Brisbane Knights FC

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Brisbane Knights
Brisbane Knights FC logo.jpg
Full nameBrisbane Knights Football Club
Nickname(s)Croatia, Brisbane Croatia, Rocklea United
Founded1957
GroundCroatian Sports Center, Rocklea
Capacity1,500
Head coachDamon Redknap
League Queensland Premier League 2
2024 1st of 12 FQPL 3 – Metro (Premiers) & (Promoted)
Website https://www.brisbaneknightsfc.com.au/

Brisbane Knights Football Club is an Australian soccer club from Rocklea, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They will be competing in the Football Queensland Premier League 2, the 4th division on the football pyramid of Australia, after achieving promotion from Brisbane Premier League in 2024.

Contents

History

The club was initially formed in 1952 under the name HNK Croatia Brisbane but struggled to sustain a full squad of players for the entire season, so the club disbanded. With the steady growth of the Croatian community in following years, the club was reformed in 1957. On 15 May 1957 the club was registered with the governing federation as an official soccer club.

The club also played under the names New Farm SC (from 1971–1974), Sunnyside United SC (1975–1987), Croatia Soccer Club (1988), Brisbane Croatia Soccer Club and Rocklea United SC(from 1989–2012). [1] In the early years the club played at council grounds throughout Brisbane until 1970, when the local Croatian community purchased 50-odd acres of land at Rocklea, an inner city south-west suburb of Brisbane. In the 1980s the club competed in the Brisbane Premier League until relegation in 1994.

Recent History

After relegation from the Capital League 1 in 2013, the Knights managed immediate promotion in 2014, finishing runners up in the Capital League 2. In 2015, Knights finished fifth in League 1. Brisbane Knights hosted the 41st annual Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament in October 2015. It was the fourth time the Queensland club hosted the tournament, having previously hosted in 1982 (winning the tournament for the first and only time to date), 1989 and 2001. Melbourne Knights FC took out their sixth title at the tournament.

After another mid-table finish in 2016, [2] Knights finished in third place in League 1 in 2017 and were promoted back to the Brisbane Premier League due to a league re-structure, where Football Queensland Premier League became the new state-wide second tier and the BPL became the third state tier. The Knights finished in the lower half of the BPL table in both 2018 [3] and 2019. [4]

In January 2020, it was announced that Gold Coast Knights SC had assumed control of Brisbane Knights Football Club. [5]

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the Brisbane Knights field one Men's Brisbane Premier League squad. All matches were played as away fixtures whilst extensive repairs were conducted to the fields of the Brisbane Knights by the Gold Coast Knights Football Club.

In 2021, the Brisbane Knights re-assumed control with the guidance from the Gold Coast Knights Football Club with teams in the Men's Brisbane Premier League, Masters Competition and Women's Brisbane City League.

Their home continues to be the Croatian Club Brisbane in Rocklea and in February 2021, the main playing field was re-named the Ivan "Johnny" Mesic Memorial Field, named in honour of one the founders of the Club.

Honours

(as Brisbane Knights)

(as Rocklea United)

Players

First team squad

As of 16 September 2024

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

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  CHN Ke Wei
2 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS James Le-Mckay
3 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Joshua Elmer
4 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jordan Ravanelli
5 DF Flag of Scotland.svg  SCO Michael Mckinnon
7 FW Ulster Banner.svg  NIR Frederick Yinka-kehinde
8 MF Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  COD Veco Serugo
9 FW Flag of South Korea.svg  KOR Hyunggyu Yoo
10 DF Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  COD Frank Byadu
11 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Buraito Machida
13 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Takeru Okada
14 MF Flag of South Korea.svg  KOR Seungyeop Lee
No.Pos.NationPlayer
15 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Rae McGeown
17 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Joey Kleibo
18 DF Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  CHN Xuejun Zhou
19 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Ryota Sumiyoshi
20 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Bronsyn Turner
DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Asobasi Cosmas
MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Nikola Skulic
FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Valentino Andonov
MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Niko Boban
DF Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  CHN Fan Chu

Notable players

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Croatian Community Centre Brisbane – Brisbane Knights" . Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  2. "Ladder for Capital League 1". SportsTG. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  3. "Ladder for Flight Centre Premier League". SportsTG. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  4. "Ladder for Premier League". SportsTG. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. "Gold Coast Knights Football Club assumes control of Brisbane Knights Football Club. – Gold Coast Knights" . Retrieved 24 January 2020.