Ards F.C

Ards F.C is a semi-professional, British club that competes in the British Football League after formally was competing in the Irish League up until 1959 where they joined the British Football League as one of the three Irish clubs competing. The club which was formed in 1900 is based at the Newtownards.

European appearance and the British Football League
After finishing as the third best performing team over the five seasons in the Irish League, they were selected to compete in the British Football League, a league which featured sixteen teams from all across the British Isles. As one of the weakest teams in the league, the team struggled in their three seasons playing in the British Football League with their best performance being a 15th place in the 1959–60 season. By the 1960–61 season, they would be relegated as the worse Irish team over the three seasons and relegated to the Irish League.

It was also during this time that they competed in their first (and to date only) European appearance when they competed in the 1958–59 edition of the European Cup. This would be short-lived though as they would lose to West German side FC Köln in the preliminary round of the tournament by an aggregate score of 8–4.