| Full name | Sydney Olympic Football Club | ||
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| Founded | 1957 | ||
| Ground | Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore, New South Wales (Capacity: 25,000) |
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| Manager | Peter Tsekenis | ||
| League | NSW Premier League | ||
| 2011 | 1st | ||
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| Current season | |||
Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian football (soccer) club that plays in the NSW Premier League. It competed in the National Soccer League from 1977 until the league's demise in 2004, having won the championship in 1989–90, 2001–02, the League Cup in 1980, the minor premiership in 2002–03 and the Cup Winner's Cup in 1983 and 1985. It won the Johnny Warren Cup in 2008. Over the years the club has been known as Pan-Hellenic, UTS Sydney Olympic and Olympic Sharks. Its support base is largely Greek.
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Established by Greek Migrants in 1957, Sydney Olympic Football Club has been a mainstay of Australia's National Soccer League ever since and the nursery of many of its finest talents.
Its original name is Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club and its initial strip was blue and white vertical stripes. The club quickly became competitive in the New South Wales First Division, attracting good crowds. The highlight of the pre-National Soccer League era came 10 years after the club's foundation, when in 1968 it reached the First Division grand final, only to lose 4–2 to Hakoah.
In 1977 the club became a founding member of the National Soccer League, and also changed its name to Sydney Olympic. But two years later it was back in the First Division. The league had decided to cut back on teams from NSW and having finished second last on the ladder – beating only South Melbourne – Sydney Olympic was given the chop.
The spell back in State League competition did not last long, with Sydney Olympic defeating the Parramatta Eagles 4–0 in the 1980 grand final of the NSW First Division. That victory secured Sydney Olympic a return to top-flight Australian football in 1981 where it remained until the NSL folded in 2004.
From 1982 to 1992, Olympic finished in the top half on the league ladder every season. In that decade it won two NSL Cups (against Heidelberg 1983 and Preston in 1985) and was runner-up in two others (Adelaide City in 1989 and South Melbourne in 1990). This period also saw three grand final losses: South Melbourne (1984), Adelaide City (1986) and Marconi (1988).
The 1990 season saw Olympic meet Marconi agsin in the grand final. This time the Blues succeeded, beating Marconi 2–0 before a record Australian crowd of 26,353. Scorers were Alistair Edwards in the first half and Robert Ironside in the second.
For season 1995/96, Sydney Olympic formed a prosperous partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and became known as UTS Sydney Olympic. During that time, the Club's home ground was Leichhardt Oval.
In season 1995/96 and two seasons earlier in 1993/94, Sydney Olympic went down in the elimination final match of the play-off series.
A change of home ground awaited the Blues going into season 1996/97. Belmore Sports Ground, in the more traditional heartland of Olympic, became the Club's new stable.
In April 1997, Sydney Olympic enjoyed a record home attendance at Belmore of 13,724 against the Marconi Stallions.The Club's worst defeat came in January 1998 when the Canberra Cosmos inflicted an 8–1 loss on Sydney Olympic down in the nation's capital.
Sydney Olympic's biggest win was a remarkable 6–0 defeat of South Melbourne in January 2000 at Belmore Sports Ground.
During season 1998/99 Sydney Olympic was involved in a match which attracted the largest crowd for any regular National Soccer League season match excluding finals. That game was against the Northern Spirit at North Sydney Oval in what was the Spirit's debut match in the National Soccer League. That evening, 18,985 soccer-loving enthusiasts turned out to watch Sydney Olympic defeat new boys Northern Spirit by two goals to nil. Olympic golden boy Chris Kalantzis and Pablo Cardozo were the goal scorers.
Season 2000/01 saw Sydney Olympic finish fourth on the competition ladder. During the play-offs, Olympic made it through to just one game away from a Grand Final appearance, losing by two goals to nil against Minor Premiers South Melbourne in the Preliminary Final in Melbourne in May 2001.
The 2000s saw Olympic's fortunes take an upturn, starting with their biggest ever NSL win, a 6–0 defeat of South Melbourne in January 2000 at Belmore Sports Ground. Season 2000/01 saw Sydney Olympic finish fourth on the competition ladder. During the finals, Olympic made it through to the Preliminary Final, losing 2–0 against Minor Premier and eventual runner-up South Melbourne.
