The Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament is a tournament run by the Croatian Soccer Federation of Australia and New Zealand, an organisation founded in 1974. The inspiration for the tournament came from the successful

Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament The Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament is a soccer tournament established in 1964 featuring teams representing the Croatian Canadian and Croatian American communities. It is organized by the Croatian National Soccer Federation of Canada & t ...

founded in 1964. The Australian tournament kicked off in 1974 with an event staged in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

where six

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs participated at Melbourne Croatia's ground Montgomery Park in

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

. The tournament was born. Although only six clubs participated, it was the beginning, a beginning spawned from Croatia Melbourne's expulsion from the Victorian Soccer Federation, with the clubs leadership including Tony Vrzina and Josip Solic together with Mirko Furjanic the now Honorary President of the Australian Croatian Soccer Tournament being the forerunners in getting the tournament up and going. The second tournament was staged in 1975, hosted by Sydney Croatia and taken out by

Canberra FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1958 the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capi ...

who defeated Sydney Croatia 3–1 in the Final. Since then it has gone on to become the largest and oldest ethnic football tournament in Australia, having been hosted in every state and territory except for the Northern Territory. It also holds the honour of being the oldest national soccer competition still running in Australia. Melbourne Knights and Sydney United are the only two clubs to hold Life Membership to the Australian Croatian Soccer Federation due to their pioneering in the early days in getting the tournament going, as well as their success on the National footballing stage.

List of Tournaments

^ 1974 Tournament was a trial event

Tournament Winners

*St Albans Saints, 10 titles *Sydney United, 9 titles *Melbourne Knights, 7 titles *Canberra FC, 6 titles *Adelaide Raiders, 5 titles *Dandenong City, 1 title *North Geelong Warriors, 1 title *Whyalla Croatia, 1 title *Western Knights, 1 title *Ljubuski FC, 1 title *Hajduk Sydney, 1 title *O'Connor Knights, 1 title *Auckland Croatia, 1 title *Brisbane Knights, 1 title

References

(1) ''Adelaide Advertiser'' "Raiders confident" 4 October 2002, page 103 Official websit
AusCroSoccer.com
Croatian-Australian culture Recurring sporting events established in 1974 Soccer cup competitions in Australia

List of Tournaments

Tournament Winners

See also

References