Sydney (football club)

Ground

The first steps towards creating FC Sydney were taken in April 2004, when the New South Wales Football Union announced its intention to bid for a license to participate in the new league . ^[4] On July 19, an application was filed with the Australian Football Federation . Since the principle “one city - one team” was declared, ^{[5] the} application was challenged by a consortium known as the “Sydney Blues”, led by Nick Politis . ^[6] After the FFA announced that of the two applications inclined to choose Sydney FC, Politis refused to support Sydney Blues ^[7] , leaving Sydney as the only application from the city.

Sydney was officially introduced as a member of the new 8th team league on November 1, 2004, 25% of the shares belonged to the NSU Football Union , the rest were privately owned, ^[8] Walter Bugno was appointed the club’s first chairman. On December 11, 2004, the New South Wales Football Union announced its withdrawal from the project due to the autocratic management style of the club’s co-owner Frank Lowy , as well as the lack of consultations on key issues, such as the choice of the Sydney football stadium as the home arena instead of Parramatt stadium and reduced participation in the possession of the club of the Union from 100% to 25%. ^[9]

In February 2005, 16 out of 20 possible players announced - Sokkeruz Steve Koriku , Clint Bolton , Alvin Ceccoli , David Zdrilich , as well as the youth team Justin Passfield , Mark Milligan , Ian Fife , Jacob Tympano . Pierre Littbarski was appointed head coach, and Ian Crook, a former Norwich City player, became his assistant. Sydney played its first match against Manley United on March 25, 2005, winning 6-1. ^[10] A little later, the club went on a tour of the UAE , where they held meetings with the clubs FC Hatta , Al Ain and Al Jazeera , winning all three matches. ^[11] Also during the tour, the club announced a contract with former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke for two seasons with a salary of $ 1,500,000. ^[12]

Early years

The club held its first official match at the Central Coast Stadium in Gosford against Queensland Roar as part of the qualifying tournament for participation in the 2005 OFC Champions League . Having won the match 3-0, Sydney also beat Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners and got the right to speak at the OFK tournament in Tahiti . After a nervous first match with New Zealand 's Oakland City ^[13] , the club easily won in the remaining matches by winning the UFC Champions League , and also qualified for participation in the 2005 Club World Cup in Japan . The first match at the Alliance Stadium was held as part of the Pre-Season A-League Challenge Cup 2005. In this game, Dwight York also made his debut in the club, scoring the first goal of the match. Defeat in the semifinal of the Perth Glory tournament after Nick Ward 's goal in added time led to the end of a win-win series that lasted 11 matches. ^[14]

Sydney successfully completed the first season of the A-League, taking second place in the regular season after Adelaide United and winning the Central Coast Mariners Grand Final after Steve Korick scored a goal in the second half, 1-0. ^[15] but despite this, Pierre Littbarski left the club after he was asked to lower his salary ^[16] , and Dwight York signed a contract with the Sunderland Premier Club. ^[17] For the 2006/07 season, former England team player Terry Butcher was appointed as the new coach. ^[18] However, the team showed a faded game, despite the acquisition of Alex Cast and Italian Benito Carbone . The club was also fined 3 points after a violation of the salary ceiling for payments to David Zdrilich was found . ^[19] Despite the problems outside the field, the club was able to break into the playoffs, where in the semifinals lost to the Newcastle Jets . Despite the fact that Butcher brought the team to the final part, the fans were unhappy with the style of the game. In the end, after the season ended, Butcher terminated the contract with the club by mutual agreement. ^[20] Coach Branko Culina was hired to participate in the AFC Champions League 2007 , where they were unable to break out of the group taking second place after the future winner of the Urava Red Diamonds tournament. In the national championship , Kulina's team showed a weak result, as a result of which he was dismissed, and former Cosdela United coach John Cosmin was hired in his place. ^[21] Until the end of the regular season, the team performed stably and reached the playoffs, where they lost to Queensland Roar .

