Sydney FC

Sydney FC

Full name	Sydney Football Club
Nickname(s)	Sky Blues, The FC
Founded	2004
Ground	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney (Capacity: 45,500)
Owner	David Traktovenko and Paul Ramsay
Chairman	Scott Barlow
Coach	Vítězslav Lavička
League	A-League
2009–10	1st (league) Champions (finals)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Sydney FC, founded in 2004, is a professional football (soccer) club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football (soccer) competition, the A-League. Sydney FC were inaugural winners of the A-League in 2006 and are considered as one of the most successful teams in Australia having won two national A-League Championships (2006 and 2010) and one Premiers' Plate^[1] (2010). Covertly, Sydney also remain the only A-League team to have won the OFC Champions League as since 2006, competing A-League teams have gained qualification to the AFC Champions League instead, in which Sydney has also competed finishing 2nd in the group stage of the 2007 season of the tournament and will also compete in the 2011 season. Having won titles in the W-League and in the National Youth League Sydney hold the distinction of being the only club in the A-League to have won all 3 competitions.

Its home ground is Sydney Football Stadium, a 45,500 seat multi-use venue^[2] in the suburb of Moore Park. Right from the beginning Sydney FC was marketed as the "glamour club" of the new competition,^[3] with the involvement of the club's high-profile personnel, including investor and actor Anthony LaPaglia, ex-Manchester United star Dwight Yorke as the team's first "marquee player" and 1990 FIFA World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski as manager in the first season.^[4] Sydney went on to sign Former English International defender Terry Butcher as the 2006–07 season coach, Brazilian superstar midfielder Juninho Paulista in the 2007–08 season, and Socceroos legend John Aloisi as striker in their 2008–09 season, with each as the highest paid footballer in Australia in their respective seasons. Strikers Benito Carbone of Italy, and Japanese legend Kazuyoshi Miura have also made appearances in the sky blue jersey.

History

Foundation

The first steps towards the foundation of Sydney FC were taken in April 2004 when Soccer New South Wales (now Football NSW) announced their intention to bid for a licence in the new Australian football competition.^[5]

Sydney FC playing the Los Angeles Galaxy at ANZ Stadium during 2007.

The bid was lodged with the Australian Soccer Association (now Football Federation Australia) on 19 July, challenged only by a consortium headed by Nick Politis, known as the "Sydney Blues",^[6] for Sydney's place in the 'one team per city' competition.^[7] A public row broke out between the two bidders after reports that the ASA were set to vote in favour of Sydney FC,^[8] causing Politis to withdraw his support for a team,^[9] and leaving Sydney FC as the only candidate remaining.

Sydney was officially launched as a member of the new 8-team A-League on 1 November 2004, with a 25% stake in the club held by Soccer NSW, the remainder privately owned.^[10] Walter Bugno was announced as the inaugural chairman of the club.

By February 2005, Sydney had filled 16 of their allowed 20 squad positions—attracting Socceroos Alvin Ceccoli, Clint Bolton, Steve Corica and David Zdrilic as well as youth internationals Justin Pasfield, Mark Milligan, Wade Oostendorp, Iain Fyfe and Jacob Timpano.^[11] German Pierre Littbarski was signed as Head Coach, to be assisted by former Norwich City player Ian Crook. Sydney FC played its first ever match against Manly United FC on 25 March 2005, winning 6–1.^[12] Shortly after, Sydney set off on a tour to the United Arab Emirates to play matches against local teams FC Hatta, Al Ain FC and Al Jazira, winning all three.^[13][14][15] Whilst in Dubai, Sydney FC announced that they had agreed to terms with former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke to join Sydney as their "marquee player" – one paid outside of the $1.5 million salary cap — for two seasons.^[16]

Pre-League

Sydney FC's first competitive match was held against Queensland Roar at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford as part of an Australian qualifying tournament to enter the 2005 Oceania Club Championship. After winning the match 3–0, Sydney went on to defeat Perth Glory and the Central Coast Mariners to win their first piece of silverware and qualify for the Oceania Club Championship, to be held in Tahiti. Despite an early scare against New Zealand club Auckland City FC,^[17] Sydney won all of their matches in the competition and qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. The start of the 2005 Pre-Season Cup marked Sydney FC's first match at Sydney Football Stadium, as well as Dwight Yorke's first appearance for the club—Yorke scoring the first goal of Sydney's 3–1 win which stretched their unbeaten run to 9 competitive matches (15 including friendlies). Upon reaching the semi-finals, Sydney's unbeaten run finally ended at 11 with Perth Glory midfielder Nick Ward scoring in injury time to inflict the new club's first ever loss.^[18]

