Sydney Olympic FC

Sydney Olympic

Image: Logo of Sydney Olympic FC
Founded	1957
Ground	Belmore Sports Ground Belmore, Sydney New South Wales, Australia
Capacity	25,000
Manager	Grant Lee
League	NSW Premier League
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the NSW Premier League. Founded as Pan-Hellenic in 1957 by Greek immigrants, the club changed its name to Sydney Olympic and in 1977 competed in the Phillips Soccer League, later named the National Soccer League, the inaugural national football league of Australia, until the league's demise in 2004.

Sydney Olympic have won many trophies in Australian football, including two National Soccer League Championships, two National Soccer League Cups and two NSW Premier League Championships. The club has also won the Johnny Warren Cup, the Brett Emerton Cup, the National Youth League Championship, the National Youth League Minor Premiership and the NSW Premier League Club Championship.

Sydney Olympic has traditionally been one of the most well supported football teams in Australia, setting numerous domestic crowd attendances. A crowd of 18,985 attended Sydney Olympic's victory over Northern Spirit in 1998 at North Sydney Oval, a record crowd attendance between two clubs during the regular season of the NSL, defeating the previous record of 18,367 set when Newcastle Breakers played Sydney Olympic in 1979 at Marathon Stadium. The greatest crowd attendance for a Grand Final was recorded during the 2001-02 season when 42,735 people were present at Subiaco Oval to see Sydney Olympic defeat Perth Glory.

History

1957–76: Pan Hellenic

Established in Sydney by Greek Immigrants in 1957, Sydney Olympic Football Club has been a mainstay of Australia's National Soccer League ever since and the nursery of many of its finest talents.

The club was established as Pan Hellenic Soccer Club and its initial strip was blue and white vertical stripes. The club quickly became competitive in the NSW Second Division and in 1961 it earned promotion to the New South Wales First Division attracting and producing excellent players and large crowds. The highlight of the pre-National Soccer League era came 10 years after the club's foundation, when in 1968 it reached the NSW First Division Grand Final, only to lose 4–2 to bitter rivals Hakoah.

In 1977 the club became a founding member of the National Soccer League, and also changed its name to Sydney Olympic. But two years later it was back in the NSW First Division. The league had decided to cut back on teams from NSW and having finished second last on the ladder beating only South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic was relegated.

1980s

The spell back in the NSW First Division competition did not last long, with Sydney Olympic defeating the Parramatta Eagles 4–0 in the 1980 grand final to win the NSW First Division. That victory secured Sydney Olympic a return to top-flight Australian football in 1981 where it remained until the NSL folded in 2004.

The 1980s for Sydney Olympic was characterized with great football, large and passionate support, fantastic players, unfathomable highs as well as a litany of failures.

In that decade it won two NSL Cups against Heidelberg United in 1983 and against Preston Lions in 1985 and was runner-up in two other NSL Cup Final's losing against Adelaide City in 1989 and South Melbourne in 1990. This period also saw three NSL Grand Final losses against South Melbourne FC in 1984, Adelaide City in 1986 and Marconi Stallions in 1989.

During the years between 1982–92, Olympic finished in the top half on the league ladder every season

1990s

The 1990s began on the right foot for the club and a year after Sydney Olympic's 1989 NSL grand final loss against Marconi, The 1990 season saw Olympic meet Marconi again in the grand final. This time Olympic succeeded by beating Marconi 2–0 before a then record NSL crowd of 26,353. Scorers that day were Alistair Edwards and Robert Ironside either side of half-time.

The next few seasons saw inconsistency with Olympic making the Finals and missing out on the Finals in equal measure

For season 1995–1996, Sydney Olympic formed a prosperous partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and became known as UTS Sydney Olympic. During that time, the Club's home ground was Leichhardt Oval, 1995–1996 also saw Olympic finish third on the ladder 1 point behind eventual Minor Premiers and old foes Marconi, making the Finals again Olympic eventually were eliminated by Adelaide City

A change of home ground awaited the Blues going into season 1996–1997. Belmore Sports Ground, in the more traditional heartland of Olympic, became the Club's new home In April 1997, Sydney Olympic enjoyed a record home attendance at Belmore of 16,724 against Marconi. The 1990s also saw the club's worst defeat in 1998 when the Canberra Cosmos inflicted an 8–1 loss on Sydney Olympic in the nation's capital.

