Sydney FC

Sydney FC

Full name	Sydney Football Club
Founded	2004
Ground	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney (Capacity: 45,500)
Chairman	Andrew Kemeny
Coach	John Kosmina
League	A-League
2008–09	TBD (league) TBD (finals)
Home colours Away colours

Sydney FC, founded in 2004, is an Australian association football (soccer) club based in Sydney and competes in Australia's premier competition, the A-League.

Sydney FC won the inaugural A-League Championship in 2005–06 by defeating the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the Grand Final. After winning the 2004–05 Oceania Club Championship, Sydney FC competed in and finished fifth (of six teams) in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in December 2005. As inaugural A-League Champions, Sydney FC also competed in the 2007 AFC Champions League. It finished 2nd in its group behind Japanese giants Urawa Red Diamonds. Sydney FC also went on to compete in the 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship in Hawaii as the representative of Australia and its A-league. Domestically, Sydney FC is one of only 2 clubs in the A-league to have consistently made it to each seasons finals play-offs for the Championship title since the leagues founding in 2005. Sydney FC is also the most successful Australian professional football club to ever participate both under the Oceania Football Confederation and in FIFA international tournaments.

Its home ground is Sydney Football Stadium, a 45,500 seat multi-use venue^[1] in the suburb of Moore Park. Right from the beginning Sydney FC was marketed as the "glamour club" of the new competition,^[2], 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 given as rationale. ^[3] Sydney also went on to sign Former English International defender Terry Butcher as the 2006/07 season coach, Brazilian superstar midfelder 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 National regular Kazuyoshi Miura have also made appearances in the sky blue jersey. Capped Socceroos defender Steve Corica is the current captain, and former Australian International John Kosmina is the current manager.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Foundation 1.2 Pre-League 1.3 Club World Championship 2005 1.4 League 2005-06 1.5 League 2006-07 1.6 Asian Champions League 2007 1.7 League 2007-08 1.8 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship 1.9 League 2008-09 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 3.1 Training Ground 4 Supporters 5 Rivalries 6 Current senior squad 7 Other Squads 7.1 Current Youth Squad 7.2 Current Women Squad 8 Notable Former Players 9 International Players 10 Managers 11 Other Staff 12 Year by year history 13 Honours 14 Records 14.1 Club 14.2 Player 15 Sponsorship 16 References 17 External links

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.^[4]

The bid was lodged with the Australian Soccer Association (now Football Federation Australia) on July 19, challenged only by a consortium headed by Nick Politis, known as the "Sydney Blues",^[5] for Sydney's place in the 'one team per city' competition.^[6] A public row broke out between the two bidders after reports that the ASA were set to vote in favour of Sydney FC,^[7] causing Politis to withdraw his support for a team,^[8] and leaving Sydney FC as the only candidate remaining.

Sydney was officially launched as a member of the new 8-team A-League on November 1, 2004, with a 25% stake in the club held by Soccer NSW, the remainder privately owned.^[9] 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 Clint Bolton, Steve Corica and David Zdrilic as well as youth internationals Justin Pasfield, Mark Milligan, Wade Oostendorp, Iain Fyfe and Jacob Timpano.^[10] 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 March 25, 2005, winning 6-1.^[11] 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.^[12][13][14] 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.^[15]

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,^[16] 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.^[17]

Club World Championship 2005

In December 2005, Sydney FC competed in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship as the Oceania Football Confederation's entry to the tournament following their 2004-05 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.

This was to be any Australian football club's last year to qualify for the Club World Championship through the Oceania Club Championship. The FFA (Football Federation of Australia) announced soon after Sydneys grand final win that Australia will depart from the Oceania Football Confederation to join the higher ranking Asian Football confederation. The A-league now participates AFC's inter-city club tournaments such as the Asian Champions League held annually during the off-season of the A-league, and also the international cup tournaments such as the Asian Cup held every 4 years. Sydney FC went on to represent Australia in the Asian Champions league in 2007.

League 2005-06

Main article: Sydney FC season 2005-06

Sydney FC entered the inaugural A-League season as heavy favourites for the title,[18] and hosted their first league match against Melbourne Victory on August 28, 2005. This event drew a then-record crowd for a regular season match in Australia. The stated figure was 35,208 although this is likely to be an underestimation of the true crowd size.  A large number of people who 'walked up' to the game was unmanageable for ticket sellers at the gate, and for only the second time in the history of the SCG Trust (the operators of Sydney Football Stadium), the gates were opened twenty minutes after the game had started, permitting around two–thousand fans to enter for free.