A-League

Sydney FC's first season was ultimately a success. Finishing 2nd on the ladder behind Adelaide United they went on to defeat Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the 2006 A-League Grand Final with Steve Corica scoring in the second half. However their success wouldn't last long, with German manager Pierre Littbarski leaving the club due to being forced to accept a lower pay cheque^[19] and inaugural marquee player Dwight Yorke being signed by English Premier League club Sunderland A.F.C.. Former English international Terry Butcher was signed as their new coach for the 2006-07 season, however it was regarded as an overall failure, with Sydney playing poor football, despite the signing of Alex Brosque and Benito Carbone as a Guest player. Sydney also had 3 points taken away during the season, after it was found that they had breached the Salary cap, involving player David Zdrillic^[20]. Despite the off field problems, Sydney scraped into the finals series, however lost out in the semi final to Newcastle Jets. Despite him leading Sydney into the finals, Sydney fans were unhappy with Butchers tactics, and both Butcher and Sydney FC went their separate ways. Sydney would then sign Branko Culina for their 2007 Asian Champions League campaign, where they finished second in the group, one point behind ultimate champions and J-League heavyweights Urawa Red Diamonds. Despite the ACL success, Sydney FC's start to the 07-08 season was poor, and the club sacked him, replacing him with former Adelaide United manager John Kosmina. Sydney FC played well for the rest of the season, but got knocked out in the finals by Brisbane Roar.

Kosmina couldn't repeat the success of the previous season, replacing Brazilian international Juninho with Socceroos hero John Aloisi on a million dollar contract. However Aloisi didn't perform well at all during the season, and came under heavy fire, along with manager Kosmina, whose tactics were seen as controversial, and his relationship with the media, often becoming angry and frustrated didn't help causes either, many players fell out of favour with the coach, including Steve Corica and Clint Bolton and for the first time in the clubs history, they failed to make the play-offs. As a result Kosmina was fired, and new Owners were brought in - Russian billionaire David Traktovenko. The fresh change at the club was about to bear fruit, when Sydney announced they had signed Czech Republic manager Vitezslav Lavicka. Lavicka completely changed the structure of the club, and for its first time turning it into a serious, European style football club. He kept faith in Steve Corica and John Aloisi and several others who had threatened to walk out on the club, and as a result, Sydney FC won its first premiership in the clubs history. Sydney Made it to the Grand Finals of the 5th season of the A-League after winning to Wellington Phoenix in the Preliminary finals. The Finals were played against Melbourne Victory (last years Trophy holders). The game went on to penalties after a 1-1 Draw With Sydney's goal scored (Mark Bridge, 61) 20 seconds after Melbourne's goal was denied (offside) it seemed like Victory Shutoff for about 1 minute after the offside call. Melbourne Equalised 19 minutes later (Adrian Leijer, 81) leading them through extra time and then to penalties with Muscat's shot hitting post and Clint Bolton. Sydney FC won 4-2 on penalties which hand them their second Hyundai A-League Championship.

International competitions

Colours and badge

Sydney FC's badge since founding in 2004

The primary club colour of Sydney FC is sky blue, which represents the state colour of New South Wales. The secondary club colour is navy blue, with additional contrasting colours of orange and white.

The Sydney FC badge was created and used since the clubs founding in 2004. It features a football set centrally in a stylised crest shape. Above the ball is the shape of three shells of the Sydney Opera House, an internationally recognisable symbol of the city of Sydney. Below the ball is the Commonwealth Star, a seven-pointed star symbolising the Federation of Australia.

Stadium

Sydney FC play their home matches at Sydney Football Stadium (commonly known as SFS, and formerly known as Aussie Stadium^[21]), located in the Sydney suburb of Moore Park. It was built in 1988 to be the premium "rectangular field" for rugby league matches. It is also now used for association football and rugby union for major matches and domestic competition.

The stadium has easy access from the city centre, with shuttle buses running from nearby Central Station on match days. It has been the venue for several Australian international matches (notably World Cup Qualifier against Argentina in 1993). The stadium's capacity was stated at 41,159 prior to renovations in 2007, although the attendance of the 2006 A-League grand final exceeded this number by over 500. The currently stated capacity is 45,500.

Sydney FC have played matches at other Sydney venues. Parramatta Stadium in western Sydney was the venue for an AFC Champions League match against Indonesian football side Persik Kediri in April 2007 when the SFS was unavailable due to a NRL match being played there. A friendly match against LA Galaxy was played at ANZ Stadium in November 2007 due to its greater capacity, which drew a crowd of 80,295. Some argue that if the home stadium of Sydney FC was moved to the ANZ Stadium in Homebush Bay, then it would attract much larger crowds, making it an easier travel distance from the stadium to the south and south-west districts of Sydney. However, the FFA has said they would like a separate team in Western Sydney.

