Adelaide City Force
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| Full name | Adelaide City Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Zebras |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Ground | Adelaide City Park |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Chairman | Dino D'Ottavi |
| Manager | Damian Mori |
| League | NPL South Australia |
| 2015 | NPL South Australia, 4th |
| Website | adelaidecityfc |
Adelaide City Football Club is an Australian football (soccer) club based in Adelaide, South Australia. They are also known as The Zebras and the Black and Whites. The club, which competed in the National Soccer League for 27 seasons and is one of Australia's most decorated sides, has won three national championships and 17 South Australian championships. Since it withdrew from the NSL just before the league's final season began in 2003, Adelaide City has competed in the National Premier Leagues South Australia.
The club was founded at Bailetti sports store on Hindley Street, Adelaide and primarily followed by people of Italian heritage. The club was originally called "Juventus" after the Italian club from 1946 until being renamed Adelaide Juventus in 1966.
It was only a short seven year wait for the club to enjoy its first real success when the first of many league championships arrived in 1953. This was followed by another five titles before the end of the 1950s including an unprecedented four in-a-row between 1956 and 1959. Between 1953 and 1959, the club won 106 of 127 games and six of seven championships it contested. An additional three South Australian championships were won in the 1960s and three more titles were won in the 1970s up until 1976. The club's original home was Kensington Oval, Adelaide, then known as Olympic Sports Field.
In 1977, the club renamed itself Adelaide City and became a founding club of the inaugural NSL competition. They were captained by Frank Lister, who went on to win the Golden Boot award for that year and was later inducted into the South Australian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004. The club's inaugural NSL coach was Edmund Kreft. Roger Romanowicz, Ron Fraser, Fred Yung, Zoran Matić, Lister, John Perin, David Leane, Sergio Melta, Brian Northcote, John Nyskohus and Gary Marocchi started for the Black and Whites in their first ever national league clash, a 0-0 draw against the Brisbane Lions at Olympic Sports Field, watched by 6,320 people. City finished fourth in the first ever NSL season, six points behind eventual champion Sydney City. The club, one of the main proponents of the NSL concept, recorded the league's highest average attendance in its first season (7,400 people). One of the club's other highlights from the first NSL season was a 10-3 win over Victorian club Mooroolbark. The game remains the only time an Australian club side has scored 10 goals in a national league match.
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