Reading Football Club ( /ˈrɛdɪŋ/) is an English professional football club, based in Reading, that plays in the Championship. The club will compete in the 2012–13 Premier League season having guaranteed promotion at the end of the current season.

Reading are nicknamed The Royals, due to Reading's location in the Royal County of Berkshire, though they were previously known as The Biscuitmen, due to the town's association with Huntley & Palmers. Established in 1871, the club is one of the oldest teams in England, but did not join The Football League until 1920, and had never played in the top tier of English football league system before the 2005–06 season.

The club played at Elm Park for 102 years in West Reading. The club moved in 1998 to the outskirts to the south of Reading to the new Madejski Stadium, which is named after the club's chairman Sir John Madejski.

The club holds the record for the number of successive league wins at the start of a season, with a total of 13 wins at the start of the 1985–86 Third Division campaign and also the record for the number of points gained in a professional league season with 106 points in the 2005–06 Football League Championship campaign. Reading finished eighth in their first season as a top flight club. Relegation occured a year later, only for the club to regain its top flight status four years later.

Football Club Internazionale Milano S.p.A., commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy. The club is commonly known as Inter Milan outside of Italy. They have spent their entire history in the top flight First Division (known as Serie A since 1929). Internazionale have won 30 domestic trophies, including the league eighteen times, the Coppa Italia seven and the Supercoppa Italiana five. From 2006 to 2010 the club won five successive league titles, equalling the all-time record. They have won the Champions League three times; two back-to-back in 1964 and 1965 and then another in 2010. The last completed an unprecedented Italian treble with the Coppa Italia and the Scudetto. The club has also won three UEFA Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Inter's home games are played at San Siro, also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The stadium, which is shared with A.C. Milan, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 80,018. Milan are considered one of their biggest rivals, and matches between the two teams are called Derby della Madonnina, which is one of the most followed derbies in football. As of 2010, Inter is the second most supported team in Italy, and the eighth most supported team in Europe. The current president and owner of Inter is Massimo Moratti. The club is one of the wealthiest and most valuable in Italian and world football. It was a founding member of the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association.

Michail Gregory Antonio (born 28 March 1990) is an English footballer who plays for Reading.

Antonio signed for Championship team Reading from Tooting & Mitcham United (having previously spent five seasons with the South West London "Juniors" club, from 12 years of age, that now acts as a feeder club to Ryman Premier league team Kingstonian F.C..)^{[citation needed]} on a contract until the summer of 2010 on 28 October 2008, following a trial at the club. He rejoined Tooting on a month's loan on 9 January 2009. The loan was extended for a second month on 11 February, but he returned to Reading on 17 February after being recalled. He joined League One team Cheltenham Town on a month's loan on 19 February. He made his Football League debut in a 2–0 defeat to Leeds United on 21 February, being substituted on 28 minutes after suffering from an ankle injury.

After a season on loan to Southampton, he returned to Reading in the summer of 2010 and for the 2010–11 season, became a regular member of the Royals side. He scored his first goal for Reading on 23 October 2010 in a 4–0 over Burnley.

Alex Simon McCarthy (born 3 December 1989) is an English footballer who plays for Reading. He has also represented England U21's.

McCarthy is a product of the Reading academy, joined Conference National team Cambridge United on work experience on 26 March 2008 and made his debut two days later in a 3–0 defeat to Kidderminster Harriers. He joined Aldershot Town on a month's loan on 2 February 2009. His debut came in a 3–2 defeat to Exeter City in League Two on 14 February. He started just three matches for The Shots before returning to his parent club prematurely, due to the injury of Marcus Hahnemann and so was required as backup to Adam Federici.

At the start of the 2009–10 season McCarthy was loaned to League One team Yeovil until January 2010. He received the first sending off of his career after a challenge against Stockport County's Nicholas Bignall, who incidentally was also on loan to his respective club from Reading. During his loan spell at Yeovil, McCarthy played 44 of their 46 league games keeping all 12 of their clean sheets. He was loaned out to Brentford again for the first month of the 2010–11 season before returning to the Madejski Stadium with Ben Hamer going in the opposite direction on loan.

Joel Joshua Frederick Dave "Jobi" McAnuff (born 9 November 1981) is a professional footballer who plays for and captainsReading F.C.. He is a midfielder and has played for Jamaica.

Born in Edmonton, London, McAnuff made his professional debut in the 2001–02 season with First Division side Wimbledon. He played 104 games and scored 15 goals for the club, staying until Wimbledon's last ever season, 2003–04 (they later became Milton Keynes Dons).

In the January 2004 transfer window, with Wimbledon now in administration, West Ham manager Alan Pardew signed McAnuff for West Ham United joining fellow former Wimbledon players, Nigel Reo-Coker, Adam Nowland and David Connolly. He played only 14 games for the club, scoring 1 goal against Crewe. In order to generate funds for future transfers Pardew was forced to sell McAnuff and on 12 August 2004 he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £250,000 and was a virtual ever-present in his first year at the club. He made his debut against Ipswich Town, scoring his first goal against his former side West Ham United during a 4–1 win. He played 48 games and scored 3 goals and picked up numerous player of the month awards.^{[citation needed]} With Cardiff in financial difficulty, McAnuff left the club at the end of the 2004–05 season to join Crystal Palace for a fee of around £600,000.