Auckland City FC

Auckland City
Full name Auckland City Football Club
Nickname(s) City, The Navy Blues, La Famiglia, The School of Astrophysics
Founded 2004 (2004)
Ground Kiwitea Street
Ground Capacity 3,500
Chairman Ivan Vuksich
Coach Ramon Tribulietx
League ASB Premiership
2014–15 1st
Website Club home page

Auckland City Football Club is an association football club based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The club competes in the ASB Premiership (formerly known as the New Zealand Football Championship) which is the highest level of domestic football in the country.

Auckland City has won the regular season as well as the Grand Final six times. They represented the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in the OFC Champions League, which they won most recently in 2015 for the seventh time. With a third place in 2014 they also became the only OFC team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup. They are also the only team to win the continental treble three times.

Honours

Worldwide

Bronze Medal (1): 2014.

Continental

Champions (7): 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Champions (1): 2014.

National

Premiers (6): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15.
Champions (6): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015.
Champions (3): 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16

Rivalry

Auckland City FC's rival is cross-town team Waitakere United. It is the only city derby in the ASB Premiership and is known as the "Super City" derby. These games are fiercely contested, drawing crowds between 1,500 and 2,500. Their 2011 Grand Final clash was played in front of a crowd of 3,500. The pair have met 52 times in all competitions dating back to 2004 with Auckland City FC registering 27 victories overall. They have met nine times in continental and domestic cup finals with the Navy Blues winning three ASB Premiership titles, one OFC Champions League title and two ASB Charity Cup titles. Waitakere United have defeated Auckland City FC in two ASB Premiership finals and one ASB Charity Cup final.

In recent seasons, Team Wellington has emerged as Auckland City FC's nearest rivals at domestic and continental level with the Capital Men losing to the Navy Blues in three finals comprising the OFC Champions League final in 2015, ASB Premiership final in 2014 and most recently the ASB Charity Cup final at the start of the 2015–16 season. Team Wellington defeated Auckland City FC in the ASB Charity Cup final in November, 2014, the only time they've managed to best the Navy Blues in a cup final in four attempts.

Vanuatu club Amicale are Auckland City FC's main rivals in the OFC Champions League with the two clubs contesting three major finals in the past five years. Auckland City FC defeated Amicale in the OFC Champions League finals of 2012 and 2014 and added the OFC President's Cup to that list when they beat them in the final of the inaugural competition at Trusts Arena in November, 2014. Auckland City FC have signed players from Amicale in recent seasons with Sanni Issa, Micah Lea'alafa and Marko Dordevic turning out in Navy Blue after stints in Port Vila.

FIFA Club World Cup Campaigns

2006 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan

Auckland City lost their first game 2–0 to African Champions Al Ahly of Egypt on 10 December 2006. Five days later Auckland City played the Asian Champions, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of South Korea, in the fifth-place play-off. Auckland City, the only amateur side at the tournament, were defeated 0–3 and finished in sixth place.

2009 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates

Auckland City overcame local champions Al Ahli 2–0 in the opening play-off match with goals by Adam Dickinson and Chad Coombes. In their quarter final clash against CONCACAF Champions Atlante of Mexico the side lost 0–3.

The play-off for fifth and sixth place was described by coach Paul Posa as "the greatest night in the history of Auckland City Football Club" as the team defeated African Champions TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo 3–2. The goal scorers on this special occasion were Jason Hayne (2) and Riki van Steeden.

These historic victories were the first recorded by a New Zealand team at this prestigious tournament and indeed the first by an amateur side at this tournament. They were also the first time a senior men's representative team from New Zealand has recorded a victory at a FIFA World Finals competition.

2011 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan

Auckland City played Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol in the opening play-off match of the tournament at Toyota Stadium. The final score was 0–2 with Auckland City unable to reproduce their heroics of 2009 in the United Arab Emirates.

2012 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan

For the second year running Auckland City was paired against the Japanese J League Champions – represented by Sanfrecce Hiroshima – in the opening play-off match of the tournament. Auckland City lost 0–1.

