St Johnstone F.C.

St Johnstone

Full name	St Johnstone Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Saints
Founded	1884; 140 years ago (1884)
Ground	McDiarmid Park
Capacity	10,696[1]
Owner	Adam Webb
CEO	Francis Smith
Manager	Simo Valakari
League	Scottish Premiership
2023–24	Scottish Premiership, 10th of 12
Website	www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun) – an old name of Perth, and the team is nicknamed the "Saints".

The club was officially founded in 1884, and the team played its first match in February 1885.

Their home since 1989 has been McDiarmid Park; former home venues were the Perth Recreation Grounds and, from 1924 to 1989, Muirton Park.

The team's first Scottish Cup appearance was in 1886–87 and they joined the Scottish Football League in 1911–12.

Historically, St Johnstone tended to float between the top two divisions of Scottish football and gained the reputation of being a "yo-yo club". The team won the Scottish Football League First Division, then the second tier of Scottish league football, in 2008–09, bringing a return of first tier football to McDiarmid Park for the 2009–10 season after a seven-year absence. They have played in the Scottish Premier League, rebranded as the Scottish Premiership in 2013, for fifteen seasons to 2023–24, their longest ever stay in the highest league. St Johnstone's traditional rivals are the two Dundee clubs, Dundee and Dundee United, with matches between St Johnstone and either Dundee club being called "Tayside derbies".

St Johnstone had limited success in cup competitions for the first 130 years of their history, losing at the semi-final stage on numerous occasions, as well as losing two Scottish League Cup finals. In 2014, they won their first Scottish Cup with a 2–0 win against Dundee United. In 2020–21, St Johnstone won their first League Cup and second Scottish Cup to complete a historic Cup double, becoming only the fourth team to achieve the feat. They defeated Livingston 1–0 in the League Cup final and Hibernian 1–0 in the Scottish Cup final.

They have also won the Scottish second tier seven times, the Scottish Challenge Cup in 2007, the B Division Supplementary Cup in 1949 and the Scottish Consolation Cup in 1911 and 1914. They have qualified for European competitions in seven seasons, including four consecutively from 2013 to 2016. Their highest league position in the top division is third place on three occasions: 1971, 1999 and 2013.