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Leeds United AFC was formed in October 1919 following the dissolution of Leeds City FC, which had been expelled from the Football League by the FA for making irregular payments to players during the First World War. The new club inherited Elland Road and secured election to the Football League Second Division.

The early decades were largely unremarkable. Leeds gained promotion to Division One in 1924 but fluctuated between the top two tiers. Their most notable early player was winger Tom Jennings, who scored 26 league goals in 1926–27. The club were relegated in 1927, promoted again in 1928, then relegated once more in 1931.

In 1933–34 Leeds appointed Billy Hampson as manager and consolidated in Division Two. The decade ended with a solid mid-table Division One finish in 1938–39, just before the Second World War halted football entirely for six years.

Football resumed in 1946 and Leeds settled into a modest Division One existence under manager Major Frank Buckley, who joined in 1948. His greatest act was converting a young John Charles from centre-back to centre-forward — and the results were extraordinary.

Charles became the most complete player in English football: powerful, graceful, two-footed and lethal in the air. In 1955–56 he scored an astonishing 42 league goals in a single season, a club record that has never been broken. Juventus paid a world-record £65,000 for him in 1957 — he went on to become the greatest foreign player ever to play in Italy.

Without Charles, Leeds struggled. They were relegated in 1960 and faced the very real prospect of dropping to the third tier for the first time. The board needed a saviour.

In March 1961, Don Revie was appointed player-manager of a club that had conceded 92 goals the previous season and finished 21st in Division Two. What followed is the most remarkable transformation in English football history.

Revie gave the club a new identity — all-white strip inspired by Real Madrid — fostered fierce loyalty and brought through a generation of extraordinary players. By 1964 Leeds were Division Two champions and promoted. By 1965 they were First Division runners-up and FA Cup finalists.

The trophies followed: First Division champions in 1968–69, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winners in 1967–68 and 1970–71, FA Cup winners in 1972, League Cup winners in 1968, and another First Division title in 1973–74 — Revie's final season before taking the England job.

His squad featured legends who are revered to this day: Billy Bremner (captain), Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray, Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, Jack Charlton and goalkeeper Gary Sprake. They also reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1973 and the European Cup final in 1975.

Revie's departure for the England job in 1974 triggered a turbulent period. The FA controversially appointed Brian Clough as his successor — a man who had publicly criticised Revie's Leeds throughout his career. Clough lasted just 44 days before being sacked, with the players reportedly in revolt.

Jimmy Armfield steadied the ship and led Leeds to the 1975 European Cup final in Paris, where they lost controversially to Bayern Munich (2–0) after having two goals disallowed. Crowd trouble from Leeds fans led to a European ban.

A slow decline set in through the late 1970s. The great Revie-era players aged and were sold. Jock Stein (briefly), Jimmy Adamson and Allan Clarke all took charge as Leeds were relegated from Division One in 1982.

Leeds spent eight years in Division Two, fluctuating between promotion challenges and mid-table mediocrity. Eddie Gray managed the club between 1982 and 1985. Billy Bremner returned to Elland Road as manager in 1985, leading an exciting if inconsistent team that came close to promotion several times but fell short.

The late 1980s were a dark time on and off the pitch. The club's finances were precarious and crowd trouble regularly followed Leeds away from home. When Howard Wilkinson arrived in October 1988, Leeds were still in Division Two — but that was about to change dramatically.

Howard Wilkinson's no-nonsense approach transformed Leeds. Promotion was won in 1990 and Wilkinson immediately strengthened the squad with the signings of Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman and later Gary McAllister and Eric Cantona.

In 1991–92, Leeds won the First Division championship — the last title ever awarded before the formation of the Premier League. Manchester United, managed by Alex Ferguson, were overtaken on the final day. Gordon Strachan was PFA Players' Player of the Year.

The title defence was poor and the controversial sale of Eric Cantona to Manchester United in November 1992 for just £1.2m haunted the club for a generation. Leeds gradually declined under Wilkinson, who was sacked in September 1996 after a poor start to the season.

George Graham steadied the club before David O'Leary took over in 1998 and unleashed one of the most exciting young squads English football had seen in years. Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Harry Kewell, Alan Smith, Robbie Keane and Mark Viduka thrilled fans and the world.

Leeds reached the UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2001, defeating AC Milan, Lazio and Anderlecht along the way before losing to Valencia. They finished 4th that season with 68 points and returned to the Champions League the following year, reaching the quarter-finals.

But the club had borrowed enormously against expected future television income. When those revenues collapsed, the crisis was catastrophic. Players were sold at a loss, O'Leary was sacked, and Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004 under Peter Reid. The club entered administration in 2007 and were deducted 15 points, falling to League One — the third tier — for the first time ever.

Leeds spent three seasons in League One, winning promotion in 2010 under Simon Grayson. Back in the Championship, they spent eight years in football's second tier, lurching between managerial appointments and boardroom instability.

The club's ownership passed to various investors — including a controversial period under Massimo Cellino, who sacked or appointed a succession of managers at bewildering speed. Promotions came close under Grayson, Neil Warnock and others but always fell just short.

By 2018 Leeds were a club with enormous fan support — regularly drawing over 30,000 — but without direction, quality or ambition. That was about to change with the most significant appointment in the club's modern history.

The arrival of Argentine tactician Marcelo Bielsa in June 2018 was a bolt from the blue. Known as "El Loco" for his obsessive preparation and attacking philosophy, Bielsa immediately transformed Leeds' style of play and the players' physical conditioning.

Two seasons of near-misses — a heartbreaking play-off semi-final defeat to Derby in 2019 — gave way to a dominant 2019–20 Championship campaign. Leeds were crowned champions with 93 points, ending a 16-year exile from the Premier League.

The Premier League return in 2020–21 was a triumph: 9th place, the highest finish for a newly promoted side in years. Patrick Bamford scored 17 goals. Bielsa's relentless pressing was admired worldwide. The following season was more difficult (17th) and 2022–23 brought Bielsa's sacking in February, with the club ultimately relegated in 19th place despite late-season efforts under Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce.

Daniel Farke was appointed in the summer of 2023 and despite a painful play-off final defeat to Southampton in 2023–24 (lost on penalties at Wembley), the 2024–25 season brought redemption: Leeds were Championship champions with 91 points, Joël Piroe won the golden boot, and the club returned to the Premier League for the third time in five years.

The 2025–26 Premier League season saw Leeds consolidate at 14th place with 46 points, new signing Dominic Calvert-Lewin top-scoring with 14 league goals, and a run to the FA Cup semi-finals — the club's best cup run in 30 years. The foundations appear solid for a sustained top-flight presence for the first time since the early 2000s.