Sydney FC was established in 2004 as the inaugural A-League club representing Australia’s biggest city.
Sydney FC are the most successful club in the history of Australian football, having won 26 trophies across all domestic and international competitions.
Sydney FC draws support from right across Sydney, and is the most heavily supported club in Australia. The largest supporter group of Sydney FC is known as “The Cove”.
WATCH: Check out 15 key moments in our history
The Sydney FC badge features the Sydney Opera House as viewed from the Sydney Football Stadium, set above the Commonwealth Star in a shield shape. The club’s colours are sky blue (representing the state of NSW) and navy blue. Their kit is a sky blue shirt with navy and sky blue striped shorts, and sky blue socks.
Many of the world’s greatest players have donned the Sky Blue shirt, including former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, Brazilian midfielder Juninho, Japanese legend Kazuyoshi Miura, Italian striker Benito Carbone, Socceroo legend Brett Emerton as well as many of Australia’s best ever products such as Steve Corica, Tony Popovic, Alex Brosque, John Aloisi, and Jason Culina.
Hero of Italian football Alessandro Del Piero signed a two-year contract with the club in September 2012, finishing as the clubs top scorer in both seasons and captaining the Sky Blues during the 2013/14 season.
The club’s first taste of success came before the start of the A-League when it won the 2005 Australian Championship and went on to be crowned Champions of Oceania, gaining a place in the 2005 Club World Championships in Japan where it finished 5th.
Sydney FC has started to take its brand throughout Asia and the Pacific. Having succeeded in Oceania and at the Club World Championships in 2005, Sydney FC has now qualified for eight AFC Champions League competitions after Australia moved from the Oceania confederation to Asia.
Sydney FC went on to win the inaugural A-League Men’s Championship at Allianz Stadium in 2006 with club Hall of Fame legend Steve Corica scoring the only goal of the game set up by Dwight Yorke.
Corica was to be captain four years later when the Sky Blues lifted their first double, winning the Championship and Premiership in the same 2009-10 season, after a penalty shootout against Melbourne Victory. Korean Byun Sung-hwan scored the winning penalty on that night.
The double was a feat match by Sydney FC’s women’s squad who became Premiers and Champions under Head Coach Alen Stajcic in 2009 for the first time in only their second season in the competition.
Sydney FC’s women won the 2012-13 Championship inspired by young striker Sam Kerr who would go onto become one of the World’s biggest female football stars. They defeated Melbourne Victory 3-1 at AAMI Park.
In the same season the Sydney FC Men became worldwide news with the signing of Alessandro Del Piero from Italian giants Juventus. It was and still is the biggest signing in Australian football history. Despite some marquee performances including a trademark free-kick goal on his home debut trophies eluded the Italian maestro during his two seasons at the club.
Following the arrival of Graham Arnold as Head Coach, the club signed Austrian Captain Marc Janko from Turkish club Trabzonspor. Janko set about breaking records in the A-League 2014/15 season as he set a new record for goals scored in a season by a Sky Blue player, 16, eclipsing Del Piero’s previous record of 14. He also set a new benchmark for the League for goals scored in consecutive matches, notching a goal for the seventh match in a row against Brisbane Roar on 14 March, 2015.
Sydney FC ended the season in second place and as Grand Finalist, qualifying for their third AFC Champions League campaign in the process.
Season 2014/15 also saw the Sky Blues celebrate “A Decade of Memories” as the club joined with the A-League in celebrating 10 years of existence. Celebrating in style, the club held a lavish lunch in the centre of the Allianz Stadium pitch, casting their eyes back over the last 10 years of existence and looking forward to the next decade.
Sydney FC’s 2016/17 A-League Championship and Premiership winning season saw a number of Australian football records, some dating back more than 40 years, broken, with the Sky Blues setting Australian football records for most points in a season (66), least losses in a season (1), least goals conceded in a season (12), best goal difference in a season (+41), most wins in a single season (20), and became the only club in Australian football history to remain in outright first place all season.
Star man Milos Ninkovic became Sydney FC’s first recipient of the Johnny Warren Medal – the player voted the A-League’s best – while the Sky Blues ended their campaign with a thrilling Grand Final penalty shootout win (4-2) over Melbourne Victory at their home ground of Allianz Stadium, to be crowned double winners for the second time.
Sydney FC’s 2017/18 season continued much the same as the previous season as the Sky Blues completed a calendar year treble by adding the 2017 FFA Cup to their trophy cabinet in November and conquering all before them to finish the season as the first ever A-League side to claim back-to-back Premierships, finishing 14 points ahead of second place and with a +42 goal difference.
Front man Bobô scored a record 27 goals in 27 games to take out the A-League Golden Boot award for the season while Polish winger Adrian Mierzejewski claimed the 2017/18 Johnny Warren Medal following a string of stirring performances.
Sydney FC appointed Club Legend and current Hall of Fame Member Steve Corica as it’s Head Coach for the 2018/19 season and beyond.
Corica wasted no time in taking the reigns as he signed former AFC Ajax Captain Siem de Jong as the club’s new marquee, while English striker Adam Le Fondre and Dutchman Jop van der Linden completed the Sky Blues’ foreign contingent for the new season. The Sky Blues enjoyed success in the A-League Women’s 2018/19 season as Head Coach Ante Juric’s charges claimed the Championship with a thrilling 4-2 win over Perth Glory at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium – making it their third Championship.
Championship success continued for the Sky Blues in 2019 as the A-League squad, after securing second place in the regular season, romped to the 2019 Grand Final by thrashing Melbourne Victory 6-1 before defeating Perth Glory on penalties at Optus Stadium to seal a record breaking fourth A-League Championship. The feat saw Corica become one of only two rookie Head Coaches to seal the title in their first season at the helm of an A-League club and ensure the 2018/19 season will go down in the history books.
History beckoned in Season 2019/20 as Sydney FC became only the second ever A-League club to win back-to-back Championships, whilst also setting a new record for Premiership wins as Head Coach Steve Corica’s men cantered to a record-breaking fourth A-League Premiers Plate. In a disrupted season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sydney FC claimed the Premiers Plate by six points before going on to defeat Melbourne City in the 2020 Grand Final at Bankwest Stadium, with Rhyan Grant scoring in extra-time to seal a 1-0 win, with the defender taking home the Joe Marston Medal for player of the match.
Sydney FC’s Men’s squad made it to a third consecutive Grand Final the season after, finishing second on the ladder and once again qualifying for the AFC Champions League – the 8th time. However they were denied a record third consecutive Championship going down 3-1 in the Grand Final away to Melbourne City, despite taking a first half lead through Kosta Barbarouses. City were level soon after and a controversial red card to Luke Brattan and penalty award to City on the stroke of half time ended any hope for the Sky Blues.
Sydney FC’s Liberty A-League Women’s squad picked up their 3rd and 4th Premierships in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, ensuring finals participation in every one of the 14 seasons since the league began. Sadly two dominant seasons ended with a defeat to Melbourne Victory in each of the subsequent Grand Finals held a Jubilee Stadium. However it meant the club had reached the Grand Final in each of the five previous seasons under Head Coach Ante Juric – an unprecedented achievement by any club.
