Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers FC played a remarkable role in the birth of European club football. Wolves became English champions in 1953/54 and soon installed some of Britain’s earliest stadium floodlights at Molineux. A series of famous floodlit matches against leading teams from around the world followed.
The most famous came in 1954, when Wolves recovered from 0-2 down to defeat Hungarian champions Honvéd 3-2. Honvéd featured stars such as Ferenc Puskás, and the victory was hailed by the British press as evidence that Wolves were “champions of the world”. Their floodlit encounters with Europe’s strongest clubs helped inspire the idea of a continental club competition. The story of The Old Gold is therefore connected not only with English football, but with the origins of European competition itself.