Afan Lido

Afan Lido Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pel-droed Lido Afan) is a football team based in Port Talbot, Wales, playing in the Cymru South.

History

Afan Lido F.C. were founded in 1967 shortly after the opening of the Afan Lido Sports Centre in Aberavon. A football team was set up to give the Centre's users a proper organisation. Ken Williams was the prime mover behind the club.

Lido gained admission to the Port Talbot and District League for the 1967/68 season. In 1971–72 the club was accepted into the Welsh Football League, and two years later was promoted into the First Division (now the Second Division), and another two years later they were promoted again into the Premier Division (now the First Division). After a barren spell they were relegated but were promoted in 1984–85; by this time the League had been reorganised and a higher National Division had been formed, to which Afan Lido were promoted in 1989–90 after finishing 3rd (they had actually won the Premier Division the two previous seasons, but not been promoted because of the ground criteria set by the League).

Afan Lido became founder members of the League of Wales in 1992, and won the League Cup in 1992–93 and 1993–94. The next year the porous defence was addressed, and the team finished in second place in the League, winning a UEFA Cup place, but they were defeated by RAF Yelgava of Latvia on the away-goals rule. This was a taste of things to come, and Afan Lido were relegated from the League of Wales before winning their place back after an absence of two years.

Lido's young team that emerged during the spell out of the League of Wales grew together and the club enjoyed several encouraging seasons after settling again in the top flight. Lido's policy of choosing players from within the club's huge junior structure (which has 25 teams for all age groups, from under 5s upwards) paid off, when they finished 5th place in 2001–02. If the club had scored a single point more, in fact, Lido would have taken the town into Eu

This page also has a version in other languages :  Аван Лидо (russian)