Melbourne Victory FC

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Melbourne Victory FC

Full name

Melbourne Victory
Football Club

Nickname(s)

Victory, The Big V^[1]^[2]

Founded

2004

Ground

Telstra Dome
Melbourne, Australia

Capacity

56,347

Chairman

Geoff Lord

Manager

Ernie Merrick

League

A-League

A-League 2006-07

First (premiership)
First (championship)





Home colours





Away colours

Melbourne Victory FC are an Australian professional football (soccer) team based in Melbourne, Australia. They participate in the A-League, and are currently the only team from the state of Victoria playing in the competition.

The club is the 2006-07 A-League premiership and championship winner. It is the only club to achieve the championship/premiership double[1] and will be one of two Australian representatives to the 2008 AFC Champions League.

1 History
2 Colours and badge
3 Stadium
4 Supporters
5 Rivalries
6 Current squad
- 6.1 Squad Changes for 2007/08 season
7 Notable former players
8 Club Officials
- 8.1 Managers
- 8.2 Chairmen
9 Achievements
- 9.1 Club
- 9.2 Individual
10 Records
11 References
12 External links

[edit] History

Melbourne Victory were founded in 2004 after the announcement of a revamped domestic league in Australia. The new A-League replaced the National Soccer League, which was disbanded in 2004. Eight licenses were handed out by Football Federation Australia.

FFA approved the Melbourne Victory consortium to be Melbourne's representative in the league, with Belgravia Leisure Pty Ltd backing the club. The Chairman and CEO of Belgravia Leisure, Geoff Lord, was installed as the inaugural Chairman of Melbourne Victory F.C.

Gary Cole (an ex-Socceroo) was hired to become Football Operations manager, and was soon joined by Ernie Merrick, hired as head coach from the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). Archie Thompson, a Socceroo who had been playing in Europe with Lierse S.K., was Melbourne Victory's first player signing. The club soon signed three more internationals for their squad - Socceroo Kevin Muscat, Austrian Richard Kitzbichler and Belgian Geoffrey Claeys.

The remainder of the squad was quickly assembled, although room was left for signings before Melbourne played its first competitive match against Adelaide United in a World Club Championship qualifier.

On October 27, 2005, South Korean electronics giant Samsung became the club's major sponsor in a two year deal, one of the largest in Australian domestic football history.

Melbourne Victory were the first team to complete the A-League double in the history of the competition; clinching the premiership against the New Zealand Knights 4-0 at Olympic Park with 5 rounds of competition remaining, then beating Adelaide United 6-0 in the grand final at a sold out Telstra Dome to take the championship.

[edit] Colours and badge

Melbourne Victory FC's kit colours are navy blue, silver and white, which encompass the traditional state sporting colours of Victoria. In the first A-League season, only the club badge displayed a chevron, known colloquially or to supporters as the "Big V", a symbol that has long been an identifier of Victorian sporting teams. However, to make a change from traditional A-League away strips, which are generally white with some of the club's home colors on the sleves and shorts, in the 2006-07 season the away strip was changed to grey shorts, grey socks and a grey jersey with a white chevron on the front. This was an immediate hit with the club's supporters and fans, and so from the 2007-08 season onwards, the Victory home jersey will sport a white chevron on the front.

2005-2007 Home

2005-2006 Away

2006-2008 Away

2007-2008 Home

[edit] Stadium

2006-07 A-League Grand Final at Telstra Dome

Further information: Telstra Dome, Olympic Park Stadium, and Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Melbourne Victory were originally based at the aging Olympic Park stadium, where they played all home matches during the 2005-06 A-League season. This stadium has seated areas only on the wings, with standing-room sandy terraces on the north and south ends.

On the back of a then-record regular season attendance of 39,730 at the all-seater Telstra Dome for the match against Sydney FC on September 2, 2006, it was announced that seven home matches would be moved to "the Dome". Only one match (due to a Robbie Williams concert)- against the struggling New Zealand Knights - would remain at Olympic Park.

This move to such a large stadium was viewed with skepticism by many, but proved to be an outstanding success, with the average attendance rising to over 27,000 during the season.

Prior to the 06-07 season the club had planned to move to a new stadium being planned to the east of the current Olympic Park complex. The new Melbourne Rectangular Stadium was originally expected to seat approximately 20,000 spectators (expandable to 25,000) and was to be completed in time for the start of the 2008-09 campaign.

These plans have since been revised after the Victory refused to commit to playing at such a small capacity stadium. Under the new plans, the stadium will have a capacity of 31,500, on the condition that the Victory sign on as a tenant.

[edit] Supporters

Melbourne Victory is the only A-League team based in Victoria, and have a dedicated fan base - the club have consistently set records for A-League attendances. With the move to Telstra Dome during the 2006/07 season, large crowds have been a constant feature of Victory home games. On February 18, 2007, a capacity crowd of 55,436 attended the Grand Final against Adelaide United at the Telstra Dome. This is the largest attendance on record for a domestic football match in Australia, surpassing the previous record of 50,333 set at the same venue earlier in the season.

Melbourne Victory has a number of supporter groups, each group with its own style of support. These groups include BWB (Blue and White Brigade), BWB Youth, M7C, SDC (Southern Death Crew), Flat Cap Crew,Terrace 27 (T-27), Frontline,VRS, OSS (Offside Set) and a small number of members associated with Melbourne Victory's original supporters group, UNION. The British style of support generally stand at the North End of Telstra Dome, however it's referred to as the 'South End' because of the tradition started by the SDC and affiliates at the South-End terrace of Olympic Park. The South-End of Telstra Dome hosts the more European / South American style of support led by the BWB, however they are branded the 'Northern Terrace' as a whole because of ties to the club's original stadium.

[edit] Rivalries

A billboard made by the MVFC supporters before a derby with Adelaide.

Sydney FC are promoted as Melbourne Victory's main rivals, even as the most heated rivalry in the A-League. Given the short history of the league, this is primarily due to other historical competitions and rivalries between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney.

Melbourne and Adelaide United have also developed a significant rivalry in the 2006/2007 season. In fact, some have argued that the Melbourne-Adelaide (or Victoria-South Australia State rivalry) is even greater than the Melbourne-Sydney rivalry.^[3] Both sides' traveling fans turn out in good numbers when the two teams clash. An incident during the Round 8 clash of the 2006/07 season saw Melbourne captain Kevin Muscat knock then Adelaide United coach John Kosmina from his chair in the technical area, as he was retrieving the play ball that had rolled under Kosmina's chair. The Adelaide coach jumped to his feet and grabbed Muscat by the throat as the two exchanged words on the sideline. Muscat was given a yellow card, while Kosmina was sent to the stand and later received a four-match ban from the technical area for his part in the altercation. The two sides went on to contest the 2006/07 Grand Final, with Melbourne romping home 6-0.

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Michael Theoklitos
2	DF	Kevin Muscat (captain)
3	DF	Daniel Piorkowski
5	DF	Ljubo Milicevic
6	MF	Steve Pantelidis
9	FW	Daniel Allsopp
10	FW	Archie Thompson
12	DF	Rodrigo Vargas