Aberdeen was born on 14 April 1903 from the merger of three clubs in the Scottish city. On 14 April 2027 the Dons turn 124. This is the club that, with Alex Ferguson on the bench, conquered Europe on a rainy night in Sweden.

Three clubs become one

In the early 20th century Aberdeen had three clubs: the old Aberdeen of 1881, Victoria United and Orion. The amalgamation committee met on 14 April 1903 at the offices of Alex Clarke on Bridge Street and appointed the first board of directors. Jimmy Philip was confirmed as manager.

The aim was a strong club that would get into the Scottish League. The first match was played on 15 August 1903, a 1-1 draw with Stenhousemuir. A year later the club entered the Second Division.

From white to the Wasps

The first kit was almost all white, like that of the old Aberdeen, and it was registered that way with the Scottish FA. It lasted only one season.

From 1904-05 the team wore vertical black and gold stripes. The design looked like a wasp, and so the players became "The Wasps". Some shirts from 1912-1915 even had black lace-up collars.

Red from the city's coat of arms

In March 1939 Aberdeen dropped black and gold for red and white, the colours of the city's coat of arms. In 1966 it switched to an all-red kit, and the following year it reached the Scottish Cup final.

There was no official crest until November 1972. The design, by Donald Addison, shows a capital "A" shaped like a goal seen from the side, with a ball in place of the crossbar.

The origin of the nickname "Dons" remains unknown. The earliest written reference found by the AFC Heritage Trust is in a Glasgow sporting paper in October 1905.

Pittodrie, home of the Dons

The team has played at Pittodrie since day one. According to English Wikipedia, the name comes from a Celtic term meaning "place of manure". Perhaps not the most poetic name for a ground with so much history.

In 1978 it became the first stadium in Britain to be all-seated and all-covered. It was there that player and coach Donald Colman invented the sunken bench, the famous dug-out.

The night of Gothenburg

Alex Ferguson took over in 1978 and stayed until 1986. In those years Aberdeen won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup. The core of the team was Jim Leighton, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish and Gordon Strachan.

In the 1982-83 Cup Winners' Cup they knocked out Bayern, with a 0-0 draw in Munich and a 3-2 win in the return leg. In the final on 11 May 1983, at the Nya Ullevi and in the rain, they beat Real Madrid 2-1 after extra time. Eric Black opened the scoring and substitute John Hewitt headed the winner in the 112th minute.

A few months later came the European Super Cup against Hamburg. The pinstriped shirt from the 1983 final remained so popular that in 2022-23 a commemorative kit inspired by it was released.

The appearance record belongs to Willie Miller with 796 games. The all-time top scorer is Joe Harper with 199 goals.

Celebrate with us

From the black and gold Wasps to the red of Gothenburg, Aberdeen showed that a club far from the big centres can beat Real Madrid. Happy 124th birthday to the Dons!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen – Braveheart, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.