Auckland City FC
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 12 /2014
Full name:
Auckland City Football Club
Nicknames:
City
The Navy Blues
La Famiglia
The School of Astrophysics
Founded:
2004
Ground:
Kiwitea Street
Auckland,
New Zealand
Capacity:
3,500
Chairman:
Ivan Vuksich
Coach:
Ramon Tribulietx
League:
ASB Premiership
2013-14:
Champions
Auckland City Football Club is a football (soccer) club based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.
The club competes in the eight team ASB Premiership (formerly known as the New Zealand Football Championship) which is the highest level of domestic football in the country.
Auckland City FC play their home matches at Kiwitea Street in Sandringham, Auckland.
CLUB INFORMATION
The ASB Premiership was formed in 2004.
It is an amateur league with most players having full-time occupations outside of football.
Auckland City FC is one of the most successful clubs in the league having won the competition five times.
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 1500 and 2500.
Their 2011 Grand Final clash was played in front of a crowd of 3500.
SEASON SUMMARIES
2004/2005 Season
In the inaugural 2004/05 NZFC season Auckland City beat cross-town rivals Waitakere United 3:2 in the Grand Final at Kiwitea Street.
Keryn Jordan, who joined Auckland City a season later, was one of the goalscorers for Waitakere United.
Liam Mulrooney and Grant Young (2) were the goalscorers for Auckland City.
Over two months after the domestic season had finished, Auckland City travelled to Tahiti to represent New Zealand at the 2005 Oceania Club Championship finals which were held from 31 May to 10 June.
First up Auckland City played Sydney FC of Australia.
The scores were tied 2:2 after 90 minutes.
Steve Corica scored the winner for Sydney FC 3 minutes into injury time.
Two days later Auckland City played AS Pirae of Tahiti.
The Tahitian side triumphed 1:0.
In their final game Auckland City defeated Sobou FC of Papua New Guinea 6:1, finishing third in Group A.
2005/2006 Season
Auckland City began their second NZFC campaign the same way they finished off their first and led the competition for most of the season.
The 2005/06 Grand Final saw the team defeat Canterbury United 5:4 on penalties after the score was tied 3:3 at full-time.
Auckland City followed this Grand Final success with victory in the 2006 Oceania Club Championship which was held at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
They defeated AS Pirae (Tahiti) 3:1 in the final and remained undefeated throughout the tournament.
2006/2007 Season
The Oceania title saw Auckland City represent the Oceania Football Confederation at the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
Just five days after playing their last FIFA Club World Cup match in Tokyo on 15 December, Auckland City had to play rivals Waitakere United in a crucial NZFC match at Kiwitea Street.
After trailing 0:3 at half time, Auckland City came back to win 4:3 with a 99th minute winner from Paul Urlovic.
Referee Neil Fox produced an astonishing nineteen yellow and red cards in this memorable match, widely considered to be the most exciting since the competition began in October 2004.
At the end of an extremely long and challenging 2006/07 season the same two sides met again in the Grand Final where Auckland City triumphed once more by 3:2, to claim their third successive NZFC title.
2007/2008 Season
The 2007/08 season was a disappointing one for Auckland City with the club finishing third in the NZFC.
2008/2009 Season
Season 2008/09 saw Auckland City regain its status as the premier club side in New Zealand domestic football.
A 2:1 victory over arch rivals Waitakere United in the NZFC Grand Final, with goals to Keryn Jordan and Paul Urlovic, saw the club claim its fourth NZFC title in the past five years.
Further victory over Waitakere United in Group A of the O-League saw the club progress to the final where they faced Koloale FC of the Solomon Islands, in a two-legged final, to determine Oceania's champion club side.
A comprehensive 7:2 first-leg win, away in Honiara, was followed up by a 2:2 result back at Kiwitea Street to wrap up a 9:4 aggregate victory which booked the club a trip to the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
2009/2010 Season
Season 2009/10 saw Auckland City head to the United Arab Emirates and record the greatest results ever achieved by an Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup.
After returning from the FIFA Club World Cup the team continued their fine form and won the NZFC's minor premiership comfortably, losing only one match during the regular domestic season.
Auckland City was grouped with Waitakere United, AS Magenta (New Caledonia) and AS Manu-Ura (Tahiti) in Group A of the 2009/10 O-League.
Auckland City went through the group stages undefeated but missed out on a place in the final on goal difference.
A solitary goal was the difference between them and perennial opponents Waitakere United.
In the NZFC semi-finals the side defeated Canterbury United 2:1 away in the first leg before suffering a shock 0:3 reversal at home.
This upset was only the third loss the side had suffered in 25 matches over the course of the season.
2010/2011 Season
Season 2010/11 saw Auckland City regain its status once again as the premier club side in Oceania winning the 2010/11 O-League.
After comprehensively winning their group by six clear points from nearest rivals Waitakere United the team met Amicale FC of Vanuatu in the two-legged O-League Final.
A hard fought 2:1 victory away in Port Vila was followed by a 4:0 win when the two sides met again at Kiwitea Street.
This victory saw the club clinch the O-League title for a record third time and gain qualification for the prestigious 2011 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
On the domestic front the team began the ASB Premiership season slowly as player retirements, unavailability and injury impacted on the side.
