Brighton & Hove Albion marked 125 years with a 3-0 win over champions Arsenal before a record Amex crowd of 31,944, in a one-off kit modelled on the 1901 strip.
Brighton & Hove Albion marked 125 years since their first competitive match by beating the Premier League champions. Arsenal were swept aside 3-0 at the Amex on Saturday, in front of what the club says was a record crowd for the ground of 31,944. The players wore a one-off kit modelled on the strip of 1901, and the day carried flags on every home seat, a tifo in the East Stand and an auction for the club’s Foundation.
The club chose this fixture months ago as its 125 Anniversary Match. It was the home game closest to 21 September, the date Albion played their first competitive match in 1901.
Why this was the anniversary game
Brighton & Hove Albion was founded on 24 June 1901 at the Seven Stars pub on Ship Street. John Jackson founded the club and became its first manager. A blue plaque was unveiled at the pub on the club’s 125th birthday in June, and the club laid a wreath at Jackson’s grave the same morning.
The first competitive match followed less than three months after the founding, on 21 September 1901. Saturday’s game against Arsenal, two days short of exactly 125 years later, was picked as the season’s official celebration.
The day at the Amex
The club set out the day’s programme in advance. It included:
- an individual flag on every home seat, a blue-and-white tifo mosaic in the East Stand, an expanded pyrotechnics display and a special 125 centre-circle flag as the teams came out
- white corner flags bearing the 125 anniversary crest
- two collectible matchday programmes, a standard edition and a glossy A4 souvenir edition
- live music around the ground, including acoustic acts by Falmer station and a band in the Terrace
- half-time interviews with Bobby Zamora and Jack Hinshelwood, and a feature with chairman Tony Bloom
- a post-match auction of match-worn signed shirts, signed corner flags and squad-signed programmes, with donations going to the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation
- commemorative artwork by Brighton fan George Fox, unveiled near the 1901 Pub entrance, and programme artwork by Jamie Eke
Anna Easthope, the club’s head of marketing, said: “Saturday’s game is one of the highlights of the club’s 125 years celebrations which have been in the planning for many months.”
A kit for one game only
The players wore the 125 anniversary kit: a classic blue shirt with cream shorts, modelled on the strip worn in the club’s earliest days. The club says this was the only time it will be worn in competitive action.
The shirt went on sale in May in a limited anniversary box. Only 1,901 boxes were produced, a nod to the founding year.
The match
The result made the celebration complete. According to the club’s own match report, the win over the current champions was “a victory every bit as convincing as the score suggests”.
The goals:
- 31 minutes: Pascal Gross curled a right-foot shot in off both posts. Gross rejoined Albion from Borussia Dortmund in January.
- On the stroke of half-time: Babis Kostoulas slammed a right-foot shot inside the post for 2-0.
- 57 minutes: Chema Andres, on his first league start, headed in from a Gross corner.
Bart Verbruggen kept the clean sheet, including a leg save from Kai Havertz. The report credits the pre-match atmosphere with lifting Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who pressed Arsenal from the kick-off. The attendance of 31,944 is given as a record for the stadium.
Tony Bloom: “a proud custodian”
Chairman Tony Bloom published a message to supporters before the game. “Since 1901, this football club has been part of the fabric of our city and the broader county of Sussex,” he wrote.
Bloom’s grandfather, Harry Bloom, was the club’s vice-chairman in the 1970s, when Albion first reached the old First Division. Of his own role, Bloom wrote: “More than just being an owner in the financial sense, I see myself as a proud custodian of this amazing football club.”
When the club finally opened the doors to the Amex in 2011, Bloom wrote, “it represented the culmination of years of hard work, persistence and belief”. Albion have now spent ten consecutive seasons in the Premier League.
He gave the anniversary to the supporters who kept the club alive through the loss of the Goldstone Ground, the seasons playing home games in Gillingham and the Withdean years: “What got this football club through was the determination of its fans. The bucket collections. The protests. The refusal to accept that the Albion should disappear. This anniversary belongs as much to those supporters as anyone.”
Looking forward, he pointed to the club’s plans for a purpose-built women’s stadium at the Amex site, which he called a landmark development for women’s football.
A year of celebrations
The anniversary match caps a programme that has run across the whole of 2026:
- 19 May: a 125th anniversary players’ awards night at the Amex, closed by Norman Cook behind the decks
- 6 June: a family festival held on the Amex pitch
- 24 June: the blue plaque unveiled at the Seven Stars on the club’s 125th birthday
- 15 August: “Stand or Fall”, a permanent exhibition of the club’s history, opened at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
- September: a Stand or Fall stage show by Albion fan Mark Brailsford at the Theatre Royal
- This season: a 125 fan wall is planned at the stadium honouring players from Tommy Cook to Lewis Dunk, with proceeds going to the club’s Foundation
What it means for you
- The exhibition is open now. “Stand or Fall” is a permanent, immersive exhibition of the club’s 125 years at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in the Royal Pavilion gardens. It joins the city’s other days out in our things to do in Brighton guide.
- The plaque is a two-minute detour. The square blue plaque marking the club’s founding is on the Seven Stars, Ship Street, in the Lanes. If you drive in to see either, our parking guide covers the nearest car parks.
- The one-off shirt exists in 1,901 boxes only, and the match-worn versions were auctioned after the game with donations going to the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation.
- The anniversary itself falls on Monday. The club’s first competitive match was played on 21 September 1901, 125 years ago this week.
If your club, school or charity is marking a milestone in or around Brighton that we should cover, tell us at hello@brightontimes.co.uk.
Sources: Brighton & Hove Albion FC: match report, 19 September 2026; matchday programme of events; message from Tony Bloom; 125 years hub; 125th anniversary shirt announcement; blue plaque unveiling.
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