Era Lavichki

Cosimna could not repeat the success for the next season, instead of the former Brazilian player Juninho Paulista , soccer player Sokkeruz John Aloizi was signed, last season's Newcastle Jets champions Mark Bridge and Stuart Musialik and another Sockeruse Simon Colosimo were also acquired. ^{[22] [23]} Despite the good acquisitions, the 2008/09 season turned out to be a failure. Aloisi's game did not meet the level and was criticized, as well as Cosmin’s tactics which caused a lot of questions and his behavior in the media was very aggressive. Some players fell out of favor with the coach, such as Steve Korika and Clint Bolton ceased to be in the composition. Also for the first time in its history, the club was unable to break into the playoffs. After the acquisition of the club by Russian billionaire David Traktovenko , the chairman of the board was the husband of his daughter Scott Barlow ^[24] , who decided to dismiss Cosmina in February 2009. A week later, the appointment of Czech head coach Vitezslav Lavicki ^[25] became a fresh stream for the club. Lavichka began to change the club’s game by instilling a European style of play. He entrusted the place to Coryke, Aloisi and other players who were about to leave the club, and as a result the first victory in the regular season in the club’s history. After winning the Small Finals over Wellington Phoenix , Sydney took part in the fifth Grand Final. The finals took place in Melbourne at the Etihad Stadium stadium against the local Melbourne Victory club. “Sydney” took the lead in the 61 minute of the match, after the goal of Mark Bridge , after a few moments “Melbourne” did not count the goal scored from offside, the score was equal to 81 minutes after the hit by Adrian Leyer . The fate of the meeting was decided in the penalty shootout, after Kevin Muscat hit the post, Sydney became the champion for the second time.

Vitezslav failed to defend the title next season . In the offseason, a number of key players left the championship, Steve Korika completed his career, Carol Kisel returned to Europe, John Aloisi , Simon Colosimo and Clint Bolton continued their career at Melbourne Hart . The club managed to lure Nick Karl from former Crystal Palace . This was not enough, during the first ten rounds the team could not win, as a result of taking the ninth place in the regular season, Sydney could not get into the playoffs.

The third season, led by Lavichka, began with the acquisition of an experienced quarterback Michael Bosham and the return to the club of Carol Kisel , as well as the transfer of the Blackburn Rovers footballer Brett Emerton ^[26] , who for the sake of Sydney terminated his current contract. ^[27] The club took fifth place in the regular season, securing the right to play in the playoffs, but Sydney lost in the first round of the playoffs to Wellington Phoenix . After the end of the season, the club management announced that the contract with Lavichka would not be extended. ^[28]

2012—2014

Before the 2012/13 season , the club was unable to sign Graham Arnold , who rejected the offer from Sydney, as the head coach, ^[29] , and Tony Popovich, who worked in the club as an assistant, headed the new Western Sydney Wanderers club. As a result, in May 2012, Ian Crook was appointed coach. ^[30] Before the season, a number of leading players Bruno Kazarin , Juho Mäkel , Mark Bridge , Karol Kisel and Michael Bosham left the team. In September, the club signed a two-year contract with a salary of $ 2 million per year with the legendary footballer of the Italian and Juventus national team Alessandro Del Piero . ^[31] However, six weeks after the start of the regular season, Crook resigned, explaining that he was “in constant stress” and this affected his health badly, and Steve Korika was appointed acting head coach ^[32] . On November 28, 2012, Frank Farina was appointed head coach. ^[33] In the winter transfer window, the club was strengthened by a pair of defenders; captain Sockeruz Lucas Neal ^[34] and Brazilian Thiago Calvano ^{[35] were} acquired . Having lost in the last round of Brisbane Roar , the team took the seventh line, which deprived itself of the opportunity to play in the playoffs.

In the summer of 2013, Sydney for the first time in the history of the A-League went on a European tour, where he held matches with the clubs Padova , Udinese , Vicenza , Chittadella , Venice and Regina , in three of which won a victory. ^{[36] [37]} After eight matches of the regular season, the team had only 4 points, fans began to express concern about the state of affairs in the club. A banner appeared in the stands during a home match with Adelaide : "We want Farina to leave." ^[38] A mass exodus of fans from the largest group The Cove began. ^[39] In February 2014, the board held a special forum with fans. ^[40] In the remaining nine games, the team lost only in two and went into the playoffs, where they took off in the first round. After the club’s performance in the season, Farina was dismissed. ^[41]

The Age of Arnold

On May 8, 2014, Sydney announced the appointment of a coach for the 2014/15 season of Graham Arnold . ^[42] Terry McFlean ^{[43 ]} also announced their retirement, and in January, Brett Emerton ^[44] , and also at the end of the contract the club left Alessandro Del Piero ^[45] . To make up for the losses, J-League bronze medalist Ranko Despotovich and former Sockeruz Richard Garcia were purchased. On May 12, 2014, Arnold announced that Bernie Ibini-Isay , with whom Graham had previously worked at the Central Coast Mariners ^[46] , was leased from the Shanghai East Asia club, and later contracts were signed with two more strikers Shane Daredevil and Alex Throw . ^[47] On July 31, 2014, a contract was announced with another forward, captain of the Austrian national team, Mark Janko. ^[48] On October 8, 2014, the Cast was declared captain, and Nikola Petkovich and Sasha Ognenovsky as vice captains ^[49] . The season began with a match with the recently renamed Melbourne City club with David Villa at the head of the attack. Forces were equal the match ended in a draw 1-1. For eight matches, Sydney had a win-win streak that ended in a match with Perth Glory at the Stadium Alliance , in which 2 goals were missed seven minutes before the end of the match ^[50] . In the winter, players from the Senegal national team, Michael Tavares and Jacques Fati, were purchased to replace injured players. ^[51] At the end of the regular season, he broke many records, including a record of attendance at the match against Western Sydney Wanderers (41,213 people), a record number of away matches without defeats, and became a club that managed to score three or more goals in five consecutive games, ^{[ 52]} and also Mark Yanko , having scored 17 goals, became the main scorer of the championship. “Sydney” without any problems went into the playoffs, where they lost in the finals of “ Melbourne Victory ” with a score of 3-0. ^[53]

