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History

Key Dates

  • 2004 – Established as Sydney’s original A-League club
  • 2005 – Wins the Australian Championship
  • 2006 – Wins the Inaugural A-League Championship
  • 2009/10 – Wins the Double: Lifts Premiership & Championship
  • 2009/10 – Wins the Double: Women win both Premiership & Championship
  • 2012 – Alessandro Del Piero joins Sydney FC – Breaks goalscoring records
  • 2012/13 – Women Win Championship – Sam Kerr stars in Grand Final
  • 2016/17 – Men’s side break numerous records during season and lift Premiers Plate and Championship
  • 2017 – Men lift FFA Cup for the first time
  • 2018/19 – Women win third Championship
  • 2018/19 – Men win Championship in Perth in front of 60,000 fans
  • 2019/20 – Sydney FC Men win the Double again
  • 2020/21 – Men reach 7th Grand Final
  • 2022/23 – Women lift the Premiers Plate for the third consecutive season, win the Championship for fourth time
  • 2023 – Men lift Australia Cup for second time

Sydney FC was established in 2004 as the inaugural A-League club representing Australia’s biggest city. 

Sydney FC are the most successful club in the history of Australian football, having won 32 trophies across all domestic and international competitions.

Sydney FC draws support from right across Sydney, and is the most heavily supported club in Australia. The largest supporter group of Sydney FC is known as “The Cove”.

WATCH: Check out 15 key moments in our history

The Sydney FC badge features the Sydney Opera House as viewed from the Sydney Football Stadium, set above the Commonwealth Star in a shield shape. The club’s colours are sky blue (representing the state of NSW) and navy blue. The primary kit colour is Sky Blue.

Sydney FC Chairman Scott Barlow launches the Sky Blues new logo in May 2017.

Many of the world’s greatest players have donned the Sky Blue shirt, including former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, Brazilian midfielder Juninho, Japanese legend Kazuyoshi Miura, Italian striker Benito Carbone, Socceroo legend Brett Emerton as well as many of Australia’s best ever products such as Steve Corica, Tony Popovic, Alex Brosque, Alex Wilkinson, John Aloisi, and Jason Culina.

Hero of Italian football Alessandro Del Piero signed a two-year contract with the club in September 2012, finishing as the clubs top scorer in both seasons and captaining the Sky Blues during the 2013/14 season.

The club’s first taste of success came before the start of the A-League when it won the 2005 Australian Championship and went on to be crowned Champions of Oceania, gaining a place in the 2005 Club World Championships in Japan where it finished 5th.

Sydney FC players pose with the trophy after winning the FIFA Club World Championship Australian Qualifying Tournament Final against Central Coast Mariners.

Sydney FC has started to take its brand throughout Asia and the Pacific. Having succeeded in Oceania and at the Club World Championships in 2005, Sydney FC has now qualified for eight AFC Champions League competitions after Australia moved from the Oceania confederation to Asia.

Sydney FC went on to win the inaugural A-League Men’s Championship at Allianz Stadium in 2006 with club Hall of Fame legend Steve Corica scoring the only goal of the game set up by Dwight Yorke.

Corica was to be captain four years later when the Sky Blues lifted their first double, winning the Championship and Premiership in the same 2009-10 season, after a penalty shootout against Melbourne Victory. Korean Byun Sung-Hwan scored the winning penalty on that night.

The double was a feat match by Sydney FC’s women’s squad who became Premiers and Champions under Head Coach Alen Stajcic in 2009 for the first time in only their second season in the competition.

Heather Garriock of Sydney FC pops the cork on a bottle champagne during celebrations after winning the 2009 W-League Grand Final match against Brisbane Roar at Shark Park in December 2009.

Sydney FC’s women won the 2012-13 Championship inspired by young striker Sam Kerr who would go onto become one of the World’s biggest female football stars. They defeated Melbourne Victory 3-1 at AAMI Park.

