Sydney FC

Sydney Football Stadium (Capacity: 45.500)

Sydney FC - Newcastle Jets (2:5) (A-League, 5. February 2012)
0:1 Topor-Stanley (22.), 0:2 Zadkovich (29.), 0:3 Brockie (38.), 1:3 Moriyasu (47.), 2:3 Beauchamp (72.), 2:4 Brockie (87.), 2:5 Abbas (90+5)

Attendance: 10.232
Cost: $20AUD
Programme: Nil

Pre-match drinking pub - The Fox & Lion

 

A bit of work is happening at the entrance

 

Standing in the main grandstand

 

The away fans - The Squadron

 

Todays teams

 

Time for kickoff

 

Dominos pizza for dinner?

 

Looking across to the main grandstand

 

Newcastle on the attack

 

View of the pitch looking towards the city

 

Standing with The Cove - The Sydney fanatics

CLUB HISTORY: (wiki)

Sydney FC is a professional football (soccer) club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football (soccer) competition, the A-League. Sydney FC were inaugural winners of the A-League in 2006 and are considered as one of the most successful teams in Australia having won two national A-League Championships (2006 and 2010) and one Premiers' Plate (2010). Covertly, Sydney also remain the only A-League team to have won the OFC Champions League as since 2006, competing A-League teams have gained qualification to the AFC Champions League instead, in which Sydney has also competed finishing 2nd in the group stage of the 2007 season of the tournament and will also compete in the 2011 season. Having won titles in the W-League and in the National Youth League Sydney hold the distinction of being the only club in the A-League to have won all 3 competitions.
Its home ground is Sydney Football Stadium, a 45,500 seat multi-use venue in the suburb of Moore Park. Right from the beginning Sydney FC was marketed as the "glamour club" of the new competition, 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. Sydney went on to sign Former English International defender Terry Butcher as the 2006–07 season coach, Brazilian superstar midfielder 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 legend Kazuyoshi Miura have also made appearances in the sky blue jersey.

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.
The bid was lodged with the Australian Soccer Association (now Football Federation Australia) on 19 July, challenged only by a consortium headed by Nick Politis, known as the "Sydney Blues", for Sydney's place in the 'one team per city' competition. A public row broke out between the two bidders after reports that the ASA were set to vote in favour of Sydney FC, causing Politis to withdraw his support for a team, and leaving Sydney FC as the only candidate remaining.
Sydney was officially launched as a member of the new 8-team A-League on 1 November 2004, with a 25% stake in the club held by Soccer NSW, the remainder privately owned. 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 Alvin Ceccoli, Clint Bolton, Steve Corica and David Zdrilic as well as youth internationals Justin Pasfield, Mark Milligan, Wade Oostendorp, Iain Fyfe and Jacob Timpano. 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 25 March 2005, winning 6–1. 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. 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.

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, 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.

Sydney FC's first season was ultimately a success. Finishing 2nd on the ladder behind Adelaide United they went on to defeat Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the 2006 A-League Grand Final with Steve Corica scoring in the second half. However their success wouldn't last long, with German manager Pierre Littbarski leaving the club due to being forced to accept a lower pay cheque[19] and inaugural marquee player Dwight Yorke being signed by Premier League club Sunderland. Former English international Terry Butcher was signed as their new coach for the 2006-07 season, however it was regarded as an overall failure, with Sydney playing poor football, despite the signing of Alex Brosque and Benito Carbone as a Guest player. Sydney also had 3 points taken away during the season, after it was found that they had breached the Salary cap, involving player David Zdrillic.[20] Despite the off field problems, Sydney scraped into the finals series, however lost out in the semi final to Newcastle Jets. Despite him leading Sydney into the finals, Sydney fans were unhappy with Butchers tactics, and both Butcher and Sydney FC went their separate ways. Sydney would then sign Branko Čulina for their 2007 Asian Champions League campaign, where they finished second in the group, one point behind ultimate champions and J-League heavyweights Urawa Red Diamonds. Despite the ACL success, Sydney FC's start to the 07-08 season was poor, and the club sacked him, replacing him with former Adelaide United manager John Kosmina. Sydney FC played well for the rest of the season, but got knocked out in the finals by Brisbane Roar.

Kosmina couldn't repeat the success of the previous season, replacing Brazilian international Juninho with Socceroos hero John Aloisi on a million dollar contract. However Aloisi didn't perform well at all during the season, and came under heavy fire, along with manager Kosmina, whose tactics were seen as controversial, and his relationship with the media, often becoming angry and frustrated didn't help causes either, many players fell out of favour with the coach, including Steve Corica and Clint Bolton and for the first time in the clubs history, they failed to make the play-offs. As a result Kosmina was fired, and new Owners were brought in - Russian billionaire David Traktovenko. The fresh change at the club was about to bear fruit, when Sydney announced they had signed Czech Republic manager Vítězslav Lavička. Lavicka completely changed the structure of the club, and for its first time turning it into a serious, European style football club. He kept faith in Steve Corica and John Aloisi and several others who had threatened to walk out on the club, and as a result, Sydney FC won its first premiership in the club's history. Sydney made it to the Grand Final of the 5th season of the A-League after defeating Wellington Phoenix in the preliminary final. The Grand Final was played against Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Sydney took the lead after 61 minutes through a Mark Bridge header, just seconds after Melbourne had a goal disallowed for offside. Melbourne equalised through Adrian Leijer in the 81st minute, and the game went on to a penalty shootout with no goals scored in extra time. Melbourne skipper Kevin Muscat missed his penalty, with his shot hitting the post. Sydney FC won the Grand Final 4-2 on penalties which handed them their second Hyundai A-League Championship.


