Melbourne City FC

Association football club in Victoria, Australia
not to be confused with Melbourne Football Club
Football cabaret

Melbourne City Football Club is a master association football club based in Cranbourne East, Melbourne, Australia, that plays in the A-League, the crown degree of australian football, under license from australian Professional Leagues ( APL ). [ 1 ] Founded in 2009 as Melbourne Heart, the cabaret competed under that name from its inaugural 2010–11 season until they were rebranded in mid-2014 by the City Football Group ( CFG ), in partnership with Holding M.S. Australia. [ 2 ] In August 2015, City Football Group bought out the Holding M.S. Australia consortium to have 100 % possession of the club. [ 3 ] Since form in 2009, Melbourne City has claimed one A-League premiership and championship ( both in 2020–21 ) and one FFA Cup claim ( in 2016 ). Melbourne City is run from the City Football Academy, a facility located within the Casey Fields sports precinct, in the southeast suburb of Cranbourne East. [ 4 ] The club plays home matches at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, commercially known as AAMI Park, a 30,050 induct multi-use venue in Melbourne ‘s City Centre. The club besides has an affiliated young person team which competes in both the National Youth League and the third division of the NPL Victoria league, and a aged women ‘s team which competes in the W-League .

history [edit ]

2010–14 : foundation [edit ]

After the adjournment of the National Soccer League in 2003, brought about by the Crawford Report, plans were drawn up for a raw vamp national competition to begin the follow season. Despite the calls for the modern competition to feature two clubs from Melbourne, in 2004 Football Federation Australia, opting for a “ one city, one team ” policy, announced that the Melbourne Victory had won the license to be the only Melbourne clubhouse to compete in the fresh national competition, known as the A-League. A 5-year moratorium was besides established preventing any other expansion sides from the eight master A-League teams ‘ areas entering the contest until the 2010–11 season, allowing Victory five seasons to establish itself in the Melbourne market. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] On 1 March 2008, former Carlton Football Club vice-president and businessman Colin DeLutis expressed his interest in a second Melbourne A-League side, with an approach path to the FFA to become sole owner of the second license with the command name of ‘Melbourne City ‘. [ 8 ] FFA head executive Ben Buckley raised the hypothesis of expanding the A-League from eight to 12 teams in May 2008, in readiness for the 2009–10 season. [ 9 ] Buckley besides revealed the being of a third gear Melbourne bid tentatively known as ‘Melbourne Heart ‘ backed by Peter Sidwell, to compete with the two other bids of Southern Cross FC and Melbourne City. [ 10 ] On 25 July 2008, the Melbourne City wish dropped out of the wish process leaving the Melbourne Heart and Southern Cross FC bids as the stopping point two bids standing. [ 11 ] By September 2008, the Melbourne Heart bid was awarded exclusive negotiate rights for the league ‘s 11th license, beating out the South Melbourne-backed Southern Cross FC bid. Negotiations continued until Sidwell ‘s group was awarded the license to join the A-League ‘s 2010–11 season by the FFA on 12 June 2009. [ 12 ] Heart started its inaugural season against Central Coast Mariners on 5 August 2010, at their home grind AAMI Park, losing 1–0. [ 13 ] The clubhouse ‘s first always goal was an own finish scored by Ben Kantarovski in the Heart ‘s moment league game, a 1–1 draw against Newcastle Jets. Melbourne Heart ‘s first win was a 1–0 victory over North Queensland Fury, which came in the one-fifth round of their first base A-League season on 4 September 2010. [ 14 ] They contested the first ever Melbourne Derby against Melbourne Victory on 8 October 2010, and won 2–1. Heart finished their first season on equal points with Newcastle Jets, but behind on goal remainder in one-eighth side. They failed to make it into the top six teams to reach the finals, despite sitting in sixth position for majority of the season. After a moderately more successful second season, Melbourne Heart finished 6th on the run, enough to make the finals. Heart ‘s first finals bet on was against Perth Glory, where they were defeated 3–0 at nib stadium. Wins over local rivals continued to occur over the watch two seasons, though the club failed to finish above the bottom two places and claimed the wooden spoon in 2013/14 .
It was announced on 23 January 2014 that the City Football Group had acquired Melbourne Heart for $ 12 million. [ 16 ] The cope involved CFG acquiring 80 % of Heart, the early 20 % to be held by a consortium of businessmen allied to Rugby league baseball club Melbourne Storm. [ 17 ] On 5 June 2014, the team obtained spanish World Cup-winning striker David Villa on loan from New York City FC, another team owned by the City Football Group. Villa was expected to play in the A-League until New York City entered Major League Soccer in 2015. [ 18 ] Villa played merely four of an expected ten matches, scoring doubly, before being recalled by New York City. Although none of the matches were won, [ 19 ] coach John van ‘t Schip credited Villa with bringing attention to the new team, and it was estimated that his presence trebled the clubhouse ‘s attendance. [ 20 ] Ahead of the 2015–16 season, City Football Group announced it had bought out the remaining 20 % share of the club held by a consortium for a $ 2.25 million tip, therefore acquiring 100 % possession of Melbourne City Football Club. [ 3 ] Under coach John vanguard ‘t Schip, the club developed a repute for attacking and high-scoring soccer, with the 2015/16 temper characterised as the club ‘s most nourish period of on-field success. The sign of Uruguayan striker Bruno Fornaroli was identify to the club becoming the most attack and ( scoring knowing ) prolific team in the league that season. The senior team finished the regular season a cabaret high fourth on the table whilst the women ‘s team achieved a noteworthy feat by winning all 14 of its regular season games on the means to both a inaugural premiership and backing in the club ‘s inauguration season in the women ‘s league. [ 21 ] The men ‘s team qualified for its beginning concluding of any kind in November 2016, and achieved silverware when it defeated Sydney FC 1–0 in the 2016 FFA Cup Final. [ 22 ] Despite this success, City continued to fall shortstop in smasher finals matches, losing at the elimination or semi-finals phase of the series over consecutive seasons. van ‘t Schip left the club mid-way through the 2016/17 season to be with his terminally ill father and under the irregular stewardship of Michael Valkanis the temper ended with another early on finals exit. [ 23 ] Following van ‘t Schip ‘s deviation, City management signed early Manchester United Reserves and Wigan Athletic bus Warren Joyce as coach ahead of the 2017/18 season. [ 24 ] Despite overseeing improvements in the team ‘s defensive capabilities, Joyce was unable to bring any silverware to the club. He left the baseball club at the end of the 2018/19 season, in which the baseball club again failed to reach the Grand Final, though with a respectable fetching percentage. Fairfax soccer journalist Michael Lynch reported that, despite shoring up the team defensively, Joyce ‘s “ two years in charge will be remembered for the number of high-profile players who departed the baseball club ” under his watch, which included a falling-out with asterisk striker Fornaroli, a well as the departures of Neil Kilkenny, Fernando Brandán and Australia ‘s lead goalscorer Tim Cahill. [ 25 ]

