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Derby County Football Club is based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. Derby has played its home matches at Pride Park Stadium since 1997.

Notable for being one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, Derby County is one of only 10 clubs to have competed in every season of the English football league system, with all but four of those being in the top two divisions. In 2009, the club was ranked 137th in the top 200 European football teams of the 20th century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.

The club was founded in 1884 by William Morley as an offshoot of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Its competitive peak came in the 1970s when it twice won the First Division and competed in major European competitions on four occasions, reaching the European Cup semi-finals as well as winning several minor trophies. Additionally, the club was a strong force in the interwar years – finishing league runner-up twice in the 1930s – and winning the first post-war FA Cup in 1946.

The club's home colours have been black and white since the 1890s. The team gets its nickname, The Rams, to show tribute to its links with the First Regiment of Derby Militia, which took a ram as its mascot. Additionally, the club also adopted the song "The Derby Ram" as its regimental song. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Nottingham Forest, with whom they contest the East Midlands derby.