The season saw mixed results for Sydney in the new competition, including a 5-0 loss to Melbourne in October followed by a 5-1 win over Central Coast Mariners a month later. With a place in the finals-series on the line, Sydney lost just one of their last seven games to secure second place at the conclusion of the twenty–one game regular season, seven points behind Adelaide United. Sydney had beaten Adelaide 2-1 in the final round and again faced them in the Major Semi–Final. Over two legs, 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 Sydney Football Stadium). On March 5, 2006 they faced Central Coast Mariners, the nearest club to Sydney by distance, in the inaugural A-League Grand Final. Sydney won the match 1–0 after Dwight Yorke set up Steve Corica for the deciding goal, to claim the first A-League Championship.

During the off-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.^{[19] [20]} He was replaced by former England international and Motherwell manager Terry Butcher on May 17, 2006.^[21] Preparing for their second 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).

League 2006-07

Main article: Sydney FC season 2006-07

The second season of the Hyundai A-league ("dubbed Version 2.0") was ultimately an unsuccessful and disappointing season for the defending champions. The club's administration had spent far more than it had earnt over the course of the past two years, and subsequent budget cutbacks included the sale of marquee forward Dwight Yorke, a significantly reduced advertising campaign, and the loss of German coach Pierre Littbarski. The team's displays on the field were widely reported by Australian sports media to have ranged from showing glimpses of strong form to marked disappointment^[22], and no real challenge for the premiership was mounted.

The off-field administration of the club came under equally heavy criticism. There were disruptions and disagreements within the club's controlling board, and disruptions in the dressing room involving several senior players and coach Terry Butcher. Amongst many other unfortunate events, the club was fined AU$129,000 and three competition points for an alleged salary cap breach involving David Zdrillic^[23]. The Sydney FC squad also suffered through remarkably bad fortune with regards to injuries; at one point, only thirteen players were fit & available on the team sheet, including regular second-choice keeper Justin Pasfield ^[24]. All of this amounted to disappointing attendances, ugly displays of football from what were previously regarded as a good team to watch and relatively poor performances.

Eventually, Sydney progressed to the finals series only by way of a hard fought draw against the Queensland Roar in the final match of the regular season^[25]. The Newcastle Jets were drawn as the team's initial play-off opponents in the final series. Sydney Won the first leg 2-1 at home but lost the second leg 0-2 away and they were ultimately defeated by the Jets 3-2 over the course the two (home and away) legs.

Asian Champions League 2007

On November 22 2006, Sydney FC and Adelaide United, as 2005-06 Champions and Premiers, were nominated as the first clubs to represent the Australia in the AFC Champions League 2007. Expectations were low for Sydney after a troubled season - many key players left the club at seasons end and coach Terry Butcher was replaced by former NSL coach Branko Culina. Culina named a revamped 21-man squad and in their opening game on March 7 2007 had 2-1 away win over Shanghai Shenhua with Ufuk Talay scoring a thunderous goal outside of the 18 yard box. That result was followed up with a 2-2 draw at home against Japanese club Urawa Reds after being up 2-0 in front of 21,010 - a bigger home crowd than had attended any of the last season's regular matches^[26]. In a game delayed by a day after near monsoonal rain, they struggled against Indonesian side Persik Kediri, losing 2-1 and showing their lack of match fitness against a better than expected Persik side.

In the return match a fortnight later, Sydney FC revenged the loss at Parramatta Stadium in Western Sydney, defeating Persik 3-0 with goals from Steve Corica and Alex Brosque.^[27] Sydney's final matches in the group finished in stalemates, first at home to Shanghai and then in Japan at Urawa Reds. Sydney was one point behind Urawa in their group ladder going into the final match, faced with needing to win in order to progress. Unable to capitalise on good ball possession, the match ended 0-0 and thus ended Sydney's Asian Champions League campaign.

League 2007-08

Main article: Sydney FC season 2007-08

For the third Hyundai A-league season, Sydney FC's playing squad retained a majority of players from the previous AFC Champion's League campaign, but was nonetheless altered through activity in the transfer market. On August 5, David Carney was transferred for AU$125,000 to English Championship side Sheffield United. The former Sydney player signed a three year deal with the club which has been reported to be earning him around AU$1.25 million a year. ^[28]

New players included former Socceroos regular Tony Popovic and former LA Galaxy attacking midfielder, Michael Enfield. On August 3 2007 Brazilian international Juninho Paulista, formerly of Celtic and Middlesbrough, signed with Sydney FC as the team's marquee player.^[29] They also secured youth players Ben Vidaic and Adam Biddle. Tony Popovic and Mark Milligan were named as captain and vice-captain, respectively. ^[30] On October 15, 2007 Michael Bridges was signed on a season-long loan deal from Hull City as a replacement for Michael Enfield, who had sustained a serious knee injury.