During season 1998–99 Sydney Olympic was involved in a match which attracted the largest crowd for any regular NSL season match excluding finals. That game was against the Northern Spirit at North Sydney Oval in what was the Spirit's debut match in the NSL. That evening, 18,985 soccer-loving enthusiasts turned out to watch Sydney Olympic defeat new boys Northern Spirit 2–0. Olympic golden boys Chris Kalantzis and Pablo Cardozo were the goal scorers.

Sydney Olympic's biggest win was a remarkable 6–0 defeat of South Melbourne in the 1999– 2000 season at Belmore Sports Ground.

2000–2004

The 2000s saw Olympic's fortunes take an upturn, starting with their biggest ever NSL win, a 6–0 defeat of South Melbourne in January 2000 at Belmore Sports Ground. Season 2000–01 saw Sydney Olympic finish fourth on the competition ladder. During the finals, Olympic made it through to the Preliminary Final, losing 2–0 against Minor Premiers South Melbourne. In May 2001

Season 2001–02 saw the club move base once again, this time to the Sutherland Shire in Sydney's south, an area with no NSL representation, but a large base of registered junior players to potentially tap into. Olympic played out of Toyota Park. The move had also involved a change of name from Sydney Olympic to Olympic Sharks with the traditional blue and white colours of the club still in place. This season also saw Olympic capture their second NSL title, a lone Ante Milicic goal being enough to defeat Perth Glory at Subiaco Oval in front of 42,000 fans. The 2002–2003 season saw Olympic win its first ever Minor Premiership by finishing on top of the NSL ladder, which eventually led to Olympics second consecutive appearance in a Grand Final. This time however, it would be Perth who would take out the title, winning 2–0.

Despite the on field successes, the move to the Sutherland Shire was short-lived. Poor attendances took their toll on the venture and for season 2003–04 the club chose to revert to the widely preferred name of Sydney Olympic and moving to OKI Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah.

2004–present

Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, Sydney Olympic participated in the NSW Premier League and just missed out on the final series. In 2006 Sydney Olympic returned to Belmore Sports Ground and also forged a relationship with the Eastern Suburbs Soccer Football Association.

That platform reaped instant rewards when Sydney Olympic, with former Socceroo and Sydney Olympic great Milan Blagojevic at the helm, captured the 2008 pre-season Johnny Warren Cup with a gutsy 2–1 win over the Sutherland Sharks, Olympic were undefeated in their three round robin matches and lifted the trophy to bring smiles back to the fans of Sydney Olympic.

Sydney Olympic celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, with the club's jersey reverting to the original blue and white vertical striped design.

In the 2011 New South Wales Premier League season Sydney Olympic finished in 1st place finishing four points clear of Sydney rivals Sydney United. They beat Sydney United 2–0 in the semi final and beat them again by the same score in the grand final and went on to become the 2011 New South Wales Premier League Champions.

Players

See also: List of Sydney Olympic FC players

Current squad

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	AUS	Paul Henderson
2	DF	AUS	Emmanuel Giannaros
3	DF	AUS	Brett Studman
5	DF	AUS	Bradley Treloar
6	MF	AUS	Marton Vass
8	MF	ENG	Kingsley Williams
9	FW	AUS	Luke Grima
10	MF	CHI	Renato Franco Ramirez
11	FW	AUS	Will Angel
12	DF	AUS	Troy Danaskos
14	FW	AUS	Peter Markovic

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	FW	AUS	Zakeriya Elrich
16	MF	AUS	Peter Triantis
18	DF	GRE	Jerry Kalouris
19	MF	AUS	Christopher Godoy Bascur
20	GK	SRB	Nenad Vekic
21	FW	AUS	James Demetriou
22	MF	AUS	Amaury Gauthier
24	FW	AUS	Matthew Mayora
25	DF	AUS	Blaz Dejanovic
33	GK	AUS	Luke Kairies
46	DF	AUS	Michael Cindric

