FC Nelson is a

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 the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

city of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, their home ground is

Guppy Park The Wood is a suburb of the South Island, New Zealand city of Nelson. It lies just to the north-east of the city centre and adjoins it. The suburb incorporates Botanical Reserve, a section of Nelson's town belt that includes the trigonometrical ...

History

The team was founded in 2011 through the amalgamation of

Nelson United Nelson United was a New Zealand soccer club, based in the South Island city of Nelson. Their home ground was Guppy Park. The team was founded in 1968 through the amalgamation of Nelson Thistle (founded 1924) and Nelson Rangers (founded 1950 ...

(founded 1968), Nelson Metro (founded 1975), Nelson City (founded 1977) and Tahunanui When they merged they had over 900 members across junior, youth, men's and women's teams, making it the largest club in the Nelson/Marlborough region. Nelson United played in the old

New Zealand National Soccer League The New Zealand National League is the name given to the current New Zealand top football competition. Originally set up as the New Zealand National Soccer League there has been many versions of the competition as well as many different names. Th ...

top flight 1977–80, 1983–88, and 1991–93. They were winners of the 1977 Chatham Cup, and were finalists in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. Nelson Metro's best run in the Chatham Cup was in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

progressing to the fourth round before losing to

Waterside Karori Waterside Karori AFC is an association football club in Karori, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. They currently play in the Capital Football (New Zealand), Capital Football Central League (New Zealand), Central League. History Waterside Ka ...

. Nelson City's best run was in the 1977 Chatham Cup, making it through to the third round before losing to other local club

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 ...

. FC Nelson has continued the tradition of playing in the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are 2022 winners Auckland City, who defeated Eastern ...

, entering each year since the club was formed. Usually exiting in the first or second round or round two the club however achieved its best ever finish (in its current form) in 2016, advancing to the third round. The club also entered a women's team for the first time in the

Kate Sheppard Cup The Kate Sheppard Cup, currently known as the New Zealand Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup for sponsorship purposes, is New Zealand's premier knockout tournament in women's association football. Founded in 1994, it was known as the Women's ...

in 2013, beating

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

1–0 to finish in the second round. FC Nelson has won the Nelson Division One trophy a number of times, including 2012, 2013, 2017 (where a 10-0 victory against Wakefield FC saw Richmond Athletic pipped on the final day), 2019 and 2023. The club has also won the Nelson Women's league in 2014. In 2021, FC Nelson open its new academy, linking the best youth talent with high-quality coaching. The club also formed a partnership with

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

to give players access to opportunities to the academies and coaches, while still being able to play for their school team. They followed this up by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with

Nelson College for Girls , motto_translation = Loyalty, honesty and wisdom , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = 1883; years ago , address = Trafalgar St , city = Nels ...

in February.

References

External links

FC Nelson website
Association football clubs in New Zealand Sport in Nelson, New Zealand 1968 establishments in New Zealand Association football clubs established in 1968 {{NewZealand-footyclub-stub