HONOURS:

A-League:
Champions (2): 2005–06, 2009-10
Premiership (1): 2009-10
Finals Series Appearances (4): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009-10
Fair Play Award (1): 2009-10
Oceania Club Championship: 1
2005 — Champions
Oceania Club Championship Australian Qualifying Tournament: 1
2005 — Champions
Asian Champions League Appearances: 2
2007 — Group Stage
2011 — Group Stage
FIFA Club World Cup Appearances: 1
2005 — 5th
Pan-Pacific Championship Appearances: 1
2008 — 4th


STADIUM HISTORY: (wiki)

The Sydney Football Stadium in Moore Park, in Sydney, New South Wales – also known as the Allianz Stadium for sponsorship purposes – was built in 1988, to be the city's premier "rectangular field" for rugby league and is now also used for rugby union and association football for major matches and domestic competition. The Wallabies and the Socceroos occasionally play at the stadium, while the Sydney Roosters, NSW Waratahs and Sydney FC are the grounds major tenants.
The Sydney Football Stadium usually hosts both NRL semi finals and one preliminary final, and also held the annual pre-season Charity Shield football match between South Sydney and St George Illawarra for a number of years. All NSWRL / ARL Rugby League Grand Finals were played there between 1988 and 1998.
Prior to its construction, major events were usually held at the Sydney Cricket Ground, as it was the largest stadium in Sydney. But the SCG, being an oval field, was not considered ideal for sports requiring a rectangular field like soccer, rugby league and rugby union, although it had been used many times for such events. The Sydney Football Stadium was built upon the former Sydney Sports Ground in Moore Park, and the former SCG No 2 adjacent to the existing SCG. Both were owned by the SCG Trust. Its seating capacity was 41,159, but after numerous expansions, today stands at 45,500, although the venue's official record attendance for a sporting event stands at 43,967, for the 1994 FIFA World Cup Qualifier when Australia played Argentina.

The Sydney Football Stadium has been the Sydney Roosters' home ground since 1988. It is built on the site of the old Sydney Sports Ground which served as the Roosters home ground for decades, and the old SCG No 2 which served as a secondary ground for some state cricket matches, an additional training ground, and athletics. Both grounds were demolished in 1986 to make way for the SFS.
From 1988 to 2005 it served as the home ground for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
It was used as the venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics Women's soccer gold medal match between Norway and the United States.
In 2002, the naming rights were purchased by Aussie Home Loans in a 5 year + 5 year deal. Due to this, the stadium was renamed Aussie Stadium. On 7 July 2007 the stadium reverted back to its original Sydney Football Stadium name after Aussie Home Loans and the SCG Trust mutually elected not to extend the naming rights deal.

In 2003, the SFS hosted several matches in the Rugby World Cup:
Ireland v Namibia
Argentina v Romania
Scotland v Fiji
South Africa v Georgia
Georgia v Uruguay.

This match was notable for attracting a crowd of 28,576, despite the low profiles of both teams

The Sydney Football Stadium has been the venue of some of Australian sport's greatest matches and moments such as the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Australia and Argentina featuring Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, finishing in a 1-1 draw with goals to Aurelio Vidmar for Australia and Abel Balbo for Argentina. This match retains the record attendance at the SFS and many more were actually in attendance as the gates were thrown open close to kick-off as a safety measure. The final of the 1993 World Youth Cup between Brazil and Ghana was also held at the SFS, Brazil won 2-1, 1989 Rugby League Grand Final which was won by the Canberra Raiders over the Balmain Tigers 19-14, the 1991 Rugby League Grand Final won by Penrith over Canberra 19-12 in which Royce Simmons scored 2 tries in his final match, the 1997 ARL Grand Final between Newcastle and Manly which the Knights won 22-16 and two standout State Of Origin matches in which QLD triumphed over NSW with last-minute victories in 1994 and 1998 and Michael O'Connor's sideline conversion for a NSW win in Game 2, 1991. The ground also hosted many memorable semi-finals and Monday Night Football games in 1996.

In 2007 the Sydney Roosters High Performance Centre and Administrative departments set up their headquarters at the Sydney Football Stadium. In 2012, German insurance company Allianz secured the rights to the naming of the Sydney Football Stadium; the venue is now known as Allianz Stadium.