Meet the opposition | Birmingham City
As Swansea City prepare to take on Birmingham City, we take a closer look at the Blues.
WHAT'S THEIR STORY?
Initially formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, the club became Small Heath and then Birmingham, before finally settling on its current name in 1943.
Small Heath are listed as one of the founding members of the Football League Second Division, and were the first champions of that league.
The Blues have played home matches at their St. Andrew’s ground for 118 years.
The highest league finish in their 147-year history came in the 1955-56 season where they finished sixth in the First Division. They also reached the FA Cup final that year – their joint best performance in that competition, having also finished as runners-up 1931.
Birmingham are two-time winners of the EFL Cup (1963 and 2011) and were runners-up in 2001.
They are currently in their first season back at Championship level, securing the League One title last season following their relegation from the second tier in 2024.
HOW'S THEIR FORM?
Birmingham ended a run of seven games without a victory when they defeated Coventry on home soil earlier this month.
They have since beaten Cambridge United in the FA Cup and will be hoping to build on returning to winning ways after a difficult run.
WHO'S THE GAFFER?
Chris Davies took charge of the Blues in the summer of 2024 and enjoyed an excellent first season in charge as they romped to the League One title.
The step up to Championship level has proved tougher, but Birmingham have unsurprisingly proved a competitive proposition despite that recent winless run.
A promising young midfielder as a player, Davies was on the books at Reading when an arthritic foot condition forced him stop playing.
He immediately moved into coaching and has spells in New Zealand and the USA.
When Brendan Rodgers became Swansea manager, he added Davies - captain of the Reading youth team the Northern Irishman had coached - to his staff and he would be part of the club's promotion to the top-flight and first season in the top-flight.
Davies followed Rodgers to Liverpool and - after a short spell as assistant manager at Reading - then joined him at Celtic and Leicester, where they enjoyed tremendous success with the Bhoys completely dominating Scottish football and Leicester winning the FA Cup and Community Shield during their time together.
Davies went on to serve as Ange Postecoglou's assistant at Tottenham, before striking out on his own with Birmingham.
WHO'S THE CAPTAIN?
Defender Christoph Klarer has taken the captaincy in the summer of 2025 after a highly impressive first season at St Andrew's.
The Austrian spent time on the books of Rapid Vienna as a youngster before moving to Southampton.
He did not make a senior appearance for Saints but became a regular at Fortuna Dusseldorf and Darmstadt 98 before returning to English football with Birmingham.
Klarer was a key figure in their League One title success and was named in the PFA League One Team of the Year.
WHO ARE THE KEY MEN?
Forward Jay Stansfield is Birmingham's topscorer with eight goals so far this term.
The 23-year-old is the son of former Exeter striker Adam, who sadly passed away in 2010 after a battle with cancer.
Stansfield came through the Grecians' academy before moving to Fulham in 2019.
The England Under-21 international had a productive spell on loan at his boyhood club during the 2022-23 season, netting nine goals for Exeter, and he impressed in making the step up to Championship level with an initial loan at Birmingham the following campaign.
He was Birmingham's player of the season but could not prevent them being relegated from the second tier.
The Blues made his move from Fulham a permanent one as they paid a reported £15million fee, and he went on to score 19 league goals as they racked up over 100 points on their way to the League One title.
Winger Demarai Gray is back at the club where he first made his breakthrough, and he has already contributed five goals and four assists.
Gray joined Birmingham's academy as an 11-year-old and came through the ranks to become a regular at senior level before moving to Leicester City in January 2016 with the Foxes on their way to the Premier League title.
He spent five years in the East Midlands before making the move to Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.
Gray's time in Germany was shortlived and he returned to England with Everton, spending two seasons at Goodison Park and scoring some important goals during a difficult time for the Merseyside club before having a spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq.
Defender Phil Neumann is in his first season with Birmingham, having joined from Hamburg over the summer.
The pacy 28-year-old was on the books of Schalke as a teenager and went on to join Ingolstadt and Holstein Kiel, being part of the latter's squad when they reached the semi-finals of the German Cup - knocking Bayern Munich out along the way - and coming agonisingly close to promotion to the Bundesliga.
He went on to join Hannover in 2022, before signing a pre-agreement last January to join Birmingham in the summer.