Bentleigh Greens
 |
|
| Full name | Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Greens Pagkyprio (Pan-Cyprian) |
| Short name | BGSC |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Ground | Kingston Heath Soccer Complex |
| Capacity | 3,300 |
| Coordinates | 37°58′7″S 145°5′27″E / 37.96861°S 145.09083°ECoordinates: 37°58′7″S 145°5′27″E / 37.96861°S 145.09083°E |
| Chairman | Ray Georgiou |
| Coach | John Anastasiadis |
| League | NPL Victoria |
| 2016 | 1st |
| Website | Club home page |
Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Cheltenham, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1986, by the Greek Cypriot community and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. Bentleigh made nation-wide headlines when it became the first club below the A-League to make the semi-final of the FFA Cup in 2014. The Greens hit another milestone a year later when they claimed their first major title, defeating South Melbourne FC in the 2015 NPL Victoria Grand Final at Lakeside Stadium. In 2016, Bentleigh Greens became Victorian top-flight league premiers for the first time.
In 1986, a small group of former members of Cypriot Community's Soccer Club, Central City, met at 15–17 Heffernan Lane. This group determined to create a strong Greek Cypriot based team in Melbourne. There were two previous failed attempts, one in the mid-1950s and secondly Central City from 1977 to 1983 which ran under the control of the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria from 1977 to 1980.
The "Founders" at this initial meeting were Michael Christopher, Ray Georgiou, Andrew Nicolaou, Michael Iaonnou, Harry Theocharous, Phillip Philippou, Tony Antoniou and Harry Constantinou. After making a huge fund raising effort and gathering together 150 foundation members we were able to take over Greensborough and move it to Victory Park in the City of Moorabbin. The name of the club was changed to Bentleigh Greens.
The club competed in the First Division of the Provisional League in 1987 season. That year the club finished runners up to Chelsea on goal difference, achieving promotion to Victorian League Division 4. The club was promoted to Division 3 in 1989 after a second-place finish, after just two years in Division 4. Bentleigh amazingly were promoted to Division 2 in 1990, having just been promoted to Division 3 that year. Two more promotions followed in 1993 and 1995, taking the Greens from Division 2 to the Victorian Premier League for the first time in the club's history. The 1995 promotion was the fifth promotion for the club in nine years, marking a very impressive rise through the ranks of Victorian football for the recently established Bentleigh side.
...
Wikipedia