Western United FC (A-League)

Last updated
Western United
Full nameWestern United Football Club
FoundedMay 2017
GroundTBD (2019–)
OwnerTBD
ChairmanTBD
ManagerTBD
League A-League
Website Club website

Western United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Western Melbourne, Victoria.

Association football team field sport

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

The Western Suburbs is the metropolitan area directly west of the Melbourne Central Business District in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Victoria (Australia) State in Australia

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Geographically the smallest state on the Australian mainland, Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, and South Australia to the west.

Contents

From 2019 it will compete in the country's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia.

A-League Australian premier association football league

The A-League is a professional men's soccer league run by Football Federation Australia (FFA). At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's primary competition for the sport. The A-League was established in 2004 as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and competition commenced in August 2005. The league is currently contested by ten teams; nine based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. It is known as the Hyundai A-League (HAL) through a sponsorship arrangement with the Hyundai Motor Company.

Football Federation Australia sports governing body

Football Federation Australia (FFA) is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia. The FFA is headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, FFA in its current form was only established in 1963 as the Australian Soccer Federation. It was later reconstituted in 2003 as the Australian Soccer Association before adopting its current name in 2005.

History

Origins

On 13 December 2018 it was announced that Western Melbourne Group would be accepted into the A-League as part of the new expansion process. [1] [2] Western Melbourne will play their home games at Kardinia Park in Geelong for their first two seasons, while it builds its stadium and training centre in Tarneit, with completion expected in 2021. [3]

Kardinia Park (stadium) stadium in Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Kardinia Park is a sporting and entertainment venue located within Kardinia Park, South Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium, which is owned and operated by the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust, is the home ground of the Geelong Football Club. The capacity of Kardinia Park is 34,000, making it the largest-capacity Australian stadium in a regional city.

Geelong City in Victoria, Australia

Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Geelong is 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-west of the state capital, Melbourne. It is the second largest Victorian city, with an estimated urban population of 192,393 as of June 2016.

Tarneit, Victoria Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Tarneit is a growing suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area, nearby another emerging suburb at Truganina. Tarneit recorded a population of 34,562 at the 2016 Census, and is estimated to increase to over 63,000 by 2031.

On 11 January 2019, Western Melbourne Group announced John Anastasiadis as senior assistant coach for the club's debut season. [4] On 24 January 2019, the consortium announced that John Hutchinson would also join the club as an assistant coach. [5]

John Anastasiadis is a former Australian soccer player who spent the majority of his career playing for Greek club PAOK FC. He is currently the senior assistant coach at A-League side Western United.

John Hutchinson (footballer) footballer

John Paul Hutchinson is an Australian born, Maltese football manager and former player. He played as a central midfielder for Eastern Pride, Northern Spirit, Manly United, Chengdu Blades and Central Coast Mariners. He also captained the Central Coast Mariners.

On 31 January 2019, Western Melbourne made their first player and marquee signing Panagiotis Kone ahead of their inaugural season. [6] On 12 February 2019, Socceroos defender Josh Risdon became Western Melbourne's first Australian signing. [7]

Panagiotis Kone Greek footballer

Panagiotis Kone is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder with Western United in the Australia football competition the A-League.

Josh Risdon Australian soccer player

Joshua Robert Risdon is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who currently plays as a right back for Western Sydney Wanderers.

On 13 February, it was announced that the club would be called Western United Football Club. The club will play in the colours of dark green and black and are strongly linked to have white as a third colour for away kits. [8]

Stadium

Current location

LocationStadiumCapacityYear
TBDTBD-2019–

Proposed location

A 15,000 seated stadium has been proposed at 1160 Sayers Road, Tarneit, Victoria. [9]

LocationStadiumCapacityYear
City of Wyndham, Victoria Wyndham Stadium15,0002022–

Players

First team squad

As of 12 February 2019

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

No.PositionPlayer
Flag of Australia (converted).svg DF Josh Risdon (set to join on 1 June 2019)
Flag of Greece.svg MF Panagiotis Kone

Coaching staff

Football Department

PositionName
Head CoachVacant
Assistant Coach Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Anastasiadis [10]
Assistant Coach Flag of Malta.svg John Hutchinson [11]
Director of Football Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Horvat [12]

See also


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References

  1. https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/winning-expansion-bids-decided-report
  2. https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/the-ffa-will-make-its-announcement-on-aleague-expansion-today/news-story/ac2b462aba29ffeb64e871f35867332e
  3. "FFA goes west with two clubs confirmed for A-League expansion". The World Game. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  4. "Highly-rated Anastasiadis lands A-League coaching role with Western Melbourne". The World Game. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  5. "New A-League club signs assistant coach from USA". FTBL. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  6. "Heraldsun.com.au | Subscribe to the Herald Sun for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  7. "Risdon signs on with Western Melbourne". The World Game. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  8. "Western United: new A-League club's name and colours confirmed". The Guardian . 13 February 2019.
  9. http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/official-visit-for-a-league-bid/
  10. Gatt, Ray (12 January 2019). "Western Melbourne appoint John Anastasiadis as assistant". The Australian .
  11. Ormond, Aidan (22 January 2019). "New A-League club signs assistant coach from USA". FTBL .
  12. United, Western (19 Feb 2019). "Western United FC on Twitter".