List of Dover Athletic F.C. seasons

Dover receive the Isthmian League championship trophy in 2009

This is a list of seasons played by Dover Athletic F.C. in English football, from the club's formation to the most recent completed season. It details the club's achievements in all major and some minor competitions, and the top scorers for each season where known.

Dover Athletic F.C. was formed in 1983 after the dissolution of the town's previous club, Dover F.C., whose place in the Southern League was taken by the new club. In the 1989–90 season Dover Athletic won the Southern League championship, but failed to gain promotion to the Football Conference due to ground grading issues. Three seasons later the team won this title again and this time gained promotion to the Conference, where they spent nine seasons before being relegated.

The club's best performance in the FA Cup was an appearance in the Third Round proper in both the 2010–11 and the 2014–15 season, while the best performance registered in the FA Trophy, the national competition for higher-level non-league clubs, was a run to the semi-finals in the 1997–98 season.

Seasons

Season League FA Cup FA Trophy Other competitions Top scorer[1]
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos
1983–84 SLS 38 12 9 17 51 74 45 13th R1Q RP SLC R1
1984–85 SLS 38 7 7 24 39 78 28 19th R2Q RP SLC R?[2]
1985–86 SLS 40 23 6 11 89 53 75 4th RP R1Q EFC R?[3]
1986–87 SLS 38 20 6 12 66 43 66 5th R4Q R2Q SLC R2[4]
1987–88 SLS 40 28 10 2 81 28 94 1st R1Q R1Q
1988–89 SLP 42 19 12 11 65 47 69 6th R4Q R2 SLC R4[5]
1989–90 SLP 42 32 6 4 87 27 102 1st[6] R3Q R3 SLC R2[7]
1990–91 SLP 42 21 11 10 56 37 74 4th R4Q R2 KSC Winners
1991–92 SLP 42 23 15 4 66 30 84 2nd R4Q R1
1992–93 SLP 40 25 11 4 65 23 86 1st R3Q R2
1993–94 Conf 42 17 7 18 48 49 58 8th R1Q R3 KSC Runners-up
1994–95 Conf 42 11 16 15 48 55 49 16th R4Q R1
1995–96 Conf 42 11 7 24 51 74 40 20th R1Q R2
1996–97 Conf 42 12 14 16 57 68 50 17th R3Q R1
1997–98 Conf 42 15 10 17 60 70 55 13th R3Q SF
1998–99 Conf 42 15 13 14 54 48 58 11th R4Q R3
1999–00 Conf 42 18 12 12 65 56 66 6th R4Q R5 CLC R1
KSC SF 		Joff Vansittart 19
2000–01 Conf 42 14 11 17 54 56 53 15th R4Q R3 FLT R1S
CLC R2
KSC Runners-up 		Joff Vansittart 14
2001–02 Conf 42 11 6 25 41 65 39 22nd R4Q R3 KSC QF Keith Scott 14
2002–03 SLP 42 19 14 9 42 35 71 3rd R1 R5 SLC R3
KSC R1 		Jamie Day
Tommy Tyne 		11
2003–04 SLP 42 12 13 17 50 59 49 19th R3Q R5 SLC QF
KSC SF 		Craig Wilkins 20
2004–05 IsP[8] 42 10 9 23 50 66 39 21st R1Q R1 ILC R3
KSC Runners-up 		Craig Cloke 9
2005–06 Is1 44 21 14 9 69 46 77 5th[9] R2Q R1Q ILC R4
KSC QF 		Craig Wilkins 19
2006–07 Is1S[10] 42 22 11 9 77 41 77 3rd R4Q R1Q ILC Runners-up
KSC QF 		Jimmy Dryden 17
2007–08 Is1S 42 30 8 4 84 29 98 1st R2Q R3Q ILC R2
KSC R1 		Francis Collin 21
2008–09 IsP 42 33 5 4 91 34 104 1st R3Q R2Q ILC QF
KSC R1 		Francis Collin 24
2009–10 ConfS 42 22 9 11 66 47 75 2nd[11] R4Q R3 KSC tbc Adam Birchall 18
2010–11 ConfS 42 22 8 12 80 51 74 7th R3 R3Q KSC tbc Adam Birchall 45
2011–12 ConfS 42 17 15 10 62 49 66 7th R4Q R3Q KSC SF Billy Bricknell 16
2012–13 ConfS 42 22 10 10 69 44 76 3rd[12] R3Q R3Q KSC
2013–14 ConfS 42 20 9 13 63 38 69 5th[13] R2 R3 KSC
2014–15 ConfP 46 19 11 16 69 58 68 8th R3 R4 KSC R2 Stefan Payne 20
2015–16 Natl 46 23 11 12 75 53 80 5th R1 R4
2016–17 Natl 46 24 7 15 85 63 79 6th R1 R1 KSC Winners Ricky Miller 45
2017–18 Natl 46 20 13 13 62 44 73 8th R4Q R3 KSC R2 Ryan Bird 20
2018–19 Natl 46 16 12 18 58 64 60 14th R1 R2 KSC R2 Inih Effiong 11
2019–20[14] Natl 38 15 9 14 49 49 54 11th R2 R1 KSC QF Inih Effiong 16
2020–21[15] Natl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A R4Q R3 N/A
2021–22[16] Natl 42 2 7 35 37 101 1 23rd R4Q R3 KSC R2 Alfie Pavey 6
2022–23 NatlS 46 12 12 22 42 68 48 20th R2Q R2 KSC R2 Luke Wanadio 10
2023–24 NatlS 46 4 15 27 40 77 27 24th R4Q R2 KSC R2[17] Zidan Sutherland 5

Key

Winners Runners up Promoted Relegated

Division shown in bold when it changes due to promotion, relegation or league reorganisation.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Includes all competitive first-team matches.
  2. ^ Dover Athletic participated in the group stage of the Southern League Cup but it is unknown if they progressed further in the competition.
  3. ^ Dover Athletic participated in the group stage of the Eastern Floodlit Cup but it is unknown if they progressed further in the competition.
  4. ^ Official Football Association Non-League Club Directory 1988, ISBN 978-1869833077, p. 354
  5. ^ Official Football Association Non-league Directory 1990, ISBN 978-1869833114, p. 382
  6. ^ Although Dover Athletic won the Southern League championship, they were not promoted to the Conference as their stadium did not meet the required standard.
  7. ^ Vauxhall Official Football Association Non League Club Directory 1991, ISBN 978-1869833121, p. 397
  8. ^ Dover Athletic were moved from the Southern League to the Isthmian League due to re-organisation of the English football league system.
  9. ^ Dover Athletic qualified for a place in the play-offs for promotion to the Premier Division, but lost in the final to Tonbridge Angels.
  10. ^ At the start of the 2006–07 season the Isthmian League First Division was split into two regionalised sections. Dover Athletic were placed in the southern section.
  11. ^ Dover qualified for the play-offs for promotion to the Conference Premier but lost to Woking in the semi-final.
  12. ^ Dover qualified for the play-offs for promotion to the Conference Premier but lost to Salisbury City in the final.
  13. ^ Dover qualified for the play-offs for promotion to the Conference Premier and won.
  14. ^ Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the season was ended in March with positions being decided on a points-per-game basis.
  15. ^ Due to refusing to play matches on account of a lack of promised funding, Dover were to play no more part in the season as announced on 26 March 2021 with all results being expunged.
  16. ^ The club started the seasons with a 12-point deduction after refusing to complete fixtures the previous season.
  17. ^ The club were dismissed from the competition having fielded an ineligible player in their second round victory

References