By the end of the season , rumors began to appear in the press about the transfer to the club of the Australian youth team player and Newcastle Jets Andrew Hoole , which were confirmed on April 30, 2015 ^[54] . The club also re-signed contracts with Mikael Tavares for two years ^[55] and his cousin Jacques Faty for one year ^[56] . Also on May 27, the club announced an extension of the contract with Shane Smelts for two years. ^[57] On June 3, 2015, the club announced that there were so far only 18 players, but plans to replenish the players before the start of the season. ^[58] Already on July 15, Zachary Anderson was signed who had the experience of playing under the direction of Arnold ^[59] , as well as two foreign players Filip Goloshko from Besiktas ^[60] and Milos Ninkovic from Evian ^[61] and extended the contract with Milos Dimitrievich for two years. Among the off-season losses were Mark Janko, who left for Basel , Petkovich, Nicola in Westerlo ^[62] and Terry Antonis sold at PAOK ^[63] .

The primary color of Sydney is sky blue , which is unofficially considered the color of the state of New South Wales ^[64] . The spare color is marine with the addition of orange and white .

The club logo was created in the form of a coat of arms and has been used since 2004. In the center of the logo is a ball above which three sails of the Sydney Opera House rise, a recognized symbol of Sydney .Under the ball is the Commonwealth Star , which symbolizes the Federation of Australia .

«Сидней» проводит домашние матчи на Альянс Стэдиум (более известный как Сиднейский футбольный стадион), расположенный в районе Мур парк . Он был построен в 1988 году для проведения матчей по регби-13 , в настоящее время также используется для матчей по футболу и регби .

На стадионе также периодически выступает сборная Австралии по футболу в частности матч отборочного турнира Чемпионат мира 1994 против сборной Аргентины . Изначально вмещал 41,159 человек, в 2007 году была проведена реконструкция, на данный момент стадион вмещает 45 500 зрителей.

Также «Сидней» проводил домашние матчи и на других стадионах, например, в 2007 году матч Лиги чемпионов АФК с индонезийским клубом « Персик Кедири » был проведён на стадионе Парраматта , так как в этот день на Альянс Стэдиум проводился матч Национальной регбийной лиги .

«Сидней» является одним из самых поддерживаемых клубов Австралии , так как до 2012 года был единственным представителем крупнейшего города в А-Лиге. Крупнейшая группа болельщиков называется «The Cove» ^[67] и располагаются на северной трибуне в секторах 22—26. Название произошло от имени первого поселения на территории современного Сиднея . Ещё одно объединение болельщиков называется «Изумрудный город», отсылка к негласному названию Сиднея . ^{[68] [69]}

Участники «Cove» посещают каждый домашний матч, а также отправляются на выездные матчи по всей стране, что бы поддержать команду. 7 июля 2006 года, австралийский рок исполнитель Джимми Барнс записал с 25 фанатами из «Cove» на бэк-вокале песню «Sydney FC for Me», которая была выпущена перед началом сезона 2006/07 . ^[67]

По состоянию на 23/11/15 ^[70]

Капитаны по годам (2005-н.в.) Только игры А-Лиги.

Информация взята с официального сайта клуба ^[71]

• Главный тренер —   Стив Корика
• Ассистент тренера —   Фил Мосс
• Фитнес-тренер —   Эндрю Кларк
• Тренер вратарей —   Джон Кроули

Согласно списку Зал Славы ФК Сидней на официальном сайте клуба ^[72] .

•   Стив Корика
•   Дуайт Йорк
•   Марк Рудан
•   Клинт Болтон
•   Пьер Литтбарски
•   Витезслав Лавичка
•    Терри Макфлин
•   Алессандро Дель Пьеро

• Победитель плей-офф чемпионата Австралии ( A-League ) : 2006, 2010, 2017, 2019
• Победитель регулярного первенства A-League: 2009/10, 2016/17, 2017/18
• Победитель Клубного чемпионата Океании : 2005

• Official site
• Fans site