Melbourne Knights
- Leagues Played
- Australia - Victoria Premier League 234 Australia - NPL Victoria 26 Australia - FFA Cup 9 Australia - FFA Cup - Calificari 9 Australia - Amicale 7 Australia - Victoria - Cupa 4 Australia - Cupa 4 Australia - Victoria - Premier League 2 1
- Links
- Wikipedia
- Related Teams
- Melbourne Knights U20 Melbourne Knights - Feminin Melbourne Knights U21 Melbourne Knights U23
Wikipedia - Melbourne Knights FC
Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league system under the A-League. It is one of the most successful soccer clubs in Australia, being a two-time championship and four-time premiership winner in the now defunct National Soccer League (NSL).
The club is based in the western suburbs of Melbourne and draws much of its support from the Croatian Australian community. The club's identification with its Croatian roots remains strong. It is a regular participant in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament.
The Melbourne Knights play matches at Knights Stadium, a 15,000 capacity venue (with approximately 4,000 seated) which the club has owned and operated since 1989. As well as fielding men's and women's sides, the Knight's field junior teams of all year levels.
History
Melbourne Knights FC was founded in 1953 as Croatia by a small group of Croatian immigrants in Melbourne's western suburbs. The club played its first match on 10 April 1953. The Knights became a member of the Victorian Soccer Federation in 1954, which saw the club join and compete in a league competition for the first time that same year in the newly created Victorian Provisional League. The club quickly moved up the state divisions and by the mid-1960s had become one of the strongest clubs in Victoria, winning the State League title in 1968, 1978 and 1979. In 1984 after a number of years of lobbying the Knights finally joined Australia's elite soccer competition, the National Soccer League. By the 1990s the club had become the premier soccer club in Australia as it made the NSL Grand Final 5 out of 6 seasons, winning it twice in 1994–95 and 1995–96. Following the disbanding of the NSL in 2004 the Knights dropped to the Victorian Premier League, making the Grand Final in 2008. Knights won the Dockerty Cup in 2014, the club's first piece of major silverware in 18 years.
Melbourne Knights au câștigat Cupa Federației Australiei de șase ori, cea mai recentă în 1995, și au fost campioni ai Campionatului Național de Fotbal în 1995-96. Clubul a reprezentat, de asemenea, Australia în Cupa Mondială a Cluburilor FIFA în 1999.
Melbourne Knights joacă meciurile de acasă pe stadionul Knights, care are o capacitate de 5.000 de locuri. Clubul are o rivalitate de lungă durată cu South Melbourne FC, un alt club fondat de comunitatea croată din Melbourne.
Melbourne Knights sunt unul dintre cele mai de succes cluburi din istoria fotbalului australian și continuă să fie o forță importantă în Liga Națională Premieră Victoria.