Gillingham Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Gillingham, Kent, playing in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system, as of the 2021–22 season. The club was formed in 1893 as New Brompton F.C., changing its name to Gillingham in 1912. The club joined The Football League in 1920, was voted out of the league in favour of Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 season, but returned to the league 12 years later after it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. Between 2000 and 2005, Gillingham played in the second tier of English football for the only time in the club's history, achieving a highest league finish of eleventh place in 2002–03. The club's first team have competed in numerous nationally and regionally organised competiti