Western United FC

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Not to be confused with Western United FC (Solomon Islands).

Western United
File:Western United FC.svg
Full nameWestern United Football Club
Founded2018; 6 years ago (2018) as Western Melbourne
GroundMars Stadium
York Park
AAMI Park (main venue)
Capacity11,000
19,000
30,050
OwnerWestern Melbourne Group, Sayers Road Investment Co, Jaszac Investments - Jason Sourasis, Theodore Andriopoulos, Steve Horvat, Levent Shevki and John Tripodi
ChairmanJason Sourasis
ManagerJohn Aloisi
LeagueA-League Men
2021–223rd of 12 (champions)
WebsiteClub website
Current season
Departments of Western United
Football pictogram.svgFootball pictogram.svg
Football
(Men's)		Football
(Youth Men's)

Western United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina,[1] the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the regional cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong; and regional and country towns in western Victoria.[2]

The club was first established as part of an expansion process in the country's premier football competition, the A-League. It began playing in the 2019–20 A-League season, under licence from Football Australia (FA).

Western United currently play home matches at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Mars Stadium in Ballarat and University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston, though plan to permanently relocate matches to Wyndham City Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium in Tarneit, Wyndham.

History

Further information: History of Western United FC

Origins

See also: Expansion of the A-League

In August 2018, the Western Melbourne Group was one of the eight teams that the FFA had accepted in the official bidding phase, as part of the new expansion process.[3] Four months later, the bid's success was announced, along with the bid from Macarthur FC.[4] Western Melbourne will play its home games at Kardinia Park in Geelong for its first two seasons, while it builds its stadium and training centre in Tarneit, with completion expected in 2021.

On 11 January 2019, Western Melbourne Group announced John Anastasiadis as senior assistant coach for the club's debut season.[5] On 24 January 2019, the consortium announced that John Hutchinson would also join the club as an assistant coach.[6]

On 31 January 2019, Western Melbourne made its first player and marquee signing Panagiotis Kone ahead of its inaugural season.[7] On 12 February 2019, Socceroos defender Josh Risdon became Western Melbourne's first Australian signing.[8]

On 13 February 2019, it was announced that the club would be called Western United Football Club after a public vote was held through the Herald Sun newspaper.[9][10] The club's colours of green and black were also chosen via the same public vote.[11]

In May 2019, Western United announced partnership with sports brand Kappa.[12] Two months later, the club unveiled their inaugural jerseys for their first season in the A-League, featuring green and black stripes.[13]

On 2 June 2019 the Director of Football for Western United, Steve Horvat presented Geelong representative players with their kits for the 2019 Country Championships. Horvat additionally announced the club would set up a Geelong-based academy by 2021.

On 28 May 2022 they became A-League champions, defeating defending champions Melbourne City in the 2022 A-League Men Grand Final. Their Grand Final win saw Western United became just the second expansion side ever to win the A-League Championship, the quickest expansion side to win the championship, the first team since to triumph in their first grand final appearance since Brisbane Roar in 2011, and one of just two teams to have won the championship after finishing outside the top two, with Melbourne Victory first achieving this feat in 2018.[14]

A-League Women's Team

Western United Women will also join the A-League Women for the 2022–23 season,[15] which, with the return of Central Coast Mariners, will expand that league to 12 teams.

Crest

Western United unveiled its official crest in May 2019, which features a stylised 'W' symbol. The club commented that the design was influenced by the pitch of roofs in the suburbs and the West Gate Bridge, with the signature green colour representing growth, harmony and freshness.[16][17]

Colours

On 13 February 2019, the club revealed that its primary colours will be green and black.[18]

On 18 June 2019, through consulting with Kappa and fans, the club officially unveiled its inaugural home and alternative kits for the 2019–20 A-League season. The home kit consists of green and black vertical stripes where the Western United logo is encased in a faint crest. The alternative kit takes a different approach with a geometric design with varying sized green and black triangles connecting each other through their points. The club's logo is also contained at the bottom of the kit. This design is said to reflect on the club's modern approach in the club's branding.[19]

Sponsors

On 20 May 2019, Western United announced a partnership with Italian sports brand Kappa, which will be the club's inaugural official apparel partner.[20]

