Auckland City FC

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Auckland City FC

Full name	Auckland City Football Club
Nickname(s)	City, ACFC, "Auckland City Boys"
Founded	2004
Ground	Kiwitea Street Auckland, New Zealand (Capacity: 10,000)
Chairman	Ivan Vuksich
Coach	Ramon Tribulietx[1]
League	ASB Premiership
2011-12	1st (Minor Premiership)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
Current season

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 which is the highest level of domestic football in the country. Auckland City play their home matches at Kiwitea Street in Sandringham, Auckland.

Club Information

The ASB Premiership was formed in 2004 and Auckland City FC is one of the most successful clubs in the league having won the competition in four of the seven years since its inception. It is an amateur league with most players having full-time occupations outside of football.

Rivalry

Auckland City FC's rival is cross-town team Waitakere United, and is the only city derby in the ASB Premiership. These games are fiercely contested, drawing crowds between 1500 and 2500, and their 2011 Grand Final clash saw a crowd of 3500.

Season Summaries

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.

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 its 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 its fourth NZFC title in the past five years.

After returning from the Club World Cup in 2009 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. 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.

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

Auckland's World Club Championship campaign

The New Zealand Football Championship allowed Auckland City FC to represent New Zealand in the Oceania Champions League without having to qualify. Auckland won the Oceania Club Championship 2006 held at North Harbour Stadium by beating AS Pirae 3-1 in the final. The Oceania title ensured Auckland City FC to play in the FIFA Club World Championship 2006.

In November 2006, Auckland City parted company with coach Roger Wilkinson less than a month before their debut at the FIFA Club World Championship 2006. Chairman Ivan Vuksich confirmed the “mutually agreed” split in a media release. Board member Paul Marshall took over as caretaker coach until a permanent replacement is signed. Auckland City gave no reason for the parting but the team, after winning the championship last season, are in fourth place on the New Zealand Football Championship table - eight points behind arch rivals and league leaders Waitakere United after just six rounds.

Auckland City rehired manager Allan Jones to coach the team in FIFA Club World Championship 2006. Auckland City lost their first game 2-0 to Al Ahly on December 10, 2006. Five days later, Auckland played South Korean club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the fifth-place play-off in Tokyo, but lost 3-0 and finished last among the six teams participating in the tournament.

Just five days after Auckland's match with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Auckland had to play rivals Waitakere United in a crucial NZFC match at Kiwitea Street. After trailing 3-0 at half time, City produced a stunning comeback to win 4-3 with a 99th minute goal from Paul Urlovic. Referee Neil Fox produced 19 yellow and red cards in this incredible match.

Current squad

As of February 22, 2012 (Confirmed 2011/12 Squad)

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Jacob Spoonley 3 DF Ian Hogg 4 DF Riki van Steeden 5 DF Ángel Berlanga 6 MF Chad Coombes 7 DF James Pritchett 8 MF David Mulligan 9 FW Manel Expósito 10 FW Luis Corrales 11 FW Daniel Koprivcic 12 GK Tamati Williams 13 MF Alex Feneridis 14 FW Adam Dickinson

No. Position Player 15 DF Ivan Vicelich (captain) 16 MF Albert Riera Vidal 17 MF Adam McGeorge 18 GK Paul Gothard 19 FW Iwa Shaker 20 FW Emiliano Tade 21 MF Ivan Diaz Ruiz 22 MF Andrew Milne 23 MF Simon Arms 24 DF Stephen Carmichael 25 DF Mario Ilich 26 GK Liam Anderson 27 MF Mauro Rodriguez

Current International players

New Zealand

• Jacob Spoonley (GK)
• Ian Hogg (DF)
• Ivan Vicelich (DF)
• David Mulligan (MF)

Coaching Staff

Medical Staff

Former Players

• Liam Mulrooney
• Paul Seaman
• Ross Nicholson
• Jonathan Perry
• Ben Sigmund
• Jonathan Smith
• Greg Uhlmann
• Paul Urlovic
• Stuart Kelly
• Henry Fa'arodo
• Keryn Jordan
• Grant Young
• Lee Ki-Hyung
• Andreu
• Xavi Roca

FIFA Club World Cup History

10 December 2006	Auckland City	0 – 2	Al-Ahly	Toyota Stadium, Toyota City
Quarter Final		Report	Flávio  51' Aboutreika  73'	Attendance: 29,922 Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

15 December 2006	Auckland City	0 – 3	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	Olympic Stadium, Tokyo
5th place play-off		Report	Lee Hyun-Seung  17' Kim Hyung-Bum  31' Zé Carlos  73'(pen.)	Attendance: 23,258 Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

9 December 2009	Al Ahli	0 – 2	Auckland City	Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Quarter-final Play-off		Report	Adam Dickinson  45' Chad Coombes  67'	Attendance: 14,856 Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon, (Brazil)

12 December 2009	Auckland City	0 – 3	Atlante F.C.	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Quarter-final		Report	Arreola  36' Bermúdez  69' Silva  90+1'	Attendance: 7,222 Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

16 December 2009	TP Mazembe	2 – 3	Auckland City	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
5th place play-off	Kasongo  59' Kasusula  66'	Report	Hayne  29'  72' van Steeden  90'	Attendance: 4,200 Referee: Benito Archundia, Mexico

8 December 2011	Kashiwa Reysol	2 – 0	Auckland City	Toyota Stadium, Toyota
Quarter-final Play-off	Tanaka  37' Kudo  40'	Report		Attendance: 18,754 Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)

Honours

• New Zealand Football Championship
  • Championship (4): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
  • Premiership (4): 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012.

• OFC Champions League (4): 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012.

Performance in OFC competitions

• OFC Champions League: 8 appearances

Best: Champions in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012

2005: 3° in Group A

2006: Champions

2007: 2° in Group A

2008: 2° in Group A

2009: Champions

2010: 2° in Group A

2011: Champions

2012: Champions

Affiliated Clubs

• PSIR Rembang
• Yokohama F. Marinos

References

External links

• Auckland City Homepage
• [1]

• [2]

v t e ASB Premiership Regular Season & Playoffs Records Seasons 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 Teams Auckland City FC Canterbury United Hawke's Bay United Otago United Team Wellington Waikato FC Waitakere United YoungHeart Manawatu Related ASB Phoenix Challenge ASB National Youth League White Ribbon Cup