Vital Statistics
Founded: 2002
CEO: Joe Palmer
Last Season: League One - 20th
Nicknames: The Dons, The Wombles
Rivals: Milton Keynes Dons, Crawley Town, Barnet
Major Honours
None
Scheduled Matches
Portsmouth vs AFC Wimbledon: Saturday, January 9th (3pm)
AFC Wimbledon vs Portsmouth: Saturday, May 1st (3pm)
AFC Wimbledon: A brief history
After the original Wimbledon FC was planned to be relocated to Milton Keynes in 2002 because of financial problems (eventually rebranding the club as MK Dons which would take on a separate identity), disgruntled Dons fans decided to form their own club: AFC Wimbledon.
Groundsharing with Kingstonian, the new Dons joined the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League in the 2002/2003 season and rose up the non-league pyramid very quickly, achieving five promotions in nine seasons to earn their place in the Football League in 2011.
AFC Wimbledon continued their rise up the leagues with a play-off final win over Plymouth in 2016 and have managed to hold their own in League One since then, sticking it to MK Dons in the process.
The Manager: Glyn Hodges
Hodges was one of the main members of the original Crazy Gang from Wimbledon and was at the club from 1980 to 1987 before moving to Newcastle and Watford, also having a distinguished spell at Sheffield United in the mid-90's.
The 57-year-old Welshman had previously been a youth coach at Stoke before joining Wally Downes' coaching staff at AFC Wimbledon in December 2018, taking the permanent job in September 2019 when Downes was sacked.
Match To Remember: AFC Wimbledon 0 Portsmouth 2 (League One - 09/09/2017)
Brett Pitman scored a first half penalty and Conor Chaplin pounced early in the second to ensure a rare comfortable afternoon against the Dons.
Match To Forget: AFC Wimbledon 4 Portsmouth 0 (League Two - 16/09/2013)
Where to even begin with this absolute face of a performance against a side that were fighting relegation and hadn't won at home for two months?
Trevor Carson gave away a penalty only to then save it but unfortunately the clowns in front of him gave him as much protection as the NHS gets under a Tory government. Bondz N'Gala somehow managed to slice the ball out for a corner despite being close to the halfway line and the Dons typically scored from it.
The game may as well have been over after that as this dreadful Pompey side couldn't string two passes together and barely managed a meaningful shot on the opposition goal. Those who could see the debacle unfold in the away section of the ground would have wished they'd stuck to the corner of Kingsmeadow where anyone would struggle to see anything, the showing was that terrible.
Pompey crumbled in the last fifteen minutes as George Francomb scored twice and Michael Smith banged in another in stoppage time to complete the embarrassing rout that had fans chanting "Whittingham out!" after one of the worst performances in living memory.
Simon Ferry later said on twitter that the showing was "disgraceful and embarrassing" and "absolute dog shit" - he was being kind.
The Ground: Plough Lane (Capacity: 9,000)
After almost 30 years, the Dons are finally returning home and Pompey will be the last team to visit the new stadium in the 2020/2021 season.