Moreland City FC
| Full name | Moreland City Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1916 | |
| Ground | Campbell Reserve, Coburg, Victoria | |
| Capacity | 2,000 | |
| League | National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 | |
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Moreland City Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Coburg, Victoria, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1.
History
It was founded in 1990 when Moreland Park Rangers, formerly Moreland FC, merged with Coburg to form Moreland City. In 1991, the club competed in the Victorian State League Division 3.
Moreland suffered the ignominy of successive relegations in 1992 and 1993, falling from Victorian State League Division 3 to Victorian Provisional League Division 1, but were promoted back to State League 4 after winning the league in 1995. The Club was again promoted in 1998 to State League 3 after taking out the league title. In 2000, City moved up to State League Division 2 Nth-West after a restructuring of Victorian football.
The Club stayed in State League 2 North West for the next eight years, until their relegation in 2008. Moreland immediately bounced back in 2009, achieving promotion with a second-placed finish. In 2010, former player and coach Maurice Bisetto took over. City were expected to be relegation candidates, but managed to finish a surprising third, with Club legend Kam Simsek winning the league golden boot. In 2010, Moreland endured a similar season, finishing in fourth place. Sam Wade won the League Best & Fairest and fellow Welshman Darren Griffiths took out the League Golden Boot.
In 2012, Moreland City finished in second place, qualifying for the promotion playoff, but agonisingly lost to Box Hill United SC. Welshman Adam Orme won the League Golden Boot award.
The hard work and persistence paid off for Moreland City in 2013 when they took out the State League Division 2 North West League Championship, reaching the State League One for the first time since the Club was re-founded in 1990.
After a restructuring of football in Victoria, resulting in the creation of the National Premier Leagues Victoria, Moreland City remained in the State League One North West division, which was now the third, rather than the second tier of football in Victoria, below the NPL and NPL1 divisions.
Moreland City took out the State League One title in 2014, pipping Preston Lions FC by three points. The title win meant they were offered, and subsequently accepted, a place in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2. They were placed in the NPL2 West conference for 2015. City signed Welsh brothers Corey and Casey Thomas as the club's two Visa spot players for their inaugural NPL season. Casey formerly played for now English Premier League club Swansea City. The club finished in 3rd place in NPL2 West and 5th overall.[1]
Heading into season 2016, City added former Welsh Premier League player Apai Ukono[2] and former VPL Golden Boot winner Trent Rixon.[3] Ukuno received a call up to the South Sudan national team for their upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin following his seven goal haul in the opening four matches of the season that saw City manage seven points.[4]
NPL1 West 2015 Squad
Head Coach: Adrian Mathers
First Team Coach: John Patsoukas
Team Manager: Peter Tzambazis
Physio: Adam Kittelty
1. Brandon Galgano
2. Ying Yang
3. Finn Huzzey
4. Quinn McDonald
5. Yianni Avramidis
7. Osman Kose
8. Corey Thomas
9. Lisandro Paz
10. Liam Francis
11. Kamer Simsek
12. Shane Carr
13. Orhan Kara (c)
14. Casey Thomas
15. Chris Nicholas
16. Alexander Petrovski
17. Liam Brian
18. Archie Currie
19. Kieren McDowell
21. Nejdet Sahin
22. Nathan Gourzelas
23. Moe Kurucu
References
- ↑ http://www.foxsportspulse.com/comp_info.cgi?a=LADDER&compID=337121&c=1-10178-0-0-0
- ↑ Kounelis, Jordan. "Moreland City sign Ukono from Brisbane Strikers". MFootball. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- ↑ Kounelis, Jordan. "Former Golden Boot winner Rixon signs with Moreland City". MFootball. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ↑ Kulas, Damir. "In-form Ukuno earns international honors". The Corner Flag. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
External links
| National teams | |
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| Current competitions | |
| Defunct competitions | |
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| Other | |