Western United announced Probuild as its inaugural sponsor on 3 July 2019 where its logo will be present on the front of its playing kits as well as other apparel.[21]

Ownership

It was revealed in February 2019 that Birmingham Sports Holdings had initially funded the bid's license fee. They later pulled out of the project due to a downturn in the Australian housing market, that devalued the intended housing developments to be built in the same area as the proposed new stadium in Tarneit.[22][23]

Stadia

Western United's debut home match at Kardinia Park, against Perth Glory, 19 October 2019

For several years after their establishment, Western United used the City Vista Recreation Reserve, the home ground of Caroline Springs George Cross FC as their training base.[24] In October 2021 the club moved its senior men's team and administration staff to The Hangar in Tullamarine, an Australian rules football facility that is home to the Essendon Football Club and Paralympics Australia.[25] The club will be based at the Hangar until the proposed facilities at Tarneit are complete.

Western United's proposed training facilities in Tarneit will be built adjacent to the Wyndham City Stadium, and will be based on a 60-hectare (150-acre) site, with a two-story building featuring a range of training and gym facilities, function and media spaces, change rooms and staff facilities, kiosks, public toilets and a first aid room, as well as three full-sized pitches, including one with a 5,000 capacity which will be capable of hosting A-League matches.[26] The three pitches will consist of a main grass pitch, which will serve as the main training base for Western United's A-Leagues teams and future girls and boys academy teams and will be suitable for A-League Women's and NPL standard matches, a second grass pitch, which will be suitable for community-level competitive games and can also be used as a training pitch, and a synthetic pitch, which can be used for both training and matches.[27] It is planned that the two grass pitches will be occupied by Western United A-Leagues teams throughout the year while the third, synthetic field will be utilised by the club's academy and community engagement activities.[28] Construction of the training facilities commenced in March 2022 and is due for completion in May 2023. Western United plan to play their 2023–24 season home games on their main training pitch, before moving into the Wyndham City Stadium once construction has completed.[29]

For the 2022-23 A-League season, the club will play its home matches at AAMI Park in Melbourne and Eureka Stadium in North Ballarat.[30] The club previously played majority of its home matches at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong, however they played their last A-League match there in December 2021, shifting to AAMI Park in Melbourne as their primary home venue until their facilities in Tarneit have been completed.[31]

Location Stadium Capacity Year Games
Geelong Kardinia Park 36,000 2019–2021 12
Ballarat Eureka Stadium 11,000 2019– 7
Footscray Whitten Oval 10,000 2020 1
Melbourne Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 30,050 2020– 15
Launceston York Park 19,000 2021– 4
Ballarat Morshead Park Stadium 8,500 2022 1

As of 25 October 2022.[32]

Wyndham City Stadium

The club has proposed building a 15,000 seated stadium in Tarneit, Victoria. The stadium would be the first major venue in the country to be exclusively owned and operated by an A-League club.[33] The proposal, to be funded entirely privately, has received planning approval from the Victorian Government, and the club has stated it expects construction to commence in mid-2021 with a view to completion by mid-2023.[34]

On 6 December 2019, Western United announced that site investigations had been completed and that construction is expected to commence in mid-2020.[35] On 18 September 2020, Western United announced that a training facility would be built adjacent to the new stadium development.[36] The training facility is planned to have two grass and one artificial football pitch, along with seating for 5,000 spectators. The main grass pitch, with the 5,000 seat stand would be used as the training base by Western United, while the other two pitches would have shared community use. The press release also revealed that the club has completed all of the site investigations required to develop a concept masterplan for the new stadium and that planning submission has been submitted to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) for approval. The release also states that construction on the new precinct will commence in early 2021, to be completed by early 2023. On 22 September 2021 Western Melbourne Group, the football club's parent company, announced that "in the week commencing 25 October 2021, early works on the site at Leakes Road, Tarneit will commence" which would create access roads to the construction site.[37] The announcement also advised that planning approval for the stadium had not yet been received and that timelines for completion had been refreshed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of May 2022, construction on the Wyndham City Stadium is still yet to commence, with Western United chairman Jason Sourasis admitting that the club were "naive" to declare they would be able to build a new stadium within two years of their inception.[38] The stadium is now anticipated to become operational in 2026.[39] The club plan to start playing matches at the Wyndham Regional Football Facility in 2023 - a small training stadium with a capacity of approximately 5,000 spectators located within the same precinct of the future Wyndham City Stadium.[40]