2019–present : 2020 Grand Final loss and maid Championship & Premiership Double [edit ]

The golf club appointed Frenchman Erick Mombaerts as director ahead of the 2019–20 season, and further changes to the play list occurred. Internationals Florin Berenguer, Adrián Luna and Craig Noone were brought into the police squad to add some attacking spark and erstwhile Hibernan and Brisbane striker Jamie Maclaren was signed as the club ‘s pavilion striker. Under Mombaerts City reached their second FFA Cup Final, though they were convincingly defeated 4–0 by the family team Adelaide United. The team rebounded from that loss to finish the season with its highest always finish up of second place, with 47 points. Maclaren won the Golden Boot award with 22 goals and the club qualified for its first ever Grand Final by defeating local rivals western United, though were defeated 1–0 by the home team Sydney FC in excess time. Mombaerts left the cabaret in September 2020 and was replaced by his former adjunct, Patrick Kisnorbo. [ 26 ] Under Kisnorbo, City had a record-breaking 2020–21 season by claiming the cabaret ‘s first base A-League premiership, three games out from the end of the regular season. [ 27 ] After winning the club ‘s first A-League Premiership, Kisnorbo then guided a relatively youthful City side through the A-League finals series without several key stars to win the 2020–21 A-League Championship, beating Sydney FC 3–1. [ 28 ]

list, colours and badge [edit ]

Melbourne Heart logo ( 2009–2014 )

name of Melbourne Heart [edit ]

Melbourne Heart ‘s first home kit out In October 2009, an on-line competition held by Melbourne ‘s Herald Sun gave the public the opportunity to submit their preferences for the name of the new Melbourne team. The prefer names were released on the Herald Sun web site on 13 November 2009. The four options were ‘Sporting Melbourne FC ‘, ‘Melburnians ‘, ‘Melbourne Revolution ‘ and ‘Melbourne Heart FC ‘. Some chew over if ‘Revolution ‘ had some context considering its hint to the Eureka Stockade, the closest Australia had come to revolution. [ 29 ] The identify of the new club was to be announced before the end of 2009, [ 30 ] but was delayed until early on 2010 due to Melbourne Football Club objections to the use of the words Melbourne, Football and Club [ 31 ] in the name. The Lord Mayor ‘s charitable basis expressed concern that the name Melbourne Heart was excessively like to its annual Heart of Melbourne Appeal, and lodged a protest with IP Australia in January 2010. [ 32 ] The clubhouse ‘s badge was lodged to IP Australia the same calendar month by the FFA, [ 33 ] [ 34 ] and on 2 February 2010, the name of the club was announced as Melbourne Heart FC. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] initially, a semblance system of either black and ashen, or loss and white were the two options for the club. The eventual choice for the home kit out was a red and white striped new jersey with red shorts and red socks, the away kit was a crimson sash on white jersey, with blank shorts and socks. [ 37 ] For the 2011–12 season Melbourne Heart introduced a third kit which would be worn for one equal per season. The design of the kit for each season was determined via a fan-designed rival. All fans could enter a design submission with the final examination design being decided by a golf club panel. The achiever for the 2011–12 season was Red and White Unite co-founder Steven Forbes and featured a loss and white sash on a grey jersey. [ 38 ] The 2012–13 winning third kit out design had a black and charcoal hoops jersey with crimson sleeves. The 2013–14 winning third kit design had a bolshevik and white chequered jersey with red sleeves. [ 39 ]

