Manchester City Football Club was first formed as St. Marks (West Gorton) in 1880, and was renamed to Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887. The name of Manchester City began in 1894, two years after the team had been elected to Division Two of the Football League, joining Division Two because they had previously been members of the Football Alliance (which became Division Two when it was assimilated into the Football League). As of 2007, Manchester City Football Club is a member of the English Premier League, the highest league of professional football in England.

The most common home colours for Manchester City Football Club have been sky blue and white, although there have been periods when the uniform was entirely sky blue, and the shade of blue has also changed over a recent brief period. Typically, when the colours sky blue and white were both present, the jersey would be sky blue and the shorts would be white. Socks have varied between sky blue, dark blue and white in various combinations over the decades, making frequent seasonal changes.

In the early years, the design of the club kit changed several times before the traditional colour scheme was settled on in 1894 (with the name change to Manchester City Football Club). When the club was known as West Gorton they had a black jersey, white shorts and black socks, with a white cross on the upper left breast of the shirt. During the Ardwick years from 1887 to 1893, the team changed between a design that used vertical stripes of Oxford blue and white on the jersey, and one which had a plain white shirt with navy blue shorts and socks. In 1984, the newly minted Manchester City Football Club had a solid sky blue jersey, white shorts and black socks. With regular changes to the socks, the neck style and sleeve cut of the shirt over the following decades, the basic home colours remained the same. Some unusual variations were made to the socks in the 1966 season, when maroon and white hoop stripes adorned sky blue socks, and in the 1973 season, when the socks were royal blue with red and white tops.

Starting in 1976 and continuing until 1985, Manchester City Football Club kit went to all sky blue for the jersey, shorts and socks - white only being present as the trim colour, and as the colour for the names of sponsors. The first sponsor to be advertised on the front of Manchester City Football Club kit jersey was Saab in 1982. In 1984 the sponsor changed to Philips. In 1987 the sponsor was Brother, and other sponsors of Manchester City Football Club have been software company Eidos, First Advice and Thomas Cook. Also during the eighties and nineties navy blue has been incorporated into the design of the football club kit for the trim of the shirt as well as various additional visual elements, such as hoop stripes or chevrons on the sleeves. From 1995 to 2003 the sky blue colour of the uniform was temporarily darkened a shade, but remained one of the lighter shades of blue. Usually the away kit colours for Manchester City Football Club have been combinations of maroon, red and black, however this has changed several times in recent years and the current away uniform is almost entirely dark blue.