After an early season run of disappointing results, on October 22, 2007, it was announced that manager Branko Culina would be sacked from the club. On October 23, former Adelaide United coach John Kosmina was presented as the new head coach of the team. ^[31] Kosmina got the side off to a flying start under his tenure, winning a clash with table-topping rivals Central Coast in a thrilling 3-2 victory before a crowd of nearly 18,000 at the SFS - a sign of bigger things to come for the Blues. This was followed by an impressive 1-0 away victory over the Newcastle Jets, as with former England junior Michael Bridges recorded his first goal in the A-League. An entertaining 0-0 draw at the Telstra Dome with rivals Melbourne Victory followed, as Sydney FC - still undefeated under Kosmina - began climbing the competition's ladder.

During all of this, the Los Angeles Galaxy played a one-off exhibition match against Sydney FC at Sydney's Stadium Australia on 27 November 2007. Sydney FC won the match, which was broadcast nationally on free-to-air TV by Network Ten, 5-3. David Beckham scored the first goal for the LA Galaxy from a free kick right on half time, as a crowd of over 80,000 looked on. ^[32]

On December 22, a crucial match against the Central Coast Mariners resulted in a 5-4 victory in favour of Sydney. The match, held at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, was described by critics as the best game ever to come from the A-League.^[33] The win was especially savoured after Sydney were down 2-0 after 15 minutes. The controversial sending-off of Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic in the 16th minute turned the match in favour of Sydney. Ufuk Talay scored their 5th goal via a penalty in stoppage time.

On Friday the 28th of December 2007, Sydney FC came from behind for the second time in two weeks to defeat Adelaide United 3-1 and keep its unbeaten away record intact in front of a record Adelaide crowd of 25,039.

A win over Wellington Phoenix and draws with Queensland Roar in Brisbane and Melbourne Victory in Sydney in front of the highest crowd of the season (for all A-League teams) gave Sydney a final league position of 3rd.^[34]

On Friday the 26th of January, Sydney played out a nil-all draw for the first leg of the semi-final against the Queensland Roar in front of 23,450 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium. The teams then met again two weeks later in Brisbane to face off for the second leg. Marquee player Juninho, who had been in and out of the team all season with various leg and back problems, had been ruled out with a knee injury that he picked up in training, and Ruben Zadkovich was announced as his replacement. The Roar scored in the 14th minute through their Brazilian import Reinaldo, and Sydney FC was subsequently defeated and knocked out of the running for the 2007/2008 A-league championship and AFC Champions League qualification. Instead, the team was placed into the 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship.

2008 Pan-Pacific Championship

On the 20th February, Sydney were pitted against Houston Dynamo, who had won the previous season's MLS Championship. The match was played on artificial turf (fake grass) at Aloha Stadium. Sydney FC were never really settled in the unfamiliar conditions, and suffered a 3-0 loss. Sydney newcomer Ryan Walsh was dispossed of the ball 8 meters from the 18-yard box by Brian Ching, and the Canadian International Dwayne De Rosario put the ball past keeper Clint Bolton. Then, straight after the restart by Sydney, Stuart Holden received a 'through-ball' pass from Dwayne De Rosario, and shot past a stunned Sydney defence from the edge of the 6-yard box. When Chris Wondolowski scored before half-time to make the score 3-0, Sydney FC had really lost hope of coming back.

Sydney went into the 3/4th playoff against Los Angeles Galaxy fairly confident, as they had already beaten an understrength Galaxy team during the in November 2007 friendly match. However, Sydney fell behind only 3 minutes into the match when multi-million dollar English signing David Beckham sent in a pin-point cross from the right wing to find striker Ely Allen, who volleyed the ball past Sydney keeper Ivan Necevski. Defender Brendan Renaud then scored with a powerful shot from 30 meters out in the top right corner, but the Los Angeles team regained the lead soon after, as David Beckham again sent in a cross that Necevski couldn't handle and palmed to the feet of Los Angeles midfielder Josh Tudela, who tapped the ball into the net. LA went on to win the match 2-1, and Sydney finished 4th in the inaugural tournament. Japanese Side Gamba Osaka finished 1st, after a 6-1 thrashing of MLS Champions Houston Dynamo.