name change to Melbourne City [edit ]

After the announcement in January 2014 of a takeover of Melbourne Heart by the City Football Group, there was much speculation in the media about a potential re-brand of the club including a change of kit color to sky blue. [ 40 ] An application to trademark the name “ Melbourne City Football Club ” was lodged on 16 January, and Melbourne Heart ‘s minority shareholders had registered the occupation diagnose “ Melbourne City FC ” with the australian Securities and Investments Commission ( ASIC ). [ 2 ] [ 41 ] however, there was no official statement from the cabaret for some months, leaving fans in limbo as to the future identity of the club. In April 2014, media outlets reported that Melbourne Heart had lodged an application with Football Federation Australia ( FFA ) to rebrand the golf club exchangeable to that of Manchester City, including a change of their play undress from crimson and white to sky gloomy. It was reported that Sydney FC had lodged a ball charge with FFA to block the proposed discolor change. Sydney FC president Scott Barlow commented on the exit, saying “ We ‘re highly concerned about the proposed manipulation of sky gloomy by Melbourne Heart, and we ‘ve made our concerns identical clear to the FFA … in a competition with lone 10 teams, the estimate of two teams wearing flip blue is absurd specially when sky blue is indeed closely associated with NSW ”. [ 42 ] In May 2014, it was reported that FFA had upheld Sydney FC ‘s protest to a coloring material transfer to sky blue. however, Melbourne Heart released a affirmation curtly after confirming they were in discussions with Football Federation Australia on a roll of matters relating to its future plans including its playing strips, indicating the matter was not settled. [ 43 ] The baseball club was formally unveiled as Melbourne City FC on 5 June 2014. [ 44 ] Talks between Melbourne City and the FFA resumed in early 2016, and continued for a number of months [ 45 ] —but ultimately, in June, the FFA announced an approaching overhaul of the league ‘s brand in the 2017–18 season, a commitment which allowed Melbourne City to update its brand and truthful elementary colours by the beginning of the 2017–18 season. The changes will “ allow for the full integration of the City Football Group ’ s playing strip color ” in the home kit, with the FFA Board saying “ Sydney FC will retain exclusivity of its ‘Sky Blue ‘ mark as Melbourne City adopts the ‘City Blue ‘ colours. ” [ 46 ]

Kits [edit ]

Melbourne City ‘s current home kit, in use since the 2017/18 season, is all-sky blue ( officially referred to by the golf club as “ city blue ” ). The home kit out shorts and socks are the same color, though in the past these have been white. For many years the cabaret utilised a bolshevik and white striped design for their away kit out, though this was altered to a white zebra-shaped design with black shorts and socks ahead of the 2019/20 season. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] The loss and white-striped design is presently the club ‘s one-third kit. [ 49 ] City wore an all-black third gear kit in the 2018/19 season. [ 50 ] between 2014 and 2016, Melbourne City wore a by and large all-white home kit out, which featured a erect light and dark blue blasphemous strip running down the right side of the kit out. [ 51 ] In the 2016/17 season, the home kit was again predominately white though the upright plunder was removed and was replaced with unhorse blue sleeves and collar. [ 52 ] The away kit out during the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons used a exchangeable invention to the traditional Melbourne Heart kits, with erect crimson and white stripes strewn across. It was announced that “ the away kit celebrates the club ‘s history, the wishes of its existing winnow base and the red and white that remains at the Heart of its identity. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] The aside denude was changed to a horizontal white/red gradient in 2016/17, [ 55 ] with the club ‘s statement being “ the kit out .. displays the Club ’ s traditional red and white colours – a key feature of the Club ’ s badge ”. [ 56 ]

stadium [edit ]

Melbourne City ‘s base grate is Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. Melbourne City ‘s largest average season attendance is 11,047 ( achieved in the 2015–16 season ), while the largest always attendance for a individual home equal is 26,457 against Melbourne Victory in round 12 of the 2012–13 A-League season .

