List of Manchester United F.C. captains

This article is about captains of the men's team. For a list of women's team captains, see List of Manchester United W.F.C. players § Club captains.

Bruno Fernandes was appointed captain of Manchester United on 20 July 2023.

Since 1882, 46 players have held the position of club captain for Newton Heath LYR F.C., Newton Heath F.C. or Manchester United F.C.[1]

The first club captain was E. Thomas, who was captain from 1882 to 1883.[1] The longest-serving captain is Bryan Robson, who was club captain from 1982 to 1994, although he held the position jointly with Steve Bruce for the last two years of his tenure.[1] Roy Keane, who was captain from 1997 to 2005, has the distinction of having won the most trophies as captain; he won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one Community Shield, one UEFA Champions League and one Intercontinental Cup. Bruno Fernandes is the current Manchester United captain.

Captains

• 
  Caesar Jenkyns served as captain during the 1896–97 season.
• 
  Charlie Roberts was captain when Manchester United won their first league title in 1907.
• 
  Denis Law captained Manchester United to their first European honour. He made 494 appearances for the club and scored 237 goals.
• 
  Bobby Charlton is United's second-highest goalscorer and has the second-most appearances for the club. He captained the club from 1968 to 1973.
• 
  Bryan Robson made 461 appearances for Manchester United and is the longest serving captain in the club's history, serving for twelve years.
• 
  Steve Bruce served as captain from 1994 to 1996.
• 
  Eric Cantona made 185 appearances and scored 87 goals for Manchester United. He was the club's first non British/Irish captain.
• 
  Roy Keane made 480 appearances with Manchester United and is the most decorated captain in club history, serving from 1997 to 2005.
• 
  Gary Neville made 602 appearances for Manchester United and served as captain from 2005 to 2011.
• 
  Nemanja Vidić made 300 appearances for Manchester United and served as captain from 2011 to 2014.
• 
  Wayne Rooney is the club's all-time top scorer with 253 goals. He captained the club from 2014 to 2017.
• 
  Michael Carrick served as captain for his final season as a professional player.
• 
  Antonio Valencia captained the Manchester United in his final season of his ten years with the club. He was United's first captain from outside of Europe.
• 
  Ashley Young (right) served as captain for the first half of the 2019–20 season, before departing for Inter Milan.
• 
  Harry Maguire became captain in the middle of his first season with the club, after Ashley Young's departuer, and served until 2023.

Dates	Captain	Honours[A]	Ref.
1878–1882	Unknown		[1]
1882–1883	E. Thomas
1883–1887	Sam Black
1887–1891	Jack Powell
1891–1892	Bob McFarlane
1892–1893	Joe Cassidy
1893–1894	Unknown
1894–1896	James McNaught
1896–1897	Caesar Jenkyns
1897–1903	Harry Stafford
1903–1904	John Willie Sutcliffe
1904–1905	Jack Peddie
1905–1913	Charlie Roberts	1906–07 First Division 1908 Charity Shield 1908–09 FA Cup 1910–11 First Division 1911 Charity Shield
1913–1914	George Stacey
1914–1915	George Hunter
1915–1917	Patrick O'Connell
1917–1918	George Anderson
1918–1919	Jack Mew
1919–1922	Lal Hilditch
1922–1928	Frank Barson
1928–1929	Jack Wilson
1929–1930	Charlie Spencer
1930–1931	Jack Silcock
1931–1932	George McLachlan
1932	Louis Page
1932–1934	Jack Silcock
1934–1935	Bill McKay
1935–1937	James Brown	1935–36 Second Division
1937–1939	George Roughton
1939–1940	Bill McKay
1940–1944	No competitive football was played during the Second World War
1944–1945	George Roughton
1945–1953	Johnny Carey[B]	1947–48 FA Cup 1951–52 First Division 1952 Charity Shield
1953	Stan Pearson
1953–1955	Allenby Chilton
1955–1958	Roger Byrne[C]	1955–56 First Division 1956 Charity Shield 1956–57 First Division 1957 Charity Shield
1958–1959	Bill Foulkes
1959–1960	Dennis Viollet
1960–1962	Maurice Setters
1962–1967	Noel Cantwell	1962–63 FA Cup 1964–65 First Division 1965 Charity Shield 1966–67 First Division
1967–1968	Denis Law	1967 Charity Shield 1967–68 European Cup
1968–1973	Bobby Charlton
1973–1974	George Graham
1974–1975	Willie Morgan	1974–75 Second Division
1975–1982	Martin Buchan	1976–77 FA Cup 1977 Charity Shield
1982–1994	Bryan Robson[D]	1982–83 FA Cup 1983 Charity Shield 1984–85 FA Cup 1985 Charity Shield 1989–90 FA Cup 1990 Charity Shield 1990–91 European Cup Winners' Cup 1991 European Super Cup 1991–92 Football League Cup 1992–93 Premier League 1993–94 Premier League 1993–94 FA Cup
1994–1996	Steve Bruce	1994 Community Shield 1995–96 Premier League 1995–96 FA Cup
1996–1997	Eric Cantona[E]	1996 Community Shield 1996–97 Premier League
1997–2005	Roy Keane	1997 Community Shield 1998–99 Premier League 1998–99 FA Cup 1998–99 UEFA Champions League 1999 Intercontinental Cup 1999–00 Premier League 2000–01 Premier League 2002–03 Premier League 2003 Community Shield 2003–04 FA Cup
2005–2010	Gary Neville	2005–06 Football League Cup 2006–07 Premier League 2007 Community Shield 2007–08 Premier League 2007–08 UEFA Champions League 2008 Community Shield 2008 FIFA Club World Cup 2008–09 Football League Cup 2008–09 Premier League 2009–10 Football League Cup
2010–2014	Nemanja Vidić	2010 Community Shield 2010–11 Premier League 2011 Community Shield 2012–13 Premier League 2013 Community Shield	[2]
2014–2017	Wayne Rooney	2015–16 FA Cup 2016 Community Shield 2016–17 EFL Cup 2016–17 UEFA Europa League	[3]
2017–2018	Michael Carrick		[4]
2018–2019	Antonio Valencia[F]		[5]
2019–2020	Ashley Young		[6]
2020–2023	Harry Maguire	2022–23 EFL Cup	[7][8]
2023–	Bruno Fernandes	2023–24 FA Cup	[9]