Following the arrival of Graham Arnold as Men’s Head Coach, the club signed Austrian Captain Marc Janko from Turkish club Trabzonspor. Janko set about breaking records in the A-League 2014/15 season as he set a new record for goals scored in a season by a Sky Blue player, 16, eclipsing Del Piero’s previous record of 14. He also set a new benchmark for the League for goals scored in consecutive matches, notching a goal for the seventh match in a row against Brisbane Roar on 14 March, 2015.

Sydney FC ended the season in second place and as Grand Finalist, qualifying for their third AFC Champions League campaign in the process.

Sydney FC’s 2016/17 A-League Championship and Premiership winning season saw a number of Australian football records, some dating back more than 40 years, broken, with the Sky Blues setting Australian football records for most points in a season (66), least losses in a season (1), least goals conceded in a season (12), best goal difference in a season (+41), most wins in a single season (20), and became the only club in Australian football history to remain in outright first place all season.

Sydney FC complete their second double in history after winning the 2017 A-League Grand Final against Melbourne Victory following a record breaking season.

Star man Milos Ninkovic became Sydney FC’s first recipient of the Johnny Warren Medal – the player voted the A-League’s best – while the Sky Blues ended their campaign with a thrilling Grand Final penalty shootout win (4-2) over Melbourne Victory at their home ground of Allianz Stadium, to be crowned double winners for the second time.

Sydney FC’s 2017/18 season continued much the same as the previous season as the Sky Blues completed a calendar year treble by adding the 2017 FFA Cup to their trophy cabinet in November and conquering all before them to finish the season as the first ever A-League side to claim back-to-back Premierships, finishing 14 points ahead of second place and with a +42 goal difference.

Front man Bobô scored a record 27 goals in 27 games to take out the A-League Golden Boot award for the season while Polish winger Adrian Mierzejewski claimed the 2017/18 Johnny Warren Medal following a string of stirring performances.

Bobô of celebrates scoring the winning goal in extra time during the FFA Cup Final between Sydney FC and Adelaide United at Allianz Stadium to complete the Sky Blues treble.

The Sky Blues enjoyed success in the A-League Women’s 2018/19 season as Head Coach Ante Juric’s charges claimed the Championship with a thrilling 4-2 win over Perth Glory at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium – making it their third Championship. 

Sydney FC’s Princess Ibini and Amy Harrison celebrate victory after the Grand Final match between Sydney FC and Perth Glory at Netsrata Jubilee Oval in February 2019.

Under Steve Corica as Head Coach, the club continued it’s success at the top end of the table, winning the Championship in 2019 away in Perth in front of 60,000 fans at Optus Stadium which followed a 6-1 thrashing of Melbourne Victory in the Semi-Final. This feat saw Corica become one of only two rookie Head Coaches to seal the title in their first season at the helm of an A-League club and ensure the 2018/19 season will go down in the history books.

Under Corica, the form continued, as Sydney FC became only the second ever A-League club to win back-to-back Championships when they out-muscled Melbourne City in the COVID-19 affected season (2019/20).

Rhyan Grant of Sydney FC celebrates scoring the winning goal during the 2020 A-League Grand Final match between Sydney FC and Melbourne City at Bankwest Stadium.


Sydney FC’s Liberty A-League Women’s squad picked up their 3rd and 4th Premierships in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, ensuring finals participation in every one of the 14 seasons since the league began. Sadly two dominant seasons ended with a defeat to Melbourne Victory in each of the subsequent Grand Finals held a Jubilee Stadium. However it meant the club had reached the Grand Final in each of the five previous seasons under Head Coach Ante Juric – an unprecedented achievement by any club.

Sydney FC team celebrates with the Premiers Plate during a presentation ceremony after winning back to back Premierships in 2022.

During the 2022/23 season, with an expanded competition, Ante Juric’s Women charged to a third consecutive Premiers Plate and in front of a record attendance for a domestic Women’s Football Match in 2023, they lifted the Championship trophy at CommBank Stadium, beating Western United 4-0 in the Liberty A-League Grand Final.

Captain Nat Tobin holds the A-League Women’s Championship trophy aloft

In 2023, Sydney FC Men lifted the Australia Cup for the second time in their history, coming from behind against Brisbane Roar at Allianz Stadium to win 3-1.