Portal:England/Selected article/04 2008
!['The Valley,' in 2007.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/CharltonValleyPanoramaFromJimmySeed.png/200px-CharltonValleyPanoramaFromJimmySeed.png)
Charlton Athletic Football Club (also known as The Addicks) is a professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. Charlton was founded on June 9, 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area, including both East Street Mission and Blundell Mission, combined to form Charlton Athletic Football Club.
The club is based at The Valley, where it has played at since 1919, apart from one year in Catford, during 1923–24, and seven years at Crystal Palace and West Ham United between 1985 and 1992. Charlton turned professional in 1920 and first entered the Football League in 1921. Since then, it has had four separate periods in the top flight of English football; between 1936 and 1957; 1986 and 1990; 1998 and 1999, and 2000 to 2007. Historically, Charlton's most successful period was the 1930s, when the club's highest league finishes were recorded, and the 1940s, when the club reached the FA Cup final twice, winning in 1947.