Supporters and rivalries

Western United fans holding up a banner reading "The West Has Arrived" at the 2022 A-League Men Grand Final

Western United's fanbase are referred to as the "Western Service Crew".[41] The fanbase started in less than a year since the club's foundation which grew to 2,800 members on the Western Service Crew's Facebook page in support of Western United.[42] Throughout the 2020–21 season however, Western United struggled with crowd numbers. This caused them to have the lowest attendance in A-League Men history with 990 people attending a match between Western United and the Newcastle Jets on 26 April 2021.[43] At the end of the 2020–21 A-League season, Western United lost a total home attendance of around 26,000 people reported by Sporting News of every clubs' attendance figures for the season.[44] A month after the season end, an opinioned report was made in "The Roar" newspaper of Western United's "embarrassing stadium fiasco". This contained evidence of the club losing supporters due to playing in different home stadiums like Mars Stadium and Whitten Oval.[45]

Rivalries

Main article: Melbourne Victory FC–Western United FC rivalry
  • Melbourne Victory (The Westgate Derby[46][47][48][49] / The Battle of the Bridge[50][51][52][53]) - Upon joining the A-League in the 2019–20 season as the third club in Melbourne, Western United has developed a rivalry with Melbourne Victory. Despite the rivalry's short existence, it has garnered a reputation for producing talking points, controversy, tension, goals and drama.[54] In the team's first meeting, in November 2019 at Marvel Stadium, Western United won 3-2 despite going 2-0 down within the first 7 minutes. In February 2021 at Marvel Stadium, despite conceding the first goal of the match and despite being reduced to 10 men for the final half-hour of the match, Western United won 4–3, with Victor Sanchez scoring in the final minute of stoppage time. After keeping the Victory winless for the first 5 matches of the rivalry (4 wins, 1 draw), Melbourne Victory ended their losing run in emphatic fashion on 28 May 2021, beating Western United 6–1 at AAMI Park. Currently six former Victory players have played for Western United (four have played for the Victory senior team, two have represented the Victory's youth or NPL teams without making an appearance for the senior team).

Statistics and records

Further information: List of Western United FC records and statistics
Besart Berisha is Western United's record goalscorer, with 26 goals in all competitions.

Connor Pain holds the record for most Western United appearances, having played 80 first-team matches.[55] Dylan Pierias comes second, having played 74 times. The most appearances for a goalkeeper is Filip Kurto who played 36 times for Western United.

Besart Berisha is the club's top goalscorer with 26 goals in all competitions and has been their top goalscorer since the club's foundation in 2018.[55] Western United's record home attendance is 10,128, for an A-League Men match against Melbourne Victory on 8 December 2019 at GMHBA Stadium.[55]

Season by season record

Season A-League Men Australia Cup Top scorer
P W D L F A GD Pts Pos Finals Name Goals
2019–20 26 12 3 11 46 37 +9 39 5th SF  – Kosovo Besart Berisha 18
2020–21 26 8 4 14 30 47 –17 28 10th  –  – Kosovo Besart Berisha 7
2021–22 26 13 6 7 40 30 10 45 3rd W R32 Serbia Aleksandar Prijović 15
Key
  • R32 – Round of 32
  • season still ongoing
  • SF – Semi-finals

Honours

Domestic

A-League

Winners (1): 2022

Esports

Winners, Dylan Campbell(1): E-League (Australia)