League 2008-09

Main Article: Sydney FC season 2008-09

Sydney FC have started recruiting heavily going into the fourth season of the A-League with three major signings to the club, with Socceroos Stars John Aloisi from the Central Coast Mariners, Simon Colosimo from Perth Glory, along with the only goal scorer in the 2008 Grand Final and Olyroos Star Mark Bridge.^[35] Sydney then went on to recruit Midfielder Stuart Musialik from Newcastle Jets signing a 3 year contract on March 11th.^[36] Mitchell Prentice from Perth Glory was snatched up by Sydney FC on May 3rd on a two year deal.

While Sydney continues its heavy recruitment, several Sydney FC players whose contracts have ended in the 2007-2008 season have not managed to receive a contract, making room for future fresh signings. Players that have not re-signed for next season from the 2007/08 squad: Mark Rudan (Avispa Fukuoka), Ufuk Talay (Avispa Fukuoka), Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County), David Zdrilic (released), Patrick da Silva (released), Ben Vidaic (released), Mark Milligan (uncontracted), Juninho (released), Brendan Renaud (released), Mark Robertson (released).

Sydney had the best start to this season then any other in the A-Leagues short history. Early Wins against Perth Glory, Central Coast Mariners, and Adelaide United, as well as draws against rivals Melbourne Victory, Queensland Roar, and Newcastle Jets have the 'glamour club' 2nd on the ladder, only 2 points behind Melbourne. Their only loss to date was against Wellington Pheonix in which they went down 2-1. Another great milestone was acheived for the club, when vetren midfielder Steve Corica scored a goal against Adelaide United and became the clubs highest ever goal scorer, which was previously held by Sasho Petrovski. This title is being contested for now with striker Alex Brosque who is also sitting on 15 goals. On November 11th, Captain Tony Popovic announced his immediate retirement. He will become Sydney FC's Assistant Coach with immediate effect.^[37][38]

Colours and badge

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 recognizable symbol of the city of Sydney. Below the ball is the Commonwealth Star, a seven-pointed star symbolizing the Federation of Australia.

Stadium

Main article: Sydney Football Stadium

Sydney FC play their home matches at Sydney Football Stadium (commonly known as SFS, and formerly known as Aussie Stadium^[39]), 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.

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.

Sydney also occasionally host friendlies during the pre-season as training matches. These teams are usually selected from the football divisions of New South Wales. Teams that were selected from the previous 3 seasons included Sydney United and Sydney Olympic from the NSW State Premier League (level 1 State Football division of NSW), and Sydney University Football Club from the NSW Winter Super League (level 2 State Football Division in NSW). Blacktown City Demons, Sutherland Sharks, and Manly United are the teams selected for the 2008/09 season trail matches.

Supporters

Sydney FC primarily draw support from 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', and are normally 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 also demonstrates its support by singing football and Sydney FC chants, wearing the clubs colours, waving flags and holding banners, which can be seen and heard from most areas of the pitch. Prior to the start of the 2007-2008 season, a group of people in the cove broke away from the cove and formed their own smaller group called The "Sin City Crew". They started, sitting in Bay 41 but moved to Bay 29 a few games into the 2007-2008 season.

On July 7, 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.^[40] It was released prior to the start of the 2006–07 season.

Rivalries

Melbourne Victory -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.^[41]

However other minor rivalries also 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 21st 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. CCM finished as runner-up from the first season as Sydney took out the Champsionship 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. However, Newcastle has not defeated Sydney in a regular season match since September 2005. Sydney won all 3 encounters in the 2007/08 season. This is a minor rivalry as Central Coast and Newcastle fans seem to worry more about each other, and Sydney supporters seem be focused more on Melbourne.

Current senior squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Clint Bolton 2 DF Iain Fyfe 3 DF Nikolas Tsattalios 4 MF Simon Colosimo 5 MF Mitchell Prentice 7 DF Robbie Middleby 8 MF Stuart Musialik 10 MF Steve Corica (captain) 11 FW Brendon Santalab 12 MF Shannon Cole 14 FW Alex Brosque 15 MF Terry McFlynn

No. Position Player 16 FW Chris Payne 17 DF Jacob Timpano 18 FW Adam Casey 19 FW Mark Bridge 20 GK Ivan Necevski 21 MF Adam Biddle 22 MF Michael Enfield 23 FW John Aloisi 28 MF Bobby Petta 29 DF Beau Busch 30 GK John Filan