As the season progressed however the side began to find some outstanding form and hit a purple patch winning ten straight matches as the semi-finals approached.
After comfortably dispatching of Team Wellington by 7:2 on aggregate over two legs in the semi-finals the side lined up against old rivals Waitakere United in the Grand Final for the fourth time since the competition commenced in 2004.
Auckland City had won all three of the previous Grand Final encounters however this run was to come to an end with the side going down 2:3.
2011/2012 Season
The 2011/12 season proved to be another highly successful one for the club.
Early in the season the team claimed its first piece of silverware for the campaign, the ASB Charity Cup, following a 3:2 victory away at Waitakere United.
This was a new competition pairing the previous year's Grand Final champions against the minor premiers in a one-off match up.
In Japan the side played Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol at Toyota Stadium in the opening play-off match of 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.
Back home the side continued their recent domination of football in the Oceania region by defending their O-League title and gaining qualification for the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
For the first time in the O-League's history the two New Zealand sides were placed in opposing groups and Auckland City qualified comfortably for the final with a group match in hand after overcoming Amicale FC (Vanuatu), Hekari United (PNG) and Koloale FC (Solomon Islands).
In somewhat of a surprise Auckland City's perennial rivals Waitakere United missed out to AS Tefana from Tahiti for a place in the final.
After a narrow 2:1 win in the home leg at Kiwitea Street with goals to Daniel Koprivcic and David Mulligan, Auckland City defeated AS Tefana 1:0 in Papeete for a 3:1 aggregate victory.
The domestic season saw the side set a competition record by going through the entire ASB Premiership regular season unbeaten - the first team to achieve this milestone since the competition was formed in 2004.
Disappointingly the side was defeated 1:4 on aggregate by Team Wellington in a two-legged semi-final play-off thus missing the opportunity to regain the ASB Premiership title.
2012/2013 Season
The 2012/13 season saw the club create history by becoming the first team in Oceania to win three consecutive OFC Champions League titles.
The OFC Champions League was held at the end of the domestic season in a stand-alone window running from late March until mid May.
Eight teams were split into two sections with Auckland City grouped with the Francophone teams AS Mont Dore (New Caledonia) and AS Dragon (Tahiti) as well as local rivals Waitakere United.
After winning its first three games the team faltered losing consecutive home matches to both AS Dragon and Waitakere United.
The team’s final group match was played away in Papeete against an AS Dragon side laden with Tahitian internationals.
A hard earned draw saw the team squeeze into the semi-finals as the second-placed team in group B behind Waitakere United.
The semi-finals were played over two legs. Auckland City was paired against the Fijian champions Ba FC who had topped group A without losing a match.
The opening leg was played at Kiwitea Street. Auckland City beat their Fijian opponents 6:1 in a lopsided match.
Auckland City then won the return leg 1:0, setting up a final against old foes Waitakere United.
The final was played at Mt Smart Stadium. Auckland City triumphed 2:1 over Waitakere United with goals from Adam Dickinson and Alex Feneridis.
On the domestic front the competition was dominated by Auckland City and Waitakere United with each losing only one match during the round-robin phase of the competition.
Auckland City defeated Canterbury United 5:2 on aggregate in their two-legged semi-final encounter to set up a finals clash with Waitakere United.
The final was a close encounter with a ten-man Auckland City seemingly heading to victory after taking a 3:2 lead with only minutes left on the clock after goals from Manel Exposito (2) and Chris Bale.
However, Waitakere United equalised in the 90th minute before sealing a 4:3 win after extra-time.
The club also won the ASB National Youth League title for the third time in its history making it the first team to achieve this honour since the inception of this competition.
2013/2014 Season
The 2013/2014 season witnessed a clean sweep of domestic and Oceania competitions, succeeding at the ASB Charity Cup; the minor Premiership league title; the New Zealand Football Championship ASB Premiership play off cup final; and the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League.
A number of players; Albert Riera Vidal, Roy Krishna; were signed by the Wellington Phoenix FC, after the A-League side were beaten by Auckland City FC.
The OFC Champions League held a round robin competition in Fiji, at Govind Park and Churchill Park featuring three groups, followed by a home and away semi final.
Ba FC (Fiji), AS Pirae (Tahiti) and Amicale F.C. (Vanuatu formerly the New Hebrides) topped their groups.
Significantly, only Amicale progressed to the final and Waitakere United (New Zealand) were knocked out during the group stage by AS Pirae 3:1; Waitakere managing only a draw 1:1 with the Solomon Warriors.
The away leg of the OFC Champions League was held against Amicale F.C. at the PVL Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu, in front of 9,500 spectators plus another 4,000 on the road outside, in trees and on roof tops on the hill side above the PVL.
Effectively, a third of the population of Port Vila in attendance.
The game was drawn 1:1.
This was the third successive game where Amicale were unbeaten against Auckland.
The return leg was played at Kiwitea Street, Auckland, and was only settled 2:1 in the 87th minute after goals by Ryan De Vries and Emilano Tade for Auckland and Kensi Tangis for Amicale and a crucial penalty save by New Zealand All Whites goalkeeper, Tamiti Williams.
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 FC 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 final 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.
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-final against ES Sétif.
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 will play San Lorenzo in the semis.