Club History

The club was formed shortly after the opening of the Lido Sports Centre in Aberavon and entered the local Port Talbot and District League for season 1967-68.

In 1971-72, the club was accepted into the Welsh Football League reaching the National Division in 1989-90.

We were invited to become founder members of the League of Wales for the inaugural 1992-93 season.  A healthy mid-table position was achieved in this first season, finishing 12th overall.  However, success in the League Cup, beating Caersws on penalties provided a superb end to the season.

This was not the club’s first major cup success however:  in 1986-87 we had won the Welsh Intermediate Cup beating Taffs Well 1-0 in a replay at Briton Ferry.  Our cup exploits continued in 1993-94 when in a thrilling final at Aberystwyth we retained the League Cup by beating a rampant Bangor City side that had just clinched the League title by 1-0.

At the end of the 1994-95 season we finished in second place and earned an UEFA Cup spot.

Defeat in the UEFA Cup at the hands of RAF Riga of Latvia was a bitter pill to swallow, a 2-1 defeat at home gave us a mountain to climb away but we battled hard and deserved our nil-nil draw.  We were one of the first League of Wales sides to avoid defeat on foreign soil. Sadly we failed to build on this performance and we were relegated at the end of the 1995-96 season.

Our first season back in the Welsh league saw us consolidate by finishing in sixth position.

We won promotion back to the League of Wales at the end of the 1997-98 season.

A number of ground improvements had taken place, including a 400 seated stand and a new clubhouse.  Consolidation was again the aim and we finished in 14th place in our first season back. In season 1999-2000 we finished tenth.

Season 2001-2002 we finished 5th and we qualified for the FAW Premier cup. Topping the group and qualifying for the knockout stages against Wrexham at home. Wrexham fielded a full first team and ran out 4-0 winners.

In 2003-04 we were again in the FAW Premier cup, our league form was disappointing and we finished in 14th place with only 32 points from 32 matches.

2004-05 was again a huge disappointment, our best results of the season were two wins against newly promoted Airbus UK, a 4-1 away win followed by a 4-0 home win.  Unfortunately in the 4-0 win one player was serving a ban picked up while playing for another side.  We were unaware of this as the football authorities hadn’t informed us and it was to cost us dearly.  We were found guilty of playing an ineligible player and were deducted 3 points. An appeal fell on deaf ears and we returned to the Welsh League for the first time since 1997-98.

We ended the 2005-06 in seventh place with 47 points and in 2006-07 we reached the finals of both the Welsh Cup and the Welsh League Cup in both cases for the first time.  We were unlucky to lose 2-3 against Carmarthen in the Welsh Cup at Llanelli. We finished the season on a high defeating Goytre United by the only goal in the final of the Welsh League Cup at Port Talbot. Inevitably our cup success affected our league performances but we still managed a respectable fifth place.

2007-8 was the Club’s fortieth anniversary. We ended the season in 7th place with 62 points.

2008-09 we won the Welsh League Cup for a second time beating Penrhiwceiber on penalties and we finished the league campaign in seventh place with 54 points.

There was a terrific climax to 2009-10 season with any one of three sides able to win the league. We met Goytre United at home and a win would guarantee second place and possible promotion to the Premier League. We took the lead with 8 minutes to go only for Goytre to level in added on time. In going for a winner we got caught and conceded a second which gave the visitors the league title with Cambrian winning their final games we finished in third place.

2010-11. A tremendous run from January 2011 saw us cement 2nd place in the Welsh League. Together with our successful application for the Domestic Licence, Afan Lido ensured their return to the Welsh Premier League for 2011-12. We finished a creditable 10th and won the League Cup for a third time beating Newtown in the final. We returned to Welsh League at the end of the 2013-2014 season. 2014-15 was a difficult season we ended the season in thirteenth place five points clear of the bottom three. However, 2015-16 saw us finish in eighth place and reaching round 4 of the Welsh Cup. Our youth side completed the double, winning the Youth Division West on goal difference and beating Monmouth 3-0 to win the Welsh League Youth Cup. 2016-17 saw us finish in eighth place, we also were awarded the team and manager of the month for November but the manager of the month ‘curse’ kicked in and we didn’t win again until February 18th. 2017-18 saw the first team finish in fifth place, our youth side won the youth league by an impressive 11 points and our Port Talbot league side completed a league and cup double. We ended the 2018-19 season in fourth place winning 10 matches away but only 5 at home. The Youth finished as runners up to Taffs Well only losing the title on goal difference.  2019-20 was abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our final match which ended in a 2-0 defeat was at Ammanford on February 29th. saw us finish in tenth place. Our new Ladies side finished as runners up on points per game but were still awarded promotion.