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Auckland City FC
New Zealand football club From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Auckland City Football Club is an association football club based in the suburb of Sandringham in Auckland, New Zealand. The football club was founded in 2004 following the inception of the New Zealand Football Championship. They currently compete in the Northern League.
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Auckland City have established themselves as a major force in both New Zealand and Oceania, having won ten New Zealand Football Championship and 13 OFC Champions League titles.[1][4] The club is the most successful in Oceania, having won seven consecutive OFC Champions League titles between 2011 and 2017 – the most consecutive continental titles of any football team in history.[5] This has resulted in Auckland becoming a regular fixture at the FIFA Club World Cup, famously achieving a third-placed finish in the 2014 edition.[6][7] Auckland City's youth team play in the New Zealand Youth National League, and are the most successful team in national youth competition history with seven titles.[8]
Auckland City currently play their home matches at Kiwitea Street in Sandringham, New Zealand.[9] Their regular kit colours are faintly striped royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The current crest, in use since the club's inception, features the Sky Tower, an iconic Auckland landmark. The club has a strong Croatian influence, being strongly associated with and playing at the same stadium as Central United (formed in 1962 by Dalmatian immigrants).
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History
Summarize
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Auckland City has won the New Zealand Football Championship regular season twelve times, and the Grand Final eight times. They represented the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in the OFC Champions League, which they won most recently in 2024 for the 12th time. With a third place in 2014, they also became the only OFC team to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup. They are also the only team to win the continental treble three times.
In 2017, Auckland City were invited to play in the Lunar New Year Cup, a friendly tournament hosted in Hong Kong.[10] Auckland City defeated South Korean champions FC Seoul in the semifinal, before defeating Hong Kong side Kitchee in the final to lift the trophy.[11] Auckland City were again invited for the 2019 edition, falling to Chinese Super League club Shandong Luneng 2–1.[12]
Following the conclusion of the 2018–19 season, in which Auckland City won all but one game in their undefeated season but fell short in both the OFC Champions League and the league playoffs, long-term manager Ramon Tribulietx brought his association with the club to an end and was replaced by Team Wellington coach José Figueira ahead of the 2019–20 season.[13][14]
After the first season of the New Zealand National League Auckland City finished 1st in the Northern League but didn't get to play in the championship phase due to COVID-19 affecting the Auckland Region. The club then announced that Albert Riera would take over as head coach for the next season.[15]
FIFA Club World Cup
2009
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 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 CAF Champions League winners TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo 3–2. The goal scorers on this special occasion were Jason Hayne with two and Riki van Steeden.
These historic victories were the first recorded by a New Zealand team at the Club World Cup, and the first by an amateur side at this tournament. This was also the first time that a senior men's representative team from New Zealand has recorded a victory in a world FIFA competition.
2014
Auckland City played Moroccan league 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 clash against CAF Champions League winners ES Sétif.[16] Auckland City defeated ES Sétif 1–0, courtesy of a John Irving goal, and advanced to the semi-finals for the first time ever.
Auckland played Copa Libertadores champions San Lorenzo in the semifinals, but lost 2–1. A shock seemed possible when a second-half goal from Ángel Berlanga cancelled out Pablo Barrientos' first-half strike for San Lorenzo, but substitute Mauro Matos netted San Lorenzo's winner in extra time.[6]
They finished the tournament with a historic 4–2 penalty shootout win over CONCACAF Champions League winners Cruz Azul in the third-place playoff after a 1–1 draw at full time, with substitute Sanni Issa scoring the ultimate penalty just days after signing for the club.[17][18] The result gained the side worldwide acclaim, as the team of part-timers and amateurs defied all expectations in the competition. Club stalwart and defender Ivan Vicelich came third in the Golden Ball award for best player at the tournament, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid.[19]
2025
Auckland qualified for the only spot allocated to the OFC in the upcoming 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, the first edition to be held under the new expanded format.[20] They were drawn into Group C, where they lost 10–0 to Bayern Munich and 6–0 to Benfica. In the final match of the group stage, Auckland City achieved a 1–1 draw against Boca Juniors.[21] Auckland earned $3.58 million USD for participating in the competition and another $1 million USD for securing a draw with Boca Juniors.[22]
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Colours and badge
Auckland's traditional home kit – first used 2004–05
Auckland City's regular kit colours are faintly chequered navy blue shirts, navy blue shorts with white socks.[23] The current crest features the Sky Tower and Rangitoto Island along with the Waitematā Harbour all iconic Auckland landmarks.[23] It also features an anchor to acknowledge the city of Auckland's long maritime history and a yellow and white checkerboard to acknowledge the club's original roots being founded upon sister club Central United FC which was formed in 1962.[24]
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Stadium
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Freyberg Field, then a public park, was made available for use as a football field in 1965 for tenants Central United. What became known as Kiwitea Street, was made available to Auckland City following their foundation in 2004. Since then, the amenities at Kiwitea Street have been overhauled, including a new clubrooms and a resurfaced pitch in 2007.[25]
The stadium seats 250 spectators, with additional standing room.[25]
Rivalries
- Waitakere United (2004–2021) (Auckland derby):
- Auckland United (Dominion Road derby):
- Wellington Olympic (Mediterranean Cup):
Players
First-team squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Club officials
Technical staff
- As of 16 March 2025[27]
Managers
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Notable former players
 |
The following players gained international caps for their respective countries. Players listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Auckland City.
