APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of

Leichhardt Leichhardt may refer to: * Division of Leichhardt, electoral District for the Australian House of Representatives * Leichhardt Highway, a highway of Queensland, Australia * Leichhardt Way, an Australian road route * Leichhardt, New South Wales, inn ...

in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1954 as APIA Leichhardt, by

Italian Australian Italian Australians ( it, Italiani Australiani) are Australians with Italian ancestry. Italian Australians constitute the sixth largest ancestry group in Australia, and one of the largest groups in the global Italian diaspora. At the 2021 c ...

s. APIA, winner of the national Australian championship of 1987, is currently a member of the

NPL NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern ...

History

The club was founded as the Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana ("APIA") in 1954 by members of the

Italian-Australian Italian Australians ( it, Italiani Australiani) are Australians with Italian ancestry. Italian Australians constitute the sixth largest ancestry group in Australia, and one of the largest groups in the global Italian diaspora. At the 2021 ce ...

community in Sydney's Inner West. After several years in the Canterbury District competition, the club joined the NSW Federation's state league. In the 1960s APIA became one of the foremost soccer clubs in Australia and won the Premiership of NSW of the years 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1975, which was the highest level of achievement in the absence of a national competition. Between 1966 and 1974 APIA also won three times the State Cup of NSW, then named after a sponsor ''Ampol Cup''. The 1974 final was considered "one of the most incredible finals" of the history of the club when skipper

Jimmy Rooney James Rooney (born 10 December 1945) is a former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Born in Scotland, he represented the Australia national team at international level and was member of the squad at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. ...

and centreforward

Peter Ollerton Peter Ollerton (born 20 May 1951
including date of birth in England) is a former Australian

Wentworth Park Wentworth Park is a park near the suburbs of Glebe and Ultimo in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The park contains several muti-purpose sporting pitches, cricket nets and a number of fitness installations. There is a playground in the s ...

, the highest finals result ever. Rooney and Ollerton were also in the team that represented Australia a few months later in its first World Cup participation in Germany. In 1979 APIA was given access to the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

, the top tier of Australian soccer since 1977. In 1987 APIA won the national championship, six points ahead of the Preston Makedonia Soccer Club from Melbourne, with then only two points awarded per win. The coach in that season was

Rale Rasic Zvonimir "Rale" Rasic Order of Australia, OAM (/Zvonimir Rale Rašić; born 26 December 1935) is an Australians, Australian former association football player, coach and media personality. Playing career Club Born in Dole (Ljubuški), Dole, Lit ...

Charlie Yankos Charlie Yankos (born 29 May 1961) is an Australian former association football, footballer who played for the Australia national football (soccer) team, Australian national team 49 times and scored 7 international goals. He captained the nation ...

and

Peter Katholos Peter Katholos ( el, Πέτρος Κάθολος; born 18 March 1961) is an Australian former soccer player. He was a member of the Socceroos, Australia's national soccer team, throughout the 1980s during which time he made 22 international app ...

are probably the best known players from that side. The main cast of that year consisted of Tony Pezzano; Charlie Yankos,

Arno Bertogna Arno Bertogna (born 9 April 1959 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian former association football player. Playing career Club career Bertogna began his senior career with Azzurri in the WA State League, winning the league and cup i ...

, Mark Brown,

Jean-Paul de Marigny Jean-Paul de Marigny (born 21 January 1964, in Mauritius) is an Assistant Coach with Melbourne Victory. Jean-Paul is a former Socceroo. Managerial career Melbourne Victory de Marigny served as an assistant coach of A-League side Melbourne Victo ...