Training ground

Sydney FC's primary training ground is at Macquarie University in North Ryde where they use the grounds, they also have advantage of the aquatic centre which they use for post match recovery sessions, leasing the facilities until at least late 2009. Occasionally Sydney will train at the SFS and have been seen after home games having recovery sessions at local beaches such as Coogee, Bondi Beach and Maroubra.

Supporters

Sydney supporters at the northern end at the Sydney Football Stadium

Sydney FC primarily draw support from right across the city of Sydney as the only A-League team from Australia's largest city.

The largest supporters group of Sydney FC are known as "The Cove"^[22], and are located at the northern end of Sydney Football Stadium. The name came from the original name given to the settlement of Sydney — Sydney Cove. This settlement was located on the piece of land that is now the Circular Quay ferry terminal. Cove members attend every home match and also travel as a group around the country to support the team at away matches. As a vocal group, The Cove demonstrates its support by singing football chants, wearing club colours, waving flags and holding banners.

On 7 July 2006, Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes recorded a club song entitled 'Sydney FC For Me' with 25 members of The Cove singing back-up vocals.^[23] It was released prior to the start of the 2006–07 season.

Rivalries

Melbourne Victory (see also The City Derby) — The clash between Australia's two biggest cities is considered the biggest rivalry in the league by both sets of fans. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception. The rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory has become arguably the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations, controversy and consistently record-breaking crowds when the 2 teams go head-to-head.

Other rivalries include:

Adelaide United — The two strongest teams in the first season have continued their bitterness with each other. While Adelaide took out the Premiership in the regular season, Sydney went on to take out the Championship title in the league finals. Since then, there has only been one game between the two sides decided by more than one goal. However on 21 September 2008 in the Sydney v Adelaide game at SFS Sydney FC took away the game with a 3–0 win, breaking this streak.

Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets — 2 local derbies of New South Wales, with easy travel between Sydney, Newcastle and the Central Coast. Central Coast finished as runner-up from the first season as Sydney took the Championship title. The minor rivalry was expressed in a fantastic 5–4 game in season three, with Sydney victorious due to a penalty kick in stoppage time. Newcastle defeated Sydney FC in the 2006/07 season 3–2 on aggregate to progress to the minor semi finals.

Academy

On 21 December 2009, Sydney FC inaugurated an elite academy that will develop young players. The main goal of the academy is to produce better players by providing technical and tactical knowledge. It is also to identify potential new talent that can represent Sydney in the National Youth League and A League in future seasons. This shows a continued commitment from Sydney to invest in and develop junior talent for the benefit of grassroots football. The initial 26 players taken in, who have been drawn from the NSW State League clubs and consists of junior players aged from 14-18, started training with the academy at Macquarie University.^[24]

Current senior squad

Correct as of 30 August 2010

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Liam Reddy 2 DF Sebastian Ryall (Youth) 3 DF Stephan Keller 5 DF Hayden Foxe 6 MF Hirofumi Moriyasu 7 MF Brendan Gan 8 MF Stuart Musialik 9 FW Bruno Cazarine 10 MF Nick Carle (Australian Marquee) 11 FW Kofi Danning (Youth) 12 MF Shannon Cole

No. Position Player 13 DF Antony Golec (Youth) 14 FW Alex Brosque 15 MF Terry McFlynn (Captain) 16 MF Terry Antonis (Youth) 17 DF Matthew Jurman (Youth) 19 FW Mark Bridge 20 GK Ivan Necevski 21 DF Scott Jamieson 22 DF Byun Sung-Hwan 23 MF Rhyan Grant (Youth)

Other squads

Current Youth squad

Sydney FC's Youth Squad plays in the A-League National Youth League. This squad is current as of 03 September 2010.^[25]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Aaron Liddell GK Dylan Mitchell DF Mitchell Speer DF Luke Austin DF Nathan Sherlock DF David Vrankovic DF Georgio Speranza MF Tomislav Cirjak

No. Position Player MF Joel Chianese MF Dimitri Petratos MF Jared Lum FW David Gullo FW Wely Al-Rikaby FW Blake Powell FW Justin Hayward

Current Women squad

Sydney FC's Women Squad play in the 8 team W-League.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Nikola Dieter 2 DF Teigan Allen 3 DF Danielle Brogan 4 DF Alesha Clifford 5 DF Lisa Gilbert 6 MF Servet Uzunlar 7 MF Heather Garriock (Captain) 8 MF Julie Rydahl 9 FW Sarah Walsh 10 MF Kylie Ledbrook

No. Position Player 11 MF Catherine Paaske 12 FW Michelle Carney 13 FW Catherine Cannuli 14 MF Nicola Bolger 15 FW Kyah Simon 16 MF Linda O'Neill 17 MF Danielle Small 18 MF Brittany Whitfield 19 FW Leena Khamis 20 GK Karla Monforte

Notable former players

Below is a list of notable footballers who have previously played for Sydney FC. Generally, this means players that have played 50 or more competitive matches for the club. However, some players who have played fewer matches are also included, as they were the club's integral founding members, were integral members of a championship winning team, have at least one senior international cap or made significant contributions to the club's history

International players

Captains

Captains by Years (2005–present) Hyundai A-League games only.