Other Squads

Current Youth Squad

Sydney FC's Youth Squad will be playing in the new 7 team A-League National Youth League. (including 4 over-aged players)

No. Position Player 4 MF Chris Triantis 5 DF Matthew Jurman 6 MF Adam Hett 7 MF Robbie Mileski 8 DF Anthony Golec 9 FW Sean Rooney

No. Position Player 10 DF Zachary Cairncross 11 FW Kofi Danning 12 DF Ibrahim Haydar 13 MF Sam Munro 14 FW Brendan Gan 20 GK Vedran Janjetovic

Current Women Squad

Sydney FC's Women Squad will be playing in the new 8 team W-League. Players in bold have received international caps for their country.

No. Position Player GK Rachel Cooper DF Alesha Clifford MF Samantha Spackman MF Carlie Ikonumou DF Lisa Gilbert MF Heather Garriock FW Sarah Walsh MF Nicola Bolger DF Jessica Seaman FW Leena Khamis

No. Position Player MF Yesim Uzunlar MF Linda O'Neill DF Danielle Brogan GK Nikki Dieter FW Loren Mahoney FW Danielle Small MF Kylie Ledbrook FW Michelle Heyman FW Joanne Burgess MF Maggie Elhusseini

Notable Former Players

For further details, see List of Sydney FC players

David Carney (2005-07) Alvin Ceccoli (2005-07) Mark Milligan (2005-08) Sasho Petrovski (2005-07)

Mark Rudan (2005-07) Ufuk Talay (2005-08) Ruben Zadkovich (2006-08) Tony Popovic (2007-08) Juninho Paulista (2007-08)

Patrick da Silva (2007-08) Michael Bridges (2007-08) Benito Carbone (2006) Kazuyoshi Miura (2005) Dwight Yorke (2005-06)

International Players

John Aloisi Matthew Bingley Clint Bolton Mark Bridge Alex Brosque David Carney Alvin Ceccoli

Simon Colosimo Steve Corica Robbie Middleby Mark Milligan Stuart Musialik Sasho Petrovski Tony Popovic

Nikolai Topor-Stanley Ruben Zadkovich David Zdrilic Juninho Paulista Kazuyoshi Miura Jeremy Brockie Dwight Yorke

Managers

• Pierre Littbarski (2005-06)
• Terry Butcher (2006-07)
• Branko Čulina (2007)
• John Kosmina (2007-Present)

Other Staff

Senior Squad Coaching Staff Head Coach: John Kosmina Assistant Coach: Tony Popovic Strength/Conditioning Coach: Nik Hagicostas Goalkeeping Coach: John Filan Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Daniel Biggs[42] Club Doctor: Dr. Andrew McDonald Club Physio: Stan Ivancic Assistant/Masseur: Joe Niutta

Youth Squad Coaching Staff Youth Coach: Steve O'Connor Assistant Coach: Steve Corica Assistant Coach: Grant Lee Goalkeeping Coach: Jim Fraser Physiotherapist: Stuart Turner Trainer: Kylie Johnson

Management Team Chief Executive Officer: Stefan Kamasz Head Coach: John Kosmina Financial Controller: Phil Coy Commercial Officer: Ken Sharp General Manager, Football: David Mason General Manager, Marketing and Sponsorship: Kate Lalak

Board of Directors Chairman: Andrew Kemeny Director: Scott Barlow Director: Paul Dainty Director: Edmund Capon AM OBE Director: Anthony LaPaglia Director: Elliott Rusanow Director: Ian Rowden

Year by year history

Sydney FC League and Tournament Qualification History

Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Teams	League Position	Finals Qualification	Finals Series Position	ACL Qualification	ACL Placing	Pan-Pacific Championship	FIFA Club World Cup
2005-06	21 (24)	10 (12)	6 (7)	5 (5)	35 (40)	28 (31)	8	2nd	Qualified	Champions	Qualified for 2007	DNP	DNP	5th*
2006-07	21 (23)	8 (9)	8 (8)	5 (6)	29 (31)	19 (22)	8	4th	Qualified	Minor Semi-Finals	DNQ	Group Stage (2nd)	DNP	-
2007-08	21 (23)	8 (8)	8 (9)	5 (6)	28 (28)	24 (26)	8	3rd	Qualified	Minor Semi Finals	DNQ	-	4th	-
2008-09	5 (5)	3 (3)	2 (2)	0 (0)	11 (11)	4 (4)	8	-	TBA	-	TBA	-	-	-

