Birkenhead United AFC is an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Beach Haven, on the North Shore of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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. They currently compete in the Northern League.

Club history

The club was established as Birkenhead in 1960 before it amalgamated with Birkdale in 1963 taking its current name as Birkenhead United.

Present day

Since 1965, Birkenhead have mainly played either in Division 1 or Division 2 of the Northern League though they twice early on, made it into Premier Division in 1968 and 1970, only to be relegated again that same year. They also had one of their best early runs in the

1970 Chatham Cup The 1970 Chatham Cup was the 43rd annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand. Early stages of the competition were run on a regional basis, however the structure of the competition was altered from previous years, largely due ...

, making it to the 5th round before losing to Eden 1–4. They wouldn't repeat that success in the cup again until

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Again going down in the 5th round, this time to

Glenfield Rovers Glenfield Rovers was a semi-professional football club based in Glenfield, New Zealand. The men's team competed in the NRFL Division 1 in 2020, having suffered relegation from the NRFL Premier in 2019. The women's team competed in the NRFL Wome ...

. Birkenhead started to see more success in the 2010s, with them again making the Premier Division in 2013 and they have stayed there since. They have just missed out on winning the division four times in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. The success in the local league was also replicated in the Chatham Cup, where in

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 ...

and

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 ...

they made the quarter-finals.

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 ...

they made the semi-finals, only losing 3–4 on penalties to

Napier City Rovers Napier City Rovers is a football team based in Napier, New Zealand, competing in the Central Premier League. Club history The team was founded in 1973 via a merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City. Napier City Rovers have won New Zealand's p ...

, before they finally won the cup in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, beating local rivals

Waitakere City Waitākere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitākere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was a ...

3–2 in extra time. They wouldn't have to wait very long before they won the cup again, when in the

2018 Chatham Cup The 2018 Chatham Cup (known as the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup for sponsorship reasons) is New Zealand's 91st annual knockout football competition. The 2018 competition will have a preliminary round and four rounds proper before quarter-finals, sem ...

, they made the finals. This time they were facing Wellington side Western Suburbs and after 120 minutes the score was tied 1–1 before Birkenhead prevailed on penalties 5–4 to claim the cup for a second time in three years. In 2021, the club formed a strategic partnership with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

outfit, St Mirren FC alongside

Nelson Suburbs Nelson Suburbs FC is a football club in Nelson, New Zealand. They compete in the Mainland Premier League. They have won the Mainland Premier League three times. Nelson Suburbs FC has strong ties with the region's most successful football schoo ...

Current squad

References

External links

Club website
{{Sport in Auckland Association football clubs in Auckland Association football clubs established in 1963 1963 establishments in New Zealand