Season 2001/02 saw the club move base once again, this time to the Sutherland Shire in Sydney's south, an area with no NSL representation, but a large base of registered junior players to potentially tap into. Olympic played out of Toyota Park. The move had also involved a change of name from Sydney Olympic to Olympic Sharks with the traditional blue and white colours of the club still in place. This season also saw Olympic capture their second NSL title, a lone Ante Milicic goal being enough to defeat Perth Glory at Subiaco Oval in front of 42,000 fans. The following season saw the Olympic Sharks win its first ever minor premiership by finishing on top of the NSL ladder, which eventually led to Olympics second consecutive appearance in a Grand Final. This time however, it would be Perth who would take out the title, winning 2–0.
Despite the on field successes, the move to the Sutherland Shire was short lived. Poor attendances took their toll on the venture and for season 2003/2004 the club chose to revert to the widely preferred name of Sydney Olympic and moving to OKI Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah. Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, Sydney Olympic participated in the NSW Premier League and just missed out on the end-of-season final series. In 2006 Sydney Olympic returned to Belmore Sports Ground and also forged a relationship with the Eastern Suburbs Soccer Football Association.
That platform reaped instant rewards when Sydney Olympic, with former Socceroo and Sydney Olympic great Milan Blagojevic at the helm, captured the 2008 pre-season Johnny Warren Cup with a gutsy 2–1 win over the Sutherland Sharks. Olympic were undefeated in their three round robin matches (two more were washed out) and lifted the trophy to bring smiles back to the fans of Sydney Olympic. It is a fact that most clubs have experienced their biggest attendances at their home matches when Sydney Olympic provided the opposition. E.g. A crowd of 18,985 witnessed the Club defeat Northern Spirit by two goals to nil on the 9th October, 1998 at North Sydney Oval. This holds as the record crowd between any two clubs during the regular season of the NSL eclipsing the previous record of 18,367 set when Newcastle KB played Sydney Olympic on 14 April 1979 at Energy Australia Stadium. During the past two decades, Sydney Olympic has attracted and developed a large number of talented footballers resulting in international attention to the Club and to Australian Football through transfers such as Brett Emerton ($1.3M), Jason Polak ($0.7M) Ned Zelic ($0.65M), Nick Carle and Jason Čulina. The club has transferred more than 25 players to overseas clubs in the last 20 years. More than 60 Socceroos have, at some stage in their careers, worn the blue and white of Sydney Olympic FC.
Sydney Olympic celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2007, with the club's jersey reverting to the original blue and white vertical striped design. In the 2011 New South Wales Premier League season Sydney Olympic finished in 1st place finishing 4 points clear of Sydney rivals Sydney United, once called Sydney Croatia being a Croatian Australian club. They beat Sydney United 2-0 in the Semi Final and beat them again by the same score in the Grand Final and went on to become the 2011 New South Wales Premier League Champions.
Sydney Olympic are supported by the passionate Greek community, having been founded by Greek Migrants in 1957. Sydney Olympic over the 28 seasons of the NSL have drawn in the greatest crowd attendances. The highest crowd attendance during the regular NSL season was between Sydney Olympic and Northern Spirit at North Sydney Oval on the 9th of October 1998 where 18,985 people witnessed Sydney Olympic defeat Northern Spirit 2 goals to nil. This record had broken the previous highest attendance which was 18,367, between Sydney Olympic and Newcastle KB on 14 April 1979 At Marathon Stadium. The greatest crowd attendance for a grand final was recorded during the 2001/2 season where 42,735 people were present at Subiaco Oval to see Sydney Olympic defeat Perth Glory.
NSL Player of the Year Award
NSL Top Goalscorer Award
NSL Under 21 Player of the Year Award
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Management
President: George Giannaros
Treasurer: Arthur Balayannis
Secretary: Peter Phillips
Director: Peter Englezos
Director: Mark Bosnich
Director: Chris Tsioulos
Technical Director : Ante Juric
Head of Football Development: Ian Crook
Sports
Head-Coach: Peter Tsekenis
Assistant-Coach: Peter Papoythis
Team-Gear Stewart: George Abartes
Reserve-Coach: Dean Magnall
Technical Consultant: Ron Smith
Under 18's Coach: George Markos
Under 16's Coach: David Komljenovic
Under 15's Coach: Luke Gray
Under 14's Coach: Harry Paraskevaidis
Under 13's Coach: Daniel Grant
Medical
Physiotherapist: Efrem Bingeric
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| Preceded by Marconi Stallions |
NSL Champions 1989/90 |
Succeeded by South Melbourne |
| Preceded by Wollongong Wolves |
NSL Champions 2001/02 |
Succeeded by Perth Glory |
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