Statistics and records [edit ]

Scott Jamieson holds the record for Melbourne City appearances, having played 105 first-team matches between 2017 and 2021. Fellow hitter David Williams comes moment, having played 103 times. The read for a goalkeeper is held by Clint Bolton, with 70 appearances. [ 68 ] Jamie Maclaren is the club ‘s top goalscorer with 59 goals in all competitions from 2019 to the present day, having surpassed Bruno Fornaroli ‘s full of 57 in May 2021. Maclaren besides holds the club record for goals scored in the League, with 53. [ 69 ] Melbourne City ‘s record home attendance is 26,759, for an A-League match against Melbourne Victory on 23 November 2011 at AAMI Park, for a 3–2 win. [ 70 ] Melbourne City ‘s 2016–17 police squad was the most expensive team in australian soccer history, with team wages totalling $ 9.15 million. [ 71 ]

Players [edit ]

First-team squad [edit ]

As of 20 September 2021[72]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

youth [edit ]

Players to have featured in a first-team matchday team for Melbourne City
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Managers [edit ]

The club ‘s stream director is Patrick Kisnorbo. The club ‘s previous coach was Erick Mombaerts, who was appointed in 2019. [ 26 ] There have been six permanent managers of Melbourne City since the appointment of the club ‘s first professional director, John van ‘t Schip in 2009. The club ‘s longest-serving coach, in terms of both duration of tenure and number of games oversee, is John va n’t Schip, who managed the club between 2013 and 2017 .

corporate management [edit ]

Position

Name

Owners

City Football Group

Chairman

Khaldoon Al Mubarak

Chief Executive Officer

Brad Rowse

Football Operations Manager

Michael Petrillo

Ref. [ 73 ]

team management [edit ]

Ref. [ 74 ] Ref .

Honours [edit ]

domestic [edit ]

AFC Club Ranking [edit ]

As of 4 October 2021[75]

Continental phonograph record [edit ]

Season

Competition

Round

Club

Home

Away

Aggregate

2022

AFC Champions League
2022 AFC Champions League

Melbourne City Women [edit ]

Melbourne City Women is the women ‘s soccer baseball club affiliated to Melbourne City. The baseball club holds the only criminal record for most consecutive championships by club. Melbourne City Women are the most successful team in the W-League since 2015. Since their debut in the W-League, they won their first three championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and another in 2020 [ 76 ]

club facilities [edit ]

For the first five years of their universe, Melbourne City trained on borrowed accommodation at LaTrobe University, operating under a partnership with the local educational body. [ 77 ] Following the skill of the club by City Football Group, Melbourne City paid $ 15m to construct for themselves a brand fresh train and administrative facilities on extra land leased adjacent to the LaTrobe University precinct in the northern Melbourne suburb of Bundoora, designed to a world class flat. At the completion of the project, the modern center was dubbed the “ City Football Academy “ following the name conventions established at the affiliate Manchester complex. [ 78 ] [ 79 ] In December 2020, Melbourne City officials announced the club would move its education and administration facilities to Casey Fields, Cranbourne East, in Melbourne ‘s South-East. In 2019 the football facilities at Casey Fields included four floodlit pitches and a one-story administration building. The cabaret announced that, in conjunction with the City of Casey, it would add an elect coach tablet pitch, expand the size of the administration building to two storeys and leave space for electric potential future structure of a 4,000 capacity boutique stadium. The clubhouse ‘s youth and women ‘s teams will begin moving into the facility in 2021, with the entire cabaret to be based at the facility when construction is completed in 2022. [ 80 ] [ 81 ] [ 82 ]

Rivalries [edit ]

Melbourne City ‘s local rivals are Melbourne Victory. Although there were many state or regional rivalries in the A-league, the Melbourne Derby was the first and only intra-city bowler hat in the league until a second Sydney -based clubhouse, Western Sydney Wanderers joined the A-League in the 2012/13 temper. The first match between the two clubs saw Melbourne City ( known at the time as Melbourne Heart ) win 2–1 in battlefront of a sold out AAMI Park push of over 25,000 spectators. [ 83 ] The bowler hat catch between the two Melbourne clubs is much marked as an “ annual spectacle ” both on and off the deliver, attracting large crowd and frequently producing “ enthralling ” results and encounters. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] The competition became more intense in the third base meet of the clubs on 22 January 2011, when Melbourne Victory ‘s Kevin Muscat made a undertake on adrian Zahra, which earnt Muscat a crimson wag and an eight-week abeyance, and was the target cause of a season-ending knee injury to Zahra. [ 86 ] The two rivals have met in a final serial match only once, in the 2014–15 season, when City lost 0–3 to a clinical Melbourne Victory outfit. City has defeated Victory in the only FFA Cup derby held between the two clubs, City winning the semi-final match 2–0 .