INTRODUCTION TO AUCKLAND CITY FC

Auckland City Football Club is based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The club competes in the eight-team ASB Premiership which is the highest level of domestic football in the country.

This new competition was formed in 2004. Auckland City have won the competition in four of the seven years since its inception.

Auckland City FC is an amateur club with most players having full-time occupations outside of football.

In the inaugural 2004/05 season Auckland City FC beat cross town rivals Waitakere United 3-2 in the Grand Final. Keryn Jordan, who joined City a season later, was one of the goalscorers for Waitakere United, whilst Liam Mulrooney and Grant Young, who scored twice, secured the Championship for the highly favoured home team.

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 Championships which were held at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. They defeated AS Pirae, of Tahiti, 3-1 in the final and remained undefeated throughout the tournament.

The Oceania title saw Auckland City represent the Oceania Football Confederation at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December 2006. This tournament featured the champion club side from each of FIFA's six Confederations, including the mighty FC Barcelona of Spain.

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

Just five days after Auckland City's match in Tokyo, they had to play rivals Waitakere United in a crucial NZFC match at Kiwitea Street. After trailing 0-3 at half time, Auckland City produced a stunning comeback 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.

The 2007/08 season was a disappointing one for Auckland City and was the first time the club had tasted failure in the NZFC. Finishing 3rd was a major setback for a club that has set such high standards for itself.

Season 2008/09 saw Auckland City regain it's status as the premier club side of 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 it's 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 confronted 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 FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 which was held in Abu Dhabi from 9-19 December.

Season 2009/10 saw Auckland City head to Abu Dhabi and record the greatest results ever achieved by an Oceania representative at the FIFA Club World Cup.

First up the team overcame local champions Al Ahli 2-0 in the opening play-off match with memorable goals by Adam Dickinson and Chad Coombes. In their quarter final clash against Atlante FC of Mexico the side put up a brave performance which the 0-3 scoreline did not fairly reflect.

The play-off for 5th and 6th place was described by coach Paul Posa as “the greatest night in the history of Auckland City Football Club” as the team defeated TP Mazembe (Congo DR), champions of Africa, 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 competition. They were also the first time a senior men’s representative team from New Zealand has recorded victory at a FIFA World Finals competition.

After returning from the Middle East the team continued their fine form and won the NZFC’s minor premiership comfortably, losing only one match in doing so during the regular domestic season. Unfortunately the effects of a long campaign, which saw the side play nearly double the amount of matches than almost all of the other NZFC sides, finally caught up with the side.

Auckland City narrowly missed out on a place in the O-League Final on goal difference after going through the group stages unbeaten. 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, only the third loss the side had suffered in 25 matches over the course of the season, was a bitter way to end a campaign which had reached such highs only a few months earlier in Abu Dhabi.

On another positive note club captain Ivan Vicelich became the first player in the club’s history to play at a FIFA World Cup Finals competition. The All Whites performed outstandingly well in South Africa and Ivan capped off a memorable twelve months by being named the Oceania Footballer of the Year.

Season 2010/11 saw Auckland City regain it’s status once again as the premier club side in Oceania.

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 in sweltering conditions was followed by a stunning 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 FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2011.

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. City had won all three of the previous encounters when the two sides had met in the domestic showpiece final however this run was to come to an end with the side going down 2-3 in an error-ridden final.

The club gained further accolades during the year, being named as the Sport Auckland Team of the Year for 2010 and also being named by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) as Oceania’s Club of the First Decade of the 21st Century. A delegation from the club attended the World Football Gala 2011 which was held in Orviedo, Spain and received this prestigious award in the presence of many of the biggest luminaries of the World’s Game.

HONOURS
Oceania Champions League Winners
2005/06, 2008/09 & 2010/11

ASB Premiership Winners
2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 & 2008/09
ASB Premiership Runners-Up
2010/11

Oceania Representative, FIFA Club World Cup
Japan 2006, UAE 2009 & Japan 2011

IFFHS Oceania Club of the Decade (2001 – 2010)

Sport Auckland Team of the Year 2006 & 2010

National Youth League Champions
2006/07 & 2008/09