Reserve squad

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Kiefer Dotti
—	{{{pos}}}	USA	Brett Lauritzen
—	{{{pos}}}	BRA	Brad-Donald Disalvo
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Luke Gearin
—	{{{pos}}}	ITA	Luca Falcone
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	James Gikas
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Stevan Ilic

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	{{{pos}}}	GRE	Yianni Karakikes
—	{{{pos}}}	EGY	Mostafa Kamal(footballer born 1973)
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Nathan Kenyon
—	{{{pos}}}	GRE	Theo Kofinas
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Brendan Maclean
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Alex McCracken
—	{{{pos}}}	TUR	Mehmet Ozgen
—	{{{pos}}}	GRE	Stephen Stavropoulos
—	{{{pos}}}	AUS	Joel – Phillip Wakefield

Club officials

Management

• President: George Giannaros
• Treasurer: Arthur Balayannis
• Secretary: Peter Phillips
• Director: Peter Englezos
• Director: Mark Bosnich
• Director: Chris Tsioulos
• Technical director : Ante Juric
• General manager: Tony Stavropoulos
• Manager: Parry Hatzi
• Head of football development: Ian Crook

Sports

• Head coach: Peter Tsekenis
• Assistant coach: Peter Papoythis
• Team gear steward: Jorge Abrantes
• Physiotherapist: Efrem Bingeric
• Reserve coach: Dean Magnall
• Technical consultant: Ron Smith
• Under 18s coach: George Markos
• Under 16s coach: David Komljenovic
• Under 15s coach: Luke Gray
• Under 14s coach: Harry Paraskevaidis
• Under 13s coach: Daniel Grant

Former coaches

• Rale Rasic
• Raul Blanco
• Tommy Docherty
• Manfred Schaefer
• Eddie Thomson
• Mick Hickman
• David Ratcliffe
• Geoff Harcombe
• Branko Culina
• Gary Phillips
• Lee Sterrey
• Chris Kalantzis
• Milan Blagojevic
• Aytek Genc
• Nick Theodorakopoulos
• André Gumprecht
• Steve O'Connor
• Peter Tsekenis

Notable players

• Davie Provan
• Mick Coady
• Jason Polak
• Vicente Estavillo
• Andrew Bernal
• Peter Raskopoulos
• Jim Patikas
• Graham Jennings
• Peter Katholos
• Marshall Soper
• Abbas Saad
• Chris Kalantzis
• Alistair Edwards
• Ned Zelic
• Tim Cahill

• Brett Emerton
• Mark Brennan
• Jason Culina
• Zlatko Arambasic
• Nick Carle
• Gabriel Mendez
• Ian Rush
• Pablo Cardozo
• Ante Juric
• Clint Bolton
• Glen Moss
• Iain Fyfe
• Siraj Al-Tall
• Robbie Hooker
• Gary Meier

• Tony Spyridakos
• Clint Gosling
• Tim Bredbury
• Kris Trajanovski
• Ante Miličić
• Takis Loukanidis
• Ricki Herbert
• Milan Blagojevic
• Roy Blitz
• Mark Bosnich
• Michael Beauchamp
• Andrew Durante

Honours

• National Soccer League Champions

Winners (2): 1989/90, 2001/02

Runners Up (4): 1984, 1986, 1989, 2002/03

• National Soccer League Minor Premiers

Winners (1): 2002/2003

• National Soccer League Cup

Winners (2): 1983, 1985

Runners Up (2): 1989, 1989/90

• NSW 1st Division

Winners (2): 1980, 2011

Runners Up (2): 1968, 2012

• Johnny Warren Cup

Winners (1): 2008

• National Youth League

Winners (1): 1987

Individual honours

• NSL Player of the Year Award

1982 – Peter Katholos

• NSL Top Goalscorer Award

1991/1992 – Tim Bredbury

1998/1999 – Pablo Cardozo

• NSL Under 21 Player of the Year Award

1997/1998 – Brett Emerton

External links

• Sydney Olympic FC official website
• SoccerAust
• OZ Football