Emiliano Tade
Takuya Iwata- Teruo Iwamoto
Keryn Jordan- Grant Young
- Liam Jordan
Lee Ki-hyung
Micah Lea'alafa- Henry Fa'arodo
- George Suri
Roy Krishna- Salesh Kumar
Brian Kaltak
David Browne
James Pritchett- Cameron Howieson
- Cole Peverley
- Paul Urlovic
- Nikko Boxall
- Michael Boxall
- Clayton Lewis
- Tim Payne
- Myer Bevan
- Jacob Spoonley
- Cameron Howieson
- Ian Hogg
- Tom Doyle
- Sean Douglas
- Adam McGeorge
- Jeff Campbell
- Dalton Wilkins
- Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi
- Liam Graham
- Tamati Williams
- Chad Coombes
- Dave Mulligan
- Ryan De Vries
- Ivan Vicelich
- Matthew Ridenton
- Moses Dyer
- Kris Bright
- Ross Nicholson
- Jonathan Perry
- Harshae Raniga
- Callum McCowatt
- Logan Rogerson
Haris Zeb
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Season by season record
NZ Premiership
National League
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third Place | |
| ♦ | Top scorer in competition |
| EF | Elimination finals |
| SF | Semi-finals |
| Participation in FIFA Club World Cup | |
| Participation in FIFA Intercontinental Cup | |
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International competitions record
Continental
Club Championship/Champions League
OFC President's Cup
Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Club World Cup statistics
FIFA Intercontinental Cup statistics
All international competitions statistics
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Rankings
Club world ranking
As of 11 September 2025[76]
Honours
- record
International
- FIFA Club World Cup
- Bronze Medal (1): 2014
Youth team
- National Youth League
- Champions (5): 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017
Friendlies
- Hong Kong Lunar New Year Cup
- Champions (1): 2017
See also
Notes
- As a franchise team, Auckland City FC were ineligible to play in the Chatham Cup, New Zealand's national knockout cup competition.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Final Series was not held.
- The tournament, which would usually be played in the first half of the year, were originally postponed to start no earlier than 1 July due to border closures throughout the Pacific caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[48] On 4 June 2021, the OFC announced that the tournament had been cancelled, and no champions would be awarded for the second season in a row.[49] The OFC representative at the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, which would originally be the winners of the 2021 OFC Champions League, was confirmed to be Auckland City on 3 August 2021 following a decision by the OFC Executive Committee, based on sporting merit principles which took into consideration the final placing of every member association's national league champion and runner-up in each OFC Champions League between 2016 and 2020, with the results combined to determine an overall ranking, and applied to the clubs nominated by their member association as the champion or runner-up from their respective national leagues to qualify for the 2021 OFC Champions League.[50] However, on 31 December 2021, FIFA announced that Auckland City had withdrawn from the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related quarantine measures required by the New Zealand authorities. As a result, AS Pirae were nominated as the OFC's representative in their place.
- Includes results in FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
- 2021 National League season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Northern regions;.[52] Championship played as South Central Series, with the northern clubs missing in the first edition.
- Auckland City received a bye because Manumea were withdrawn by the Oceania Football Confederation.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 season was concluded after 16 rounds. The remaining two rounds of the regular season and the finals series were cancelled. Auckland City, who were leading the regular season table, were declared champions and also awarded the Minor Premiership.[78][79]
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
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