Vice-captains

The vice-captain position at Manchester United has been announced by managers after a player has been appointed on a de facto basis.[10] In general, the vice-captain has succeeded the captain.

Dates	Vice-captain	Captain	Ref.
2010–2014	Patrice Evra	Nemanja Vidic	[2]
2014–2015	Darren Fletcher	Wayne Rooney	[3]
2015–2017	Michael Carrick		[11]
2017–2018	Antonio Valencia	Michael Carrick	[12]
2018	Paul Pogba	Antonio Valencia	[13]
2018–2021	Position vacant
2021–2023	Bruno Fernandes	Harry Maguire	[10]
2023–	Casemiro Lisandro Martínez	Bruno Fernandes

Notes

1. As captain only; Bold indicates the honour was part of a domestic or continental double, Bold italics indicates the honour was part of a treble.
2. First non-British captain
3. Byrne died in the Munich air disaster
4. Longest-serving captain in United's history[1]
5. First captain from outside the British Isles
6. First non-European captain

References

1. "Newton Heath and Manchester United Captains". Manchester United Museum Information Sheets. Manchester United. June 2009.
2. Luckhurst, Samuel (9 January 2015). "Man United dressing room was 'concerned' by Vidic and Evra - Scholes". Manchester Evening News.
3. Jackson, Jamie (12 August 2014). "Wayne Rooney named Manchester United's club captain by Louis van Gaal". The Guardian.
4. "Michael Carrick". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
5. Brown, Luke (20 July 2018). "Manchester United news: Jose Mourinho to make Antonio Valencia club captain after Michael Carrick's retirement". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
6. Carney, Sam (3 August 2019). "Ole says Young will be new club captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
7. Carney, Sam (17 January 2020). "Maguire to be new United captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
8. @HarryMaguire93 (16 July 2023). "After discussions with the manager today he has informed me he is changing captain. He outlined his reasons to me and whilst I'm personally extremely disappointed, I will continue to give my all every time I wear the shirt. So I wanted to say a massive thank you to the Manchester United fans for all their brilliant support whilst I've been wearing the armband. Since the day I took on the role, three and half years ago, it's been a huge privilege to lead Manchester United and one of the proudest moments of my career to date. It's one of the greatest honours in club football. I've done everything I possibly could to help United be successful - on and off the field. I will always be grateful to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for first giving me the responsibility and I wish whoever now takes it on every success and they will have my full support. Harry" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
9. "Fernandes named United's new club captain". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
10. Whitwell, Laurie (8 March 2023). "Fernandes will remain Man United captain — Ten Hag". The Athletic. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
11. Hann, Michael (20 December 2014). "Michael Carrick takes over as Manchester United vice-captain from". The Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
12. Aithal, Varun (22 July 2018). "Antonio Valencia to be the next captain of Manchester United?". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
13. Jackson, Jamie (6 November 2018). "Manchester United's Paul Pogba 'unaffected' by losing vice-captaincy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 March 2023.