2013 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco

Auckland City played Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca in the quarter-finals play-off on 11 December at Stade Adrar. The scores were tied 1–1 at 90 minutes with a second half Roy Krishna goal cancelling out a first half goal from Mouhcine Iajour. Abdelilah Hafidi then scored in the second minute of added time to give the Moroccan champions a 2–1 victory.[1]

2014 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco

Auckland City played Moroccan champions Moghreb Tétouan in a play-off for the quarter-finals on 10 December. The match finished goalless with Auckland winning 4–3 in a penalty shoot-out and qualifying for a quarter-finals against Sétif.[2] In the quarter-finals on 13 December Auckland City defeated ES Sétif 1–0 and advanced to the semi-finals for the first time. Auckland played San Lorenzo in the semis and lost 2–1. They finished their 2014 tournament with a 4–2 penalty win over Cruz Azul in the play-off for third and fourth after a 1–1 draw at full time.[3]

2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan

For the second time, Auckland City was paired against the Japanese J League Champions – represented by Sanfrecce Hiroshima – in the opening play-off match of the tournament. Auckland City lost 0–2.

Professional Club Matches

Auckland City FC has faced professional clubs from across the world and achieved respectable results. The following is a compilation of those results.

2005

OFC Club Championship Tahiti 2005
vs. Australia Sydney FC lost 2–3

2006

FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2006
vs. Egypt Al Ahly lost 0–2
vs. South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai lost 0–3

2009

FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009
vs. United Arab Emirates Al Ahli won 2–0
vs. Mexico Atlante lost 0–3
vs. Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe won 3–2

2011

Friendly Matches
vs. Australia Central Coast Mariners won 3–1

FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2011
vs. Japan Kashiwa Reysol lost 0–2

2012

Friendly Match
vs. Japan Matsumoto Yamaga won 2–0

FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2012
vs. Japan Sanfrecce Hiroshima lost 0–1

2013

Friendly Matches
vs. New Zealand Wellington Phoenix won 1–0
vs. Spain Espanyol lost 0–1

FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2013
vs. Morocco Raja Casablanca lost 1–2

2014

FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014
vs. Morocco Moghreb Tétouan draw 0–0 (4–3 pen.)
vs. Algeria Sétif won 1–0
vs. Argentina San Lorenzo lost 1–2 (aet)
vs. Mexico Cruz Azul draw 1–1 (4–2 pen.)

2015

Friendly Match
vs. Japan Yokohama FC draw 1–1

FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015
 vs. Japan Sanfrecce Hiroshima lost 0–2

National team friendlies

2009

vs. Kuwait Kuwait lost 0–2

2014

vs. Uzbekistan Uzbekistan draw 0–0
vs. Japan Japan lost 0–2

Current players and staff

First-team squad

As of 17 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 New Zealand GK Jacob Spoonley
2 Serbia DF Marko Đorđević
3 Japan DF Takuya Iwata
4 Croatia MF Mario Bilen
5 Spain DF Ángel Berlanga (captain)
6 New Zealand DF Jesse Edge
8 New Zealand DF Michael den Heijer
9 England DF Darren White
10 New Zealand FW Ryan De Vries
11 New Zealand MF Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi
12 New Zealand MF Adam McGeorge
13 New Zealand DF Alfie Rogers
14 New Zealand FW Clayton Lewis
No. Position Player
15 New Zealand MF Ivan Vicelich (Captain)
16 South Korea DF Kim Dae-wook
17 Portugal FW João Moreira
18 New Zealand GK Danyon Drake
19 Solomon Islands FW Micah Lea'alafa
20 Argentina FW Emiliano Tade
21 New Zealand FW Nathaniel Hailemariam
22 New Zealand DF Andrew Milne
24 Spain GK Diego Rivas Rego
25 New Zealand MF Reid Drake
27 Kosovo FW Regont Murati
28 New Zealand FW Myer Bevan
40 New Zealand GK Liam Anderson

New Zealand National Team Caps

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head Coach Spain Ramon Tribulietx
Assistant Coach New Zealand Ryan Faithfull
New Zealand Andy Peat
New Zealand Ivan Vicelich
Goalkeeper Coach Italy Simone Naddi

Medical staff

Position Name
Physiotherapist New Zealand Justin Lopes
New Zealand Matt Payne
Club Doctor New Zealand Dr Craig Panther

Media staff

Position Name
Media Manager Scotland Gordon Watson
Photographer New Zealand Shane Wenzlick

Managers

References

  1. ↑ "Raja Casablanca 2–1 Auckland City". Goal.com. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Moghreb 0 Auckland 0". Goal.com. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Auckland sink Setif to book spot in semis". FIFA.com. FIFA. Retrieved 13 December 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.