, Peter Tredinnick,

, Edward Lorens, Hilton Phillips, Gary Ward, Rod Brown and Tony Parison. In 1988 APIA won the National Soccer League Cup. By 1992 the APIA Leichhardt was overwhelmed by financial difficulties. The club was somewhat restructured and forthwith played on state level with the moniker "Tigers." In 2017, APIA won the

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern ...

premiership, but lost the grand final to

Manly United FC Manly United Football Club is an Australian association football, football club based in the northern beaches area of Sydney. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW and their home ground is Cromer Park, in the suburb of Dee Why, N ...

on penalties. APIA also made the grand final of the

2017 Waratah Cup The 2017 Waratah Cup was the 15th season of Football NSW's knockout competition. The Preliminary Rounds are now a part of the FFA Cup competition. The 5 winners from the FFA Cup preliminary Seventh Round qualified for the Waratah Cup, as well ...

, but lost 3–1 to

Hakoah Sydney City East FC Maccabi Hakoah Sydney City East FC, commonly known as Maccabi Hakoah, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1939 as Sydney Hakoah by members of Sydney's Jewish community. They pla ...

. In 2018, APIA won the 2018 Waratah Cup. On 21 August 2018, APIA defeated reigning

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

champions

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

in the Round of 16 of the

2018 FFA Cup The 2018 FFA Cup was the fifth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the Round of 32), including the 10 A-League teams and 21 Football Federation Au ...

, becoming the seventh state-league side to beat a top-tier team in the knockout tournament. The result was billed as one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history. In 2019, APIA won the

Grand Final with a 2-1 victory over Sydney United. This was the first final ever played at Bankwest Staidum. When the Football Federation Australia repealed its controversial National Club Identification Policy, which effectively banned clubs from having ethnic identities APIA dropped the "Tigers" moniker and reverted to its original badge.

Venues

Lambert Park Alpine is a city on the northeastern edge of Utah County, Utah. The population was 10,251 at the time of the 2020 census. Alpine has been one of the many quickly-growing cities of Utah since the 1970s, especially in the 1990s. This city is thi ...

in Leichhardt is the club's traditional home ground. It was opened in 1954 and has, over the years, been used for most of the club's home games. It is still APIA's main ground and hosts all of the club's NPL matches. APIA has also hosted home games at a number of other venues, including

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

and

Henson Park Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. History It was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The brickworks ...

Current squad

''Updated 1 October 2021.''

Seasons

Correct as of 31st August, 2022 Sourc
OzFootball
Key: = Premiers (premiership positions) or Champions (finals series) = Runners-up (premiership or finals series) = Third place (premiership) * 1R, 2R, 3R...7R = 1st Round, 2nd Round, 3rd Round...7th Round * EF = Elimination Final * GS = Group Stage *

^P Draws went to penalty shoot-outs during the 1993–1995 seasons (2 points for win, 1 point for loss).

* PF = Preliminary Final * PO = Playoff Final * QF = Quarter-final * R32 = Round of 32 * R16 = Round of 16 * RU = Runners-Up * SF = Semi-final * Unk = Result unknown * W = Winners

Honours

Regional

**Premiers (5): 1964, 1966, 1967, 1975,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

**Runners-Up (11): 1959, 1960, 1963, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1997, 2002–03,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, 2019 * National Premier Leagues NSW Grand Finals **Championships (6): 1964, 1965, 1969, 1976, 2002–03, 2019 **Runners-Up (7): 1959, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1975, 2017, 2018, *

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, National Premier Leagues NSW 2, Natio ...

**Winners (5): 1962, 1966, 1975,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

**Runners-Up (3): 2006,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

*Jonny Warren Cup **Winners (1): 2007 *Ampol Cup **Winners (3): 1966, 1970, 1974

Domestic

**Premiers (1):

1987 National Soccer League The 1987 National Soccer League season was the 11th season of the National Soccer League, the former top Australian professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1977. The season saw the format returned to a singl ...

**Champions (1): 1987 *

Australia Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austra ...

**Winners (1):

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

**Runners-Up (3):

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

* NSL Cup **Winners (2):

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Oz Football Profile

NPL NSW Fixtures & Results
{{National Soccer League National Premier Leagues clubs National Soccer League (Australia) teams New South Wales Premier League teams Association football clubs established in 1954 1954 establishments in Australia Italian-Australian backed sports clubs of New South Wales