Football Kingz
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| Full name | Football Kingz Football Club Ltd |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Kingz Kingz FC Auckland Kingz |
| Founded | 1999 (as Auckland Kingz Football Club) |
| Dissolved | 2004 |
| Ground | North Harbour Stadium |
| League | NSL |
This page details the history of New Zealand's first professional football club The Football Kingz FC through to their disestablishment in 2004, making way for the creation of the New Zealand Knights as an inaugural participant in the newly established Australian A-League .
Football Kingz FC (promoted as Auckland Kingz within Australia) joined the Australian National Soccer League in 1999 and proceeded to play in the last five seasons of the NSL, failing to qualify for the play-offs in every season. The club was originally to use the spelling of "Kings", however this was changed to the Kingz after receiving legal threats from another Australian sporting franchise.
Their inaugural coach was OFC Player of the Century and former New Zealand international Wynton Rufer in a player-coach role, with his brother Shane as assistant coach. Playing their inaugural game on the evening of 1 October 1999 at North Harbour Stadium in front of then the largest crowd to watch a club game in New Zealand. The game was played against Carlton FC and even though it resulted in a 0–3 was an enthralling start to the professional era in New Zealand. This first season would end up being the club's most successful, finishing 8th, winning 15 games.
After an encouraging first season the club set out to improve its performance on and off the park. There were a number of foreign signings, mostly from Brazil that seemed good on paper but flopped on the park. One of these imports though immediately became a fan favourite, Dennis Ibrahim. The German went on to become the club's top scorer during the season, managing two hat-tricks (his first in a 3–2 win over the Brisbane Strikers at home on 30 March 2001 and the second against Sydney United in a 4–2 away win on 29 April 2001). The team's best result proved to be a 5–1 home win over the Newcastle Breakers on 27 October 2000. again the team finished in 8th place, winning 12 games.
Seasons One and Two showed the potential of the team (they would turn out to be the most successful seasons from a professional New Zealand football team until the Wellington Phoenix FC made the play-offs in 2009) and so Sky Television New Zealand became involved in the club. Their first move was to remove Wynton Rufer as coach while still wanting him to remain a player. Rufer's desire, however, was to remain as coach and to retire slowly as a player thus he immediately retired from playing. Mike Petersen was signed as the new Manager and he brought with him a number of players including a young goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos to be part of the squad. His tenure lasted just five games. He started the season with a loss away to the Brisbane Strikers and three games later presided over an embarrassing 2–7 home loss to Perth Glory. The following game, a 2–2 draw away to Wollongong Wolves on 2 November 2001 was his last, walking out after it. A number of Australian players soon following him. The club then set about replacing him. In the interim Shane Rufer stepped in to become the club's Caretaker Manager. This tenure only lasted for two games but he achieved a win and draw from these games. Kevin Fallon was announced as the new Manager but the damage to the club had already been down and it ended up finishing with the "wooden spoon" in 13th place, this costing Fallon his job.
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