Ten claims to fame: Everton

Everton FC sealed top spot in UEFA Europa League Group H and round of 32 qualification with a game to spare by winning 2-0 at Bundesliga high-fliers VfL Wolfsburg on matchday five. However, Roberto Martínez's team have a way to go to earn their place in the annals of one of British football's most enduring institutions.

Formed: 1878
Nicknames: Blues, Toffees, School of Science

UEFA club competition honours
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1985

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 9 (1987)
• FA Cup: 5 (1995)

• Formed in 1878 and the original club of the north-west city of Liverpool, Everton were one of the English league's 12 founder members for its inaugural 1888/89 season. When the top flight was rebranded from First Division to Premier League in 1992, Everton were still there amid the new 22-team elite. Indeed, between 1888 and the present, the Merseysiders have spent just four seasons outside the top tier (1930/31 and 1951–54) – an unrivalled achievement.

• Dubbed the Blues, the Toffees or the School of Science (because of their traditionally attractive style), Everton played at Anfield until 1892 when they switched to Goodison Park. Their decision to move led to the formation of Liverpool FC. Goodison, football's first purpose-built stadium, hosted Pelé's Brazil and Eusébio's Portugal at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, as well as the West Germany v USSR semi-final. The now 40,000-capacity ground remains a stately home of the English game.

• Everton have nine English championships (a tally bettered only by Manchester United FC, Liverpool and Arsenal FC), with their first and last league titles arriving in 1891 and 1987. Arguably that total could have been more: Everton were reigning national champions for the duration of the First and Second World Wars, having won the league in both 1915 and 1939.

Dixie Dean with the FA Cup in 1933©Getty Images

• William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean, the Blues' legendary England centre-forward of the 1920s and 30s, became football's first-ever No9 when players' shirts were officially numbered for the first time at the 1933 FA Cup final. Everton wore 1–11 that Wembley day, Manchester City FC 12-22; and naturally 'Dixie' netted in a 3-0 victory. Dean's greatest feat, though, was scoring 60 league goals in Everton's 1927/28 title-winning campaign – still an English record.

• Everton, along with Arsenal, were the first club to feature in a – pre-recorded – televised game in August 1936. Three decades later the Toffees were the focus of acclaimed director Ken Loach's 1968 TV film The Golden Vision, a docu-drama exploring the fans' obsession with their side and affection for forward Alex Young, whose nickname inspired the title. Coincidentally, the drama took in a contemporary Everton trip to Arsenal.

• Everton's pioneering role in English football is clear. Less well-known is the fact they took part in, and won, the first penalty shoot-out in European Champion Clubs' Cup history. It was the 1970/71 season and Harry Catterick's team beat VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 in the spot-kick drama at Goodison after both legs of the last-16 tie ended 1-1.

The Toffees triumphed in Rotterdam©Getty Images

• The Blues tasted even sweeter European success in 1984/85 when they lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup after overpowering SK Rapid Wien 3-1 in the final. That Rotterdam victory, clinched by goals from Andy Gray, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy, made it a memorable double for Howard Kendall's men who had already captured the league championship.

• Everton's last significant silverware came when scalping Manchester United in the 1995 FA Cup final, their fifth win in the world's oldest knockout competition. Less happily, the Merseysiders hold the record for most defeats in the showpiece fixture, having lost in eight of their 13 appearances – most recently to Chelsea FC in 2009.

Former Everton forward James Vaughan©Getty Images

• It is no accident three Evertonians figure among the Premier League's ten youngest goalscorers, given the club's successful youth system. Wayne Rooney's sensational Goodison strike against Arsenal briefly made the boyhood Blue the league's most junior marksman. However, it is fellow graduate James Vaughan who claims the Premier League record for his April 2005 finish against Crystal Palace FC aged 16 years and 271 days.

• Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku has big shoes to fill after becoming the Toffeemen's €35m record signing last July – not necessarily due to the transfer fee, more because Everton boast more First Division/Premier League golden boot winners than any other club. Everton strikers have headed the English top-flight scoring chart a record 12 times, the last incumbent being Gary Lineker.