Sydney FC
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The Sydney Football Club, founded in 2004, is an A-League club based in Sydney, Australia. Its home ground is Aussie Stadium (formerly the Sydney Football Stadium) in the suburb of Moore Park. The club has gained a reputation as the "glamour team" of the competition due to the club's high-profile personnel; which include former Manchester United star Dwight Yorke, investor and actor Anthony LaPaglia and a former World Cup winner in first-season coach Pierre Littbarski. Generally known simply as Sydney FC, they were the inaugural A-League champions in 2005-06, defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1–0 in the Grand Final. Sydney FC finished in 5th place in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship and is currently ranked as the 14th best Asian club team by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
- 1 History
- 2 Current squad
- 3 Achievements
- 4 Records
- 5 Award Winners
- 6 The Cove
- 7
History
Sydney FC was founded in 2004, as Sydney's representative in the newly formed A-League competition.
They went into the inaugural A-League season as favorites after a successful preseason in which the club lost only one match. On June 11, 2005 the club won the 2005 Oceania Club Championships, having qualified for this tournament by winning the Australian World Club Qualification Competition in May of that year. After 11 consecutive victories, Sydney suffered their first ever defeat at the hands of Perth Glory in the Pre-Season Cup semi-final after an injury-time goal from Perth's Nick Ward.
Sydney FC's first home league match was against Melbourne Victory on August 28, 2005. This event drew a record crowd for a regular season match in Australia. The stated figure was 25,208, though this is likely to be an underestimation of the true crowd size as the number of people who 'walked up' to the game meant that ticket sellers at the gate were unable to cope. For only the second time in the history of the SCG Trust (the operators of Aussie Stadium), the gates were opened twenty minutes after the game had started, permitting around two–thousand fans to enter for free [link]. The club went on to improve this record in Round 21 (25,557).
In December 2005, Sydney FC competed in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship as Oceania's entry to the tournament following their 2005 Oceania Club Championships success in June. On December 12, in front of a crowd of over 28,000 at Japan's Toyota Stadium, Sydney FC narrowly lost to Costa Rican champions Deportivo Saprissa 1-0, denying the club a semi–final match against European champion Liverpool. Four days later, Sydney FC defeated the African "Club of the Century" Al-Ahly 2–1 to finish the competition in fifth place.
At the conclusion of the twenty–one game regular season, Sydney FC finished in second place, seven points behind Adelaide United. However, in the Major Semi–Final they defeated Adelaide 4–3 on aggregate, ensuring a home Grand Final which produced a sell–out crowd of 41,689 (above the stated capacity of Aussie Stadium) against the Central Coast Mariners on March 5, 2006. Sydney won the match 1–0 after Dwight Yorke set up Steve Corica for the deciding goal.
After the first season, coach Pierre Littbarski left the club following a dispute over his contract which involved a significant pay cut from his reported $700,000 first year salary. [link] [link] He was replaced by former England international and Motherwell manager Terry Butcher on May 17, 2006. [link] During the 2006 off-season, Sydney FC recruited Ruben Zadkovich (previously on a short-term contract with Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar) and Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand Knights).
Current squad
As of March 18, 2006- Coach: Terry Butcher
- Assistant Coach: Ian Crook
Achievements
- '''A-League:
- *Champions (1): 2005–06
- World Club Championship – Australian Qualifying Tournament:
- *Winners (1): 2005
- Oceania Club Championship:
- *Winners (1): 2005
Records
- Record Victory: 9–2 vs. Sobou FC (Lahi), 2 June 2005
- Record Defeat: 0–5 vs. Melbourne Victory, 16 October 2005
- Undefeated Streak: 11, 7 May 2005 – 6 August 2005
- Record Crowd (regular season): 25,557 vs. Adelaide United, 3 February 2006
- Record Crowd (finals series): 41,689 vs Central Coast Mariners, 5 March 2006
Top scorers
- Sasho Petrovski – 9
- Dwight Yorke – 7
- David Carney – 6
- Steve Corica – 5
Award Winners
2005–06 Season
- Player of the Year: Clint Bolton
- Top Scorer: Sasho Petrovski
- Defender of the Year: Alvin Ceccoli
- Midfielder of the Year: David Carney
- Forward of the Year: Dwight Yorke
- Members Player of the Year: David Carney
- Chairmans Award: Mark Rudan
- Finals Player of the Year: Steve Corica
- Goal of the Year: Alvin Ceccoli
- Joe Marston Medal Winner: Dwight Yorke
The Cove
The group of fans who sit in the home end (around Bay 23) of Aussie Stadium are known as "The Cove". The term came from the original name given to the settlement of Sydney — Sydney Cove. This settlement was located on the piece land that is now the Circular Quay ferry terminal. Most Cove members attend every home match while a smaller group travel around the country to support the team at away matches. They sing football/Sydney FC chants, wear club colours (sky blue in particular), wave banners and flags and generally try to help lift the team and demonstrate fervent support.
-->Some members make unofficial Cove merchandise such as scarves, flags, banners, patches and clothing to distribute or sell. The Cove creates a vivacious atmosphere during Sydney FC matches reminiscent of the activities of European Ultras. This provides for a starkly different level of crowd participation when compared to other football codes and sporting events in Australia.
Official
Unofficial
- [Sydney FC Unofficial] Supporters' site including forum
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