The term phoenix club is used in professional team sports to refer to a new entity that is set up to replace that of a club that has failed in business terms but not in sporting terms, and generally involves the continuation of the sporting activity. In some cases, the phoenix club is created by the supporters of the club which has ended, or seems to be on the point of ending. A phoenix club will often have the same or similar name, logo and playing uniform to the original club. The term is particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom and Italy in relation to association football, although it is also used in other countries. The term has also been used to refer to a club formed by supporters of a major team when a change of ownership or policy causes them to lose faith in the management of their favoured side. This happened in 2005, when F.C. United of Manchester was formed by some fans of Manchester United, as a protest at the sale of the latter to Malcolm Glazer, and at what they saw as excessive commercialisation of the club although the new club's status as a phoenix is open to dispute if the original club still exists. The term is derived from the mythical phoenix, a bird which was said to resurrect itself from its own ashes. In the Australia-New Zealand A-League the demise of the sole New Zealand team, New Zealand Knights, resulted in the newly-created club actually calling itself the Phoenix, albeit that the club moved to a different city, Wellington. In some cases, phoenix clubs will retain the name of the club which they replaced, implying a continuation from the former team. In other cases, name changes occur, perhaps due to proprietorial ownership of the old club's name. An American football example is the Cleveland Browns, the original franchise of which moved to Baltimore in 1995 to become the Baltimore Ravens. However, the NFL stipulated that, as part of the move, the franchise would not be able to keep the history and records of the Browns, a cornerstone NFL franchise. In 1999, the "new" Browns were granted an expansion franchise and were awarded all of the former team's history by the league, even though the extant Ravens had the original Browns players and personnel. The league and club view the Browns as one single team with a sporting hiatus. The term does not include teams that have relocated as a going concern, and/or have been renamed. Many of the former may list their founding date as the day they moved, but they are considered to be the same club and therefore cannot be seen as a phoenix, unless their previous entity has officially folded. However, because there is no single, universally-accepted definition, ascribing the term phoenix club can be disputed depending on the criteria used. Furthermore, there may be changes in what each country's football governing body and legal system defines as a phoenix club rather than resurrected club.
In the early 21st century, several Italian clubs endured very severe economic problems. Some, most notably Fiorentina, Napoli, Parma and Torino were each declared formally bankrupt and had to reapply to the Italian football authorities to play at a lower level, with new owners and as new corporate entities. All are considered to be the same clubs before and after the bankruptcy rather than separate phoenix entities; They obtained the "sports title" to remain in the Italy football pyramid using clauses in the Article 52 of N.O.I.F..
Latvia
Lithuania
aFollowing a court settlement in 2014, club acquired rights to the history, titles, name and other assets of the original club.
North Macedonia
Northern Ireland
Peru
Republic of Ireland
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Original club
Phoenix club
Year established
Clydebank F.C. b
Clydebank F.C.
2002
Gretna F.C.
Gretna F.C. 2008
2008
b Airdrieonians F.C. were liquidated in 2002 but their owners bought Clydebank and rebranded it as Airdrie United ; therefore that club is not a phoenix as it took the place of an existing entity. However the current incarnation of Clydebank is a phoenix, as it was founded by supporters to replace the entity which had moved to Airdrie and had to restart at the bottom of the league pyramid. c During the liquidation of The Rangers Football Club plc in 2012, a new company, set up for the purpose, bought the assets of the business and secured the transfer of its SFA membership, which allowed Rangers F.C. to continue playing, albeit having to start again in the lowest national division of the Scottish football league system. It is regarded as a continuation of the same club by the relevant authorities.