Sydney FC Pre-Season Cup History

Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Position
2005-6	4 (4)	2 (2)	0 (0)	1 (2)	5 (5)	1 (2)	Semi-Final
2006-07	4 (6)	3 (4)	1 (1)	0 (1)	7 (10)	2 (4)	Semi-Final
2007-08	3 (3)	0 (0)	1 (1)	2 (2)	0 (0)	6 (6)	Group Stage
2008-09	3 (3)	1 (1)	0 (0)	2 (2)	4 (4)	7 (7)	Group Stage

Sydney FC Asian Champions League History

Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Position
2007	6	2	3	1	8	5	Grouping Stage (2nd in Group)

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 (1): 2005–06
  • Finalists (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08

• Oceania Club Championship: 1
  

2005 - Champions

• Asian Champions League Appearances: 1

2007 - Group Stage

• 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, June 2, 2005)
• Record defeat: 0–5 (vs Melbourne Victory – A-League, October 16, 2005)
• Undefeated streak: 11 matches (May 7, 2005 – August 6, 2005)^[43]
• A-League Regular Season Attendance: 33,458 (vs Melbourne Victory – January 20, 2008)
• A-League Finals Series Attendance: 41,689 (vs Central Coast Mariners – March 5, 2006)^[44]
• Record Average Regular Season Attendance: 16,710 (A-League 2005-06)
• Record Season Total Attendance: 183,803 (A-League 2005-06)
• Record Attendance: 80,295 (vs LA Galaxy – November 27, 2007)

Player

• Most appearances:
  • All competitions: Iain Fyfe 101
  • A-League: Iain Fyfe – 69
• Most goals:
  • All competitions: Sasho Petrovski – 26
  • A-League: Steve Corica 15
• Record transfer fee received: AU$500,000 for Dwight Yorke from Sunderland A.F.C.^[45]

Sponsorship

Major Sponsors:
Bing Lee
JVC
MBF Health Insurance
Reebok (Shirt supplier of Hyundai A-League

Minor Sponsors:
Star City Casino
Foxtel Television
Qantas
Daily Telegraph
Sydney Morning Herald/Sun Herald
Powerade
Macquarie University
Hyundai Motor Company (In Association with A-League)

References

External links

• Official Sydney FC website
• Sydney FC Unofficial Supporter's Website
• Sydney FC Fans Gallery

Football in Australia
Governing body: Football Federation Australia Current National Leagues: A-League • Youth League • W-League Former Leagues: National Soccer League
A-League
Lists: Champions • Records • Foreign players Seasons:  2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007-08 • 2008–09 • 2009-10 Clubs:  Adelaide United • Central Coast Mariners  • Gold Coast United Melbourne Victory • Newcastle Jets • North Queensland Fury Perth Glory • Queensland Roar  • Sydney FC • Wellington Phoenix
Sydney FC
Home: Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales Coach: John Kosmina | Captain: Steve Corica Seasons: 2005-06 • 2006-07 • 2007-08 • 2008-09 Current squad: List of players • 1 Bolton • 2 Fyfe • 3 Tsattalios • 4 Colosimo • 5 Prentice • 7 Middleby • 8 Musialik • 10 Corica • 11 Santalab • 12 Cole • 14 Brosque • 15 McFlynn • 16 Payne • 17 Timpano • 18 Casey • 19 Bridge • 20 Necevski • 21 Biddle • 22 Enfield • 23 Aloisi • 25 Mileski • 27 Jurman • 28 Petta • 29 Busch • 30 Filan • 31 Golec • 32 Gan •

Sydney Based Sporting Teams Competing in National Competitions Association football (soccer) A-L / W-L: Sydney FC Australian rules football AFL: Sydney Swans Baseball Claxton Shield: New South Wales Patriots Basketball NBL: Sydney Spirit WNBL: Sydney Uni Flames Cricket Sheffield Shield / 50 overs / 20 overs: New South Wales Blues WNCL: New South Wales Breakers Field Hockey AHL: New South Wales Waratahs · New South Wales Arrows Ice Hockey AIHL: Penrith Bears · Western Sydney Ice Dogs Netball ANZ Championship: New South Wales Swifts Rugby League NRL / NYC: Bulldogs · Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks · Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles · Parramatta Eels · Penrith Panthers · St George Illawarra Dragons · South Sydney Rabbitohs · Sydney Roosters · Wests Tigers Rugby Union Super 14: New South Wales Waratahs Main Article: Sport in New South Wales

football blog: http://theroundballgame.blogspot.com/