Arsenal does not have a single "official" birthday, but it does have a month: December 1886. In early December workers at a munitions factory in Woolwich, London, set up a football team, and on 11 December 1886 they played their first match. So this year the Gunners turn 140, wearing one of the most recognisable shirts in the world.

The Dial Square workers

The club was born inside the Royal Arsenal, the great armaments works at Woolwich. Scotsman David Danskin and fifteen other workers from the Dial Square workshop formed the team, which at first took the name of their workshop. Sources disagree on the exact day it was founded: some even point to October, while early December is usually marked as the birthday. What is certain is the first match, against Eastern Wanderers on the Isle of Dogs. Soon afterwards the team became Royal Arsenal, in 1893 Woolwich Arsenal, joining the Football League, and plain "Arsenal" was settled on in November 1919.

A red from Nottingham

From day one the team wore red. Fred Beardsley, one of the first players, came from Nottingham and had played for Nottingham Forest, so he suggested their colours. For years the story went that Forest also donated the first shirts, but more recent research suggests they were probably bought in London. Forest is said to have sent something just as important, though: the club's first ball.

Chapman's white sleeves

In 1925 Herbert Chapman took over, the manager who transformed Arsenal. Under him came the 1930 FA Cup and the league titles of 1930-31 and 1932-33. In 1933 he also gave the shirt the look we know today: a red body with white sleeves. According to the best-known version, the idea came from cartoonist Tom Webster, who had seen a golfer wearing a sleeveless sweater over a white shirt. The details, like the date of the first match in the new shirt, are still debated by historians.

From three cannons to one

The cannon has been on the crest since the early years, a reminder of the arsenal where the team was born. In 1888 the first emblem showed three cannons. In 1922 a single cannon appeared with the words "The Gunners", the nickname that stuck forever and later gave the fans their own name, "Gooners". Today's crest, from 2002, shows the cannon facing east. For collectors, the silver-plated "Cannon" pendant carries exactly this symbol.

From Highbury to the Emirates

In 1913 Arsenal moved to north London, to Highbury, where it stayed for 93 years. For the final season there, 2005-06, it wore a dark red shirt, the famous redcurrant, and in July 2006 it moved to the Emirates. The shirt has been made by Umbro, by Adidas from 1986 to 1994, by Nike until 2014, by Puma, and again by Adidas since 2019. The first chest sponsor was JVC in 1981, while Emirates stayed there from 2006 to 2014.

Invincibles and a 22-year wait

Arsène Wenger, in charge from 1996 to 2018, became the club's longest-serving manager. In 2003-04 his "Invincibles" won the league without losing a single match, part of a 49-game unbeaten run that remains an English record. A long wait followed, until in May 2026 Mikel Arteta's team won the title again, the first in 22 years.

Happy birthday, Gunners. From a workshop in Woolwich to the white sleeves half the world has copied, 140 years of red history.

See Arsenal shirts and merchandise at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Emirates Stadium – Ank kumar, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.