Players

First team squad

As of 24 August 2022

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Jamie Young
4 DF Switzerland SUI Léo Lacroix
5 DF Australia AUS Dylan Pierias
6 DF Japan JPN Tomoki Imai
7 MF Mali MLI Tongo Doumbia
8 FW Australia AUS Lachlan Wales
9 FW Australia AUS Dylan Wenzel-Halls
10 MF Australia AUS Steven Lustica
11 FW Australia AUS Connor Pain
12 DF Australia AUS Dalibor Markovic
14 MF Australia AUS James Troisi
17 DF Australia AUS Ben Garuccio
19 DF Australia AUS Josh Risdon (vice-captain)
21 MF Australia AUS Sebastian Pasquali
23 MF Italy ITA Alessandro Diamanti (captain)
No. Pos. Nation Player
25 MF Australia AUS Luke Duzel (scholarship)
26 MF Australia AUS Nicolas Milanovic (scholarship)
27 DF Australia AUS Jacob Tratt
31 MF Australia AUS Adisu Bayew (scholarship)
33 DF Australia AUS Ben Collins (scholarship)
34 MF Australia AUS Christian Theoharous (scholarship)
36 DF Australia AUS Ajak Deu (scholarship)
37 GK Australia AUS Ryan Scott
38 FW Australia AUS Noah Botic
42 MF Australia AUS Rhys Bozinovski (scholarship)
44 DF Australia AUS Nikolai Topor-Stanley
49 FW Australia AUS Jake Najdovski (scholarship)
88 MF Australia AUS Neil Kilkenny
99 FW Serbia SRB Aleksandar Prijović

Youth

Main article: Western United FC Youth
Players to have been featured in a first-team matchday squad for Western United.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
29 MF Australia AUS Jordan Lauton
30 GK Fiji FIJ Ryan Mudaliar
32 MF Australia AUS Noah Holmes
39 FW Australia AUS Sabit James
No. Pos. Nation Player
41 DF Australia AUS Jalil Regague
51 MF Australia AUS Zac Kocankovski
55 DF Australia AUS Daniel Di Francesco
— GK Australia AUS Charlie Emery