Name	Nat	Period
Mark Rudan		2005–07
Tony Popovic		2007–08
Steve Corica		2008–10
John Aloisi**		2010
Terry McFlynn		2010–

• -Lists of captains only include those who captained more than two straight games and not including those who took the captaincy during a match due to injury or substitution of full time captain.
  • -John Aloisi captained Sydney in the two major semi finals against Melbourne in 2010. However due to an injury he sustained in the 2nd leg, Terry McFlynn took captaincy for the grandfinal and through the 2010-11 season.

Managers

Managers by Years (2005–present) Hyundai A-League games only.

Name	Nat	Period	Honours	Managed	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
Pierre Littbarski		2005-06	2004-05 Oceania Club Champions 2005-06 Hyundai A-League Champions	24	12	7	5	50%
Terry Butcher		2006-07		23	9	8	6	39%
Branko Culina		2007	AFC Champions League 2007 Group Stage	9	2	3	4	22%
John Kosmina		2007-09		35	13	11	11	37%
Tony Popovic (Caretaker) *		2009		0	0	0	0	-
Vítězslav Lavička		2009-	2009-10 Hyundai A-League Premiers 2009-10 Hyundai A-League Champions	31	17	4	10	55%

• Tony Popovic was appointed caretaker after Kosmina had been sacked. He was manager of the team for 1 game, a friendly against Shanghai Shenhua during the 2008-09 off-season. Sydney lost the match 2-1

Other staff

Year by year history

P = Played

W = Wins

D = Draws

L = Loss

F = Goals For

A = Goals Against

DNQ = Did Not Qualify

DNP = Did Not Participate

TBA = To Be Announced

( ) = statistic including A-league Finals

• = Participated as OFC member.

Honours

• A-League Championship:
  • Champions (2): 2005–06, 2009-10
  • Premiership (1): 2009-10
  • Finals Series Appearances (4): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009-10

• W-League:
  • Premiers (1): 2009
  • Champions (1): 2009

• National Youth League Championship:
  • Premiers (1): 2008–09
  • Champions (1): 2008–09

• Oceania Club Championship: 1
  • 2005 — Champions

• Oceania Club Championship Australian Qualifying Tournament: 1
  • 2005 — Champions

• Asian Champions League Appearances: 2
  • 2007 — Group Stage
  • 2011 — (To Be Determined)

• FIFA Club World Cup Appearances: 1
  • 2005 — 5th

• Pan-Pacific Championship Appearances: 1
  • 2008 — 4th

Records

Club

• Record victory: 9–2 (vs Sobou FC — Oceania Club Championship, 2 June 2005)
• Record A-League victory: 5-1 (vs Central Coast Mariners, 5 November 2005)
• Record defeat: 0–5 (vs Melbourne Victory — A-League, 16 October 2005)
• Undefeated streak: 11 matches (7 May 2005 – 6 August 2005)^[27]
• A-League Regular Season Attendance: 33,458 (vs Melbourne Victory — 20 January 2008)
• A-League Finals Series Attendance: 41,689 (vs Central Coast Mariners — 5 March 2006)^[28]
• Record Average Regular Season Attendance: 16,710 (2005–06)
• Record Season Total Attendance: 183,803 (2005–06)
• Record Attendance: 80,295 (vs LA Galaxy — 27 November 2007)

Player

• Most appearances:
  • All competitions: Iain Fyfe 120
  • A-League: Steve Corica & Clint Bolton - 102
• Most goals:
  • All competitions: Sasho Petrovski — 26
  • A-League: Steve Corica & Alex Brosque 23
• Record transfer fee received: AU$500,000 for Dwight Yorke from Sunderland A.F.C. .^[29]

Sponsorship

Other sponsors include:

• PULSAR Watches
• Star City Casino
• Qantas
• Musashi
• Macquarie University
• Sony
• Hyundai Motor Company (In Association with A-League)
• Vibe Hotels

Affiliated clubs

• Shanghai Shenhua — In December 2008 Sydney management released a statement that Sydney had signed a permanent sister-club relationship with Chinese Super League Club Shanghai Shenhua, both clubs will trade players, as well as coaching tips and medical and training methods.
• Manly United Football Club
• Macarthur Rams Football Club
• Macquarie University

References

External links

• Official website
• Sydney FC on Twitter

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