Adelaide Croatia Raiders SC, formerly known as Adelaide Raiders and historically Adelaide Croatia, is a semi-professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

, they currently plays in the South Australian State League 1. It is a Croatian Australian-backed club and its home ground is the Croatian Sports Centre in

Gepps Cross Gepps Cross (pronounced 'Jepps Cross') is a suburb and major road intersection in the north of Adelaide, South Australia. Gepps Cross is traditionally seen as the end of the inner suburbs and the start of the outer northern suburbs, as it was hom ...

, a northern suburb of Adelaide.

History

The Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club was founded in 1952 by a group of Croatian migrants who named the club after their homeland. The group included Fahrudin Cerić, the then President, Cvjetko Milanović and Drago Pišpek. The club affiliated with the SASFA and played in the metropolitan division for five years. Its first game was against a team from the (now closed)

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

factory at

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

. Its first home ground was in the South Parklands on Greenhill Rd. In 1960 the club moved to its new headquarters at Hanson Reserve. It remained there until 2000, when it moved to the sporting complex at

. The 1960s proved to be a successful decade for the club in the South Australian State League, finishing in third place in 1961, 1962 and 1963, while finishing Runner-Up in 1965 and 1969. Despite these strong results they didn't win first place first place in the South Australian State League until 1980. Since then Croatia has won the league on another four occasions: in 1984, 1988, 1997 and 2002. In 1962 the club competed in the inaugural Australian Cup, the first nationwide club tournament held in Australia. Croatia Adelaide were one of 16 participants in the knock-out competition and were the first Croatian backed club to compete. The side lost its first round match, losing to Brunswick Juventus 3–1 at Melbourne's Olympic Park to see the club knocked out. The club would again compete in the Australian Cup twice more in 1963 and 1965. The year 1977 saw the formation of the National Soccer League. Following the failure of Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia in their applications for the league, Adelaide Croatia led a move backed by the Croatian Soccer Association of Australia which saw a proposal put forward for a Croatian 'super club' to enter the NSL; a club which would see the resources of all of Australia's Croatian clubs pooled together. Ultimately the submission failed. A major highlight in the club's history came in 1985; as the champions of South Australia, Adelaide Croatia was invited to take part in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

Cup. Adelaide Croatia had a remarkable run defeating both of Adelaide's NSL sides,

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

and West Adelaide, 1–0 in the opening two rounds. The club lost in the quarter-finals to another NSL side, Sunshine George Cross. It was a valiant display seeing Croatia go down 1–0 in a tightly fought match. Midway through the 2010 season

John Kosmina Alexander John Kosmina (born 17 August 1956), known as John Kosmina, is an Australian former football (soccer) player and manager, most recently being the Senior Head Coach of Brisbane Strikers. He is a member of the Football Federation Austral ...

who managed

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was f ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

was announced as the new coach for the Raiders. In 2013, the Raiders made the finals series of the FFSA Premier League following a fifth placed league finish. The finals run came to a quick end after going down to Campbelltown City on penalties at the first hurdle. The Raiders narrowly avoided relegation in the 2015 season, finishing above relegated sides Port Adelaide Lion and

Modbury Jets Modbury SC, commonly known as Modbury Jets, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. It's senior mens teams currently compete in the National Premier Leagues South Australia and senior womens team in the ...

on goal difference alone, with all three sides finishing the season with 27 points. Prior to the start of the 2016 season, former international striker

Joel Porter Joel William Porter (born 25 December 1978) is an Australian football (soccer) player. Club career Australia Before joining Hartlepool United, Porter had previously played for Croydon Kings, West Adelaide, Melbourne Knights FC and Sydney Olym ...

was announced as the new head coach, but they parted ways only nine rounds into the NPLSA season, with the club languishing in bottom place. Although Porter was replaced by former Raiders player Robert Matosevic, they finished bottom of the league and were relegated to the 2017 State League 1. In 2018 they earned promotion back in to the NPL by reaching the 2nd division play-off series final against the minor premiers Adelaide Blue Eagles. In 2021 the club reintroduced "Croatia" back into its name, after the new policy released from Football Australia which allows clubs to revert to their traditional names and symbols.

Current squad

Honours

*South Australian Champions: 1980, 1984, 1988, 1997, 2002 *South Australian Runner-Up: 1965, 1969, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2005, 2007 *South Australian Minor-Premiers: 1997 *South Australian Regular Season Runner-Up: 1992, 1995, 2005 *Federation Cup Winners: 1960, 1962, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2003 *Federation Cup Runner-Up: 1959, 1998, 2005 *Errea Cup: 2007 *Coca-Cola (Top 4) Cup Winners: 1984 *Ampol Cup Winners: 1961, 1989, 1990 *South Australian Division One Champions: 1959, 1972, 1975, 2018 *Australian Croatian Soccer Tournament: 1984, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2009

Individual honours

Sergio Melta Medal – South Australian Player of the Year *1965 – Billy Graham *2004 – Richie Alagich *2006 – Michael Cartwright *2009 – Richie Alagich *2010 – Richie Alagich *2012 – Nicky Orr

References

External links

Official Website

South Australian Croatian community
{{AUS fb state SA Croatian sports clubs in Australia

Raiders Raider(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Paul Revere & the Raiders, an American rock band * "Raider", a track from the 1969 album ''Farewell Aldebaran'', by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester * "Raiders", a track from the 1987 album ''Young and ...