West Ham United Football Club is a professional soccer club that competes in the English Premier League (EPL), the top league in English soccer. West Ham was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks before changing their name to West Ham United in 1900. The club was not one of the founding members of the English Premier League in 1992, but they were promoted up to the league in 1993. Since that time, they have spent just three years out of the EPL. West Ham’s highest finish in the EPL was 5th in 1998-1999, and they have finished 7th in the league in two other seasons. Since 1992, the club’s best finish in the English tournaments was as a runner-up in the 2005-2006 FA Cup. They have also qualified for two Europa Leagues but have not advanced past a play-off round which they made in 2016-2017. West Ham has played its home matches at London Stadium in Stratford, London, since 2016. The stadium was opened in 2012 for the London Olympics but was renovated and repurposed for West Ham.