Sydney Football Club (FC) was established in 2004 as the inaugural Hyundai Australian-League (A-League) club representing Australia’s biggest city. Its home ground is Allianz Stadium, a 45,500 seat multi-use venue in the suburb of Moore Park.
Sydney FC are the most successful club in the history of the competition, having won 14 trophies across the Hyundai A-League, the Westfield W-League and Foxtel National Youth League.
Sydney FC draws support from right across Sydney, and is one of the most heavily supported clubs in Australia, as they were the only A-League team from Australia’s largest city until 2012. The largest supporter group of Sydney FC is known as “The Cove”.
The club’s first taste of success came before the start of the Hyundai 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 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 competed in four AFC Champions League competitions after Australia moved from the Oceania confederation to Asia, and will again compete in the AFC Champions League in 2019.
The Sydney FC badge features the Sydney Opera House as viewed from Allianz 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. Their kit is a sky blue shirt with navy and sky blue striped shorts, and sky blue socks.
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, John Aloisi, Jason Culina and Simon Colosimo.
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.
Following the arrival of Graham Arnold as Head Coach, the club signed Austrian Captain Marc Janko from Turkish club Trabzonspor. Janko set about breaking records in the Hyundai 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.
Season 2014/15 also saw the Sky Blues celebrate “A Decade of Memories” as the club joined with the Hyundai A-League in celebrating 10 years of existence. Celebrating in style, the club held a lavish lunch in the centre of the Allianz Stadium pitch, casting their eyes back over the last 10 years of existence and looking forward to the next decade.
Sydney FC’s 2016/17 Hyundai 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.
Star man Milos Ninkovic became Sydney FC’s first recipient of the Johnny Warren Medal – the player voted the Hyundai 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.
The Sky Blues were once again winning trophies and breaking records in the Hyundai A-League 2017/18 season as they defeated Adelaide United 2-1 in the FFA Cup Final at Allianz Stadium to lift their maiden FFA Cup title, while the club went on another fabulous run in the league to record back to back Premiers’ Plates and a finishing a massive 14 points clear of second place.
The Sky Blues missed out on a second consecutive Championship when they were defeated late on in the semi-finals by Melbourne Victory, however broke the Hyundai A-League goal-scoring record with 64 in a regular season with striker Bobô notching 27 goals – to break the Hyundai A-League record. Star attacker Adrian Mierzejewski followed team-mate Milos Ninkovic to become the club’s second Johnny Warren medal winner, while the Sky Blues competed in their fourth AFC Champions League campaign, recording notable results away to Suwon Bluewings (4-1), Shanghai Shenhua (2-2) and Kashima Antlers (1-1) however they were eliminated following the group stage of the tournament.
During the season it was announced Head Coach Graham Arnold would leave the club at the end of the campaign to take on the Australian national team Head Coaching job following the World Cup and assistant coach and Hall of Fame Member Steve Corica was unveiled as the club’s new Head Coach at the Sydney Opera House in May 2018.