Coaching staff

Football Department

Position Name Ref.
Head Coach Australia John Aloisi [56]
Senior Assistant Coach Australia Hayden Foxe
Assistant Coach Australia John Anastasiadis [57]
Goalkeeping Coach Australia Michael Theo [58]
Director of Football Australia Steve Horvat [59]
Head of A-League Football Operations Australia Mal Impiombato [60]
Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach Australia Andrew Rondinelli [61]
Player Welfare and Development Manager New Zealand Andrew Durante [62]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "OFFICES - WUFC Head Office is at Corner of Leakes and Palmers Road, Truganina". Western United FC. Twitter. 29 May 2019.
  2. ^ "About us". Western United FC. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  3. ^ "FFA receives eight final bids for Hyundai A-League Expansion". A-League. 31 August 2018.
  4. ^ "FFA goes west with two clubs confirmed for A-League expansion". The World Game. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Highly-rated Anastasiadis lands A-League coaching role with Western Melbourne". The World Game. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  6. ^ "New A-League club signs assistant coach from USA". FTBL. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Heraldsun.com.au | Subscribe to the Herald Sun for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Risdon signs on with Western Melbourne". The World Game. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Name the new Western Melbourne A-League Team for your chance to WIN". Herald Sun. 31 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Western United FC: New Hyundai A-League club confirms name and colours". A-League. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  11. ^ Bossi, Dominic (12 February 2019). "Western United: New Melbourne A-League side to confirm name, colours". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  12. ^ Earnshaw, Gemma (21 May 2019). "Western United announce partnership with Italian sports brand Kappa". A-League. Football Federation Australia.
  13. ^ Greco, John (18 June 2019). "Western United FC unveil inaugural Hyundai A-League jerseys". A-League. Football Federation Australia.
  14. ^ Lynch, Joey. "Western United's A-League Men title win shocked everyone except coach John Aloisi and his players". ESPN. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  15. ^ "We're In! Western United to join W-League". Western United. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Western United FC unveil logo". Western United. Football Federation Australia. 8 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Are you with us? – Western United Football Club".
  18. ^ "Western United: new A-League club's name and colours confirmed". The Guardian. 13 February 2019.
  19. ^ "Western United FC unveil inaugural Hyundai A-League jerseys". Hyundai A-League. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Western United announce partnership with Italian sports brand Kappa". A-League. 21 May 2019.
  21. ^ "Probuild Comes On Board As Western United FC's Inaugural Major Sponsor". Ministry of Sport. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  22. ^ Lynch, Dominic Bossi, Michael (13 February 2019). "Melbourne Cup-winning owner backs new A-League club Western United". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  23. ^ "BSH: The Australian Connection – almajir.net".
  24. ^ "Essendon's AFL base an option as Western United look for a home". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  25. ^ "Western United to be based at the Bombers' Hangar". Austadiums. 18 October 2021.
  26. ^ "CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON REGIONAL FOOTBALL FACILITY IN WYNDHAM". Western United FC. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  27. ^ "Elite and Community Sports". Western Melbourne Group. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  28. ^ "Green & Black begin big build". Golden Plains Times. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  29. ^ Harrington, Anna. "ALM champs United eye home in 2023-2024". Perthnow. News Corp. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  30. ^ "Western United confirmed to play home games at AAMI Park in 2021". Western United. 18 December 2020.
  31. ^ Staff, KEEPUP (18 December 2020). "Western United confirmed to play home games at AAMI Park in 2021". Western United. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  32. ^ "Western United :: Ultimate A-League". www.ultimatealeague.com. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  33. ^ "Western United unveils unique stadium renders". Austadiums. 18 July 2019.
  34. ^ "Planning approval received for Wyndham City Stadium". Austadiums. 22 January 2021.
  35. ^ "Western United's Wyndham City Stadium reaches major milestone". Western United. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  36. ^ "Western United's new elite training facility next step in stadium precinct development". Western United. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  37. ^ "Western Melbourne Group ready to turn soil". Western United. 22 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  38. ^ Thomas, Joshua. "'Naive' - Western United concede stadium mistake as they eye new home ground for next season". The Sporting News. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  39. ^ "A-League champions Western United to deliver on stadium". Austadiums. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  40. ^ Harrington, Anna. "ALM champs United eye home in 2023-24". Seven News. Seven Network. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  41. ^ "Western Service Crew". Western United FC. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  42. ^ Palmaricciotti, Damon (28 October 2019). "Western United bringing together fans of the west". Western United FC.
  43. ^ Reid, Andrew (27 April 2021). "'Just woeful': A-League match at centre of embarrassing new low". Yahoo.
  44. ^ Thomas, John. "A-League crowds: Every club's attendance figures for the 2020-21 season". Sporting News.
  45. ^ Shilovsky, David (29 July 2021). "Someone needs to be accountable for Western United's embarrassing stadium fiasco". The Roar.
  46. ^ Green, Samuel. "Berisha leads United to Westgate Derby dominance". A-League. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  47. ^ Lynch, Joey. "DISAPPOINTMENT - NOT PRESSURE - THE CATALYST FOR KURZ AFTER LATEST DEFEAT". FTBL. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  48. ^ Lynch, Joey. "WESTERN UNITED WIN ON AND OFF THE FIELD IN 3-1 DEFEAT OF MELBOURNE VICTORY". FTBL. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  49. ^ Lynch, Joey. "STARTING XI CHANGES AHEAD OF UNITED-VICTORY DERBY". FTBL. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  50. ^ "Western United, Victory share spoils in action-packed 'Battle of the Bridge'". Football Nation Radio. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  51. ^ Comito, Matthew. "Matchweek 10 preview: Melbourne Victory v Western United". A-League. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  52. ^ Comito, Matthew. "Sánchez strikes at the death to seal 4-3 win for ten-man United over Victory". A-League. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  53. ^ "Report: Western United win seven-goal thriller in Battle of the Bridge". Western United FC. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  54. ^ Comito, Matthew. "Rudan: United's erupting rivalry with Victory helping A-League become 'one of the best products in the world'". A-League. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  55. ^ a b c "Western United Team Statistics". aleaguestats.com.
  56. ^ "Australian football icon John Aloisi joins Western United as Head Coach". Western United. 15 July 2021.
  57. ^ Gatt, Ray (12 January 2019). "Western Melbourne appoint John Anastasiadis as assistant". The Australian.
  58. ^ Dorman, Matt (23 May 2019). "Goalkeeping guru Juric joins Rudan at Western United". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  59. ^ Rolfe, Peter (28 March 2019). "Push for sports clubs to own stadiums". Herald Sun. Western United football director and former Socceroo Steve Horvat said his club had delivered a blueprint for sports to skip government red tape and urged other codes to follow suit
  60. ^ "Mal Impiombato joins Western United as Head of A-League Football Operations". Western United. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  61. ^ "Testimonials". HART Sport. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  62. ^ "Western United announces senior academy coaching structure". Western United. 3 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.

External links

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