Melbourne Knights
- Leagues Played
- Austrália - Victorian Premier League 234 Austrália - NPL Victoria 26 Austrálsky pohár 9 Austrália - FFA Cup - kvalifikácia 9 Austrália - priateľské zápasy 7 Austrália - Victoria Cup 4 Austrálsky pohár 4 Austrália - Viktória - Premier League 2 1
- Links
- Wikipedia
- Related Teams
- Melbourne Knights U20 Melbourne Knights ženy 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 sú jedným z najúspešnejších klubov v histórii austrálskeho futbalu a vyhrali štyri národné majstrovstvá a štyri poháre FFA Cup. Klub má tiež silnú mládežnícku akadémiu a vychoval množstvo reprezentantov Austrálie.
Melbourne Knights sú známi svojou vášnivou fanúšikovskou základňou a atmosférou vytvorenou na ich domácich zápasoch. Klub má silné väzby na chorvátsku komunitu v Melbourne a jeho zápasy často navštevujú chorvátski fanúšikovia z celej Austrálie a zo zahraničia.