This is a timeline of sport in Greater Manchester, a ceremonial county in northwestern England.
- 1842
- First use of referee in football. For a match in Rochdale, between the Bodyguards club and the Fearnaught club[1]
- 1874
- 1878
- Newton Heath LYR Football Club is formed by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath, Manchester (later known as Manchester United F.C.)
- 1880
- St Mark's (West Gorton) football club is formed in Manchester
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1900
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1907
- 1908
- 1909
- 1930
- White City Speedway (Manchester) is closed
- 1932
- 1933
- 1934
- 1937
- Manchester City win their first-ever league title
- 1938
- Manchester City become the first and only defending Champions to be relegated
- 1952
- 1953
- 1955
- 1956
- 5 May – Manchester City defeat Birmingham City F.C. 3–1 in the 1956 FA Cup Final. German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann plays through the match despite suffering what an X-ray later confirms as a broken neck, and was able to continue his career
- Manchester United win the league championship, becoming England's first representatives in the European Cup, in the competition's second season, as the previous league champions Chelsea were blocked from entering the inaugural tournament by the Football Association
- 1957
- 1958
- 1960
- 1961
- Manchester City sell 21-year-old Scottish striker Denis Law to Torino of Italy in the first £100,000 deal involving a British club
- 1962
- 1963
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- Manchester United win the league championship – their fifth under Matt Busby and their seventh of all time, and last for the next 26 years, until the formation of the Premier League
- Goalkeeper Harry Gregg leaves Manchester United after 10 years during which he established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the English game, but with no medals to show for it: he had missed the 1963 FA Cup final due to injury and had not played enough games to qualify for a medal when United won the league in 1965 and 1967
- 1968
- 1969
- 1970
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1974
- 1975
- Manchester United are promoted back to the First Division one season after losing their top-flight status
- 1976
- 1977
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980
- 1981
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985
- 1986
- 1987
- 1988
- Mark Hughes returns to Manchester United after two years away for a fee of £1.8 million
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1998
- Manchester City are relegated to the third tier of the English league for the first time in their history
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- Manchester United become only the fourth English club to win three successive league championships
- Les Sealey, who kept goal for Manchester United in their FA Cup triumph of 1990 and the European Cup Winners' Cup triumph of 1991, dies of a heart attack aged 43
- Manchester United break the national transfer fee record twice – first by paying PSV Eindhoven £19million for Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, and then by paying Lazio of Italy £28.1million for Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- Manchester City wins the Premier League title ahead of rivals Manchester United on goal difference, their 3rd overall English league win, and becomes the first team relegated from the Premier League to win the title. This was also their first English league title success since 1968
- 2013
- 2014
- 2 March – Manchester City defeat Sunderland A.F.C. 3–1 in the 2014 Football League Cup Final
- Louis van Gaal is confirmed as manager of Manchester United. Former interim manager Ryan Giggs is named as his assistant, and confirms his retirement as a player at the age of 40 after nearly a quarter of a century during which he played 963 games and won an English record of 22 major trophies.[5]
- Manchester City win their 2nd Premier League title
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019