Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, also known as Brighton, are a professional football club based in Falmer, East Sussex, England. The club nicknamed the Seagulls currently plays in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league. The club’s nickname is derived from a Seagull in their badge.
The club was established in 1901 and played their early professional football in the Southern League before they were elected to the Football League in 1920. The club was well known between 1979 and 1983 when they played in the First Division and lost to Manchester United in the 1983 FA Cup Final replay. They were relegated from the First Division in the same season.
They relegated to the fourth tier of English football in the late 1990s and were in serious bankruptcy. After narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League to the Conference in 1997, a boardroom takeover saved the club from liquidation. Successive promotions in 2001 and 2002 brought Brighton back to the second tier.
The Albion moved into the Falmer Stadium also known as the American Express Community Stadium, after 14 years without a permanent home ground. The Amex Stadium which has 30,750-capacity was opened in 2011 and that is a good amount for a Premier League side. They almost sold out their entire ground in their opening fixture of the 2017/18 season against Manchester City. The stadium also hosts a lot of sponsorship events.
Brighton finished second in the EFL Championship in the 2016/17 season and gained promotion to the Premier League, after a 34-year absence from the top flight. They are currently spending their third season in the Premier League. The traditional rivals of Brighton and Hove Albion are fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace. Both teams are both in the same division.
The club’s manager is Graham Stephen Potter. The English professional football manager was appointed in 2019 after Chris Hughton was sacked. The club made some interesting signings in the summer, spending £60.89m. They signed striker Neal Maupay from Brentford and defender Adam Webster from Bristol City.
Since they gained promotion to the Premier League, they pay their players a huge amount of money. They pay their players a whopping total of 40.0 million euros per year. The club’s highest-paid player is Alireza Jahanbakhsh who earns £50,000 per week. The Iranian midfielder recently won the Premier goal of the month for January.
The lowest-paid player at the club is Soufyan Ahannach, who earns £10,000-per-week. His salary is almost 7 times lower than that of top earner Jahanbakhsh.
Brighton & Hove Albion 2019-20 Payroll
| Player | Gross Weekly Wages |
| Alireza Jahanbakhsh | £50,000 |
| Martin Montoya | £50,000 |
| Lewis Dunk | £45,000 |
| Jose Izquierdo | £45,000 |
| Jurgen Locadia | £45,000 |
| Davy Propper | £45,000 |
| Florin Andone | £40,000 |
| Shane Duffy | £40,000 |
| Mathew Ryan | £35,000 |
| Solly March | £30,000 |
| Glenn Murray | £30,000 |
| Dale Stephens | £30,000 |
| Yves Bissouma | £25,000 |
| Bernardo Fernandes da Silva Junior | £25,000 |
| Gaetan Bong | £21,000 |
| David Button | £16,000 |
| Jason Steele | £16,000 |
