About Newport County AFC

Newport County AFC is a professional football club based in Newport, South Wales. It was founded in 1912 and originally played in the Southern League before becoming a founding member of the Football League Third Division in 1920. The club is commonly known as “The Exiles” and plays its home matches at Rodney Parade, sharing the stadium with other sports teams. Over its history, Newport County has been closely associated with the lower tiers of English football while maintaining a strong local identity in Welsh football culture.

In its early Football League years, the club experienced mixed success, including promotion and relegation between divisions. One of its most successful early achievements came in the 1938–39 season when it won the Third Division South title. After World War II, the club briefly competed in the Second Division but struggled to maintain that level and was eventually relegated again, spending much of the following decades in the lower divisions.

The club later faced financial difficulties in the 1980s, which led to relegations and ultimately its collapse in 1989. It was then reformed and restarted in non-league football, gradually rebuilding through the Welsh and English league systems. Over time, Newport County returned to the Football League in 2013 after winning the Conference Premier play-off final, marking a major revival in its modern history and re-establishing itself as a professional league club.