Full name | Kidderminster Harriers Football Club | ||
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Nickname(s) | Kiddy, Harriers, Carpetmen, The Reds | ||
Founded | 1886[1] | ||
Ground | Aggborough | ||
Capacity | 6,444[2] | ||
Chairman | Richard Lane | ||
Manager | Phil Brown | ||
League | National League North | ||
2023–24 | National League, 22nd of 24 (relegated) | ||
Website | http://www.harriers.co.uk/ | ||
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Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system.
Formed in 1886, Harriers have spent their entire history at Aggborough Stadium. They have won the Worcestershire Senior Cup a record 27 times and are the only club from the county ever to have played in the English Football League. Founder members of the Birmingham & District League in 1889, they merged with Kidderminster Olympic the next year and entered the Midland League as Kidderminster F.C., though folded due to financial difficulties in March 1891. Kidderminster Harriers reverted to amateur status and rejoined the Birmingham & District League, though it would take until 1937–38 for them to claim their first league title, which they retained the following year. They joined the Southern League in 1948, though reverted to the Birmingham & District League in 1960. They won four further league titles: 1964–65, 1968–69, 1969–70 and 1970–71. Harriers switched to the Southern League Division One North in 1972 and were promoted to the Alliance Premier League at the end of the 1982–83 season.
Kidderminster Harriers won the FA Trophy in 1987 and were crowned Conference champions in 1993–94, though Graham Allner's team were denied a place in the Football League due to the state of Aggborough. The club improved the stadium and were admitted after winning the title again under Jan Mølby's stewardship in 1999–2000. They remained in the Football League for five seasons, finishing as high as tenth in the Third Division in 2002, before being relegated out of League Two three years later. They finished second in the Conference in 2012–13, but were beaten in the play-off semi-finals, and were relegated from the National League in 2016. They qualified for the National League North play-offs in 2017, 2018 and 2022 before winning the play-off final in 2023 to return to the National League after seven years.