Then, there are nicknames that derive from club kit colors and insignia, something that we also find a lot of with international soccer team nicknames. Other nicknames may refer to animals, such as Wolves, Magpies, Eagles, Seagulls and Bees. In those cases, the animals either also appear on the club’s crest or are used as mascots for the clubs.
