Birkenhead United AFC is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in Beach Haven, on the North Shore of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. They currently compete in the Northern League.

Club history

The club was established as Birkenhead in 1960 before it amalgamated with Birkdale in 1963, taking its current name as Birkenhead United. Since 1965, Birkenhead have mainly played either in

Division 1 Division 1 or Division One may refer to: Association football * Azadegan League, the second-tier professional football league in Iran * Brisbane Premier League Division 1, the second-tier professional football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Austr ...

or Division 2 of the Northern League though they twice early on, made it into Premier Division in 1968 and 1970, only to be relegated again that same year. They also had one of their best early runs in the

1970 Chatham Cup The 1970 Chatham Cup was the 43rd annual nationwide knockout association football, football competition in New Zealand. Early stages of the competition were run on a regional basis, however the structure of the competition was altered from previ ...

, making it to the 5th round before losing to Eden 1–4. They wouldn't repeat that success in the cup again until

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. Again going down in the 5th round, this time to

Glenfield Rovers Glenfield Rovers was a semi-professional football club based in Glenfield, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Isla ...

. Birkenhead started to see more success in the 2010s, with them again making the Premier Division in 2013 and they have stayed there since. They have just missed out on winning the division four times in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. The success in the local league was also replicated in the Chatham Cup, where in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

they made the quarter-finals.

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

they made the semi-finals, only losing 3–4 on penalties to

Napier City Rovers Napier City Rovers is a football team based in Napier, New Zealand, competing in the Central League. Club history The team was founded in 1973 by the merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City. Napier City Rovers have won New Zealand's premier ...

, before they finally won the cup in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, beating local rivals

Waitakere City Waitakere City was a Territorial Authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitakere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest ...

3–2 in extra time. They wouldn't have to wait very long before they won the cup again, when in the

2018 Chatham Cup The 2018 Chatham Cup (known as the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup for sponsorship reasons) is New Zealand's 91st annual knockout football competition. The 2018 competition will have a preliminary round and four rounds proper before quarter-finals, semi- ...

, they made the finals. This time they were facing Wellington side Western Suburbs and after 120 minutes the score was tied 1–1 before Birkenhead prevailed on penalties 5–4 to claim the cup for a second time in three years. In 2021, the club formed a strategic partnership with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

outfit St Mirren FC, alongside

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 ...

Season by season record

Notes

References

External links

Club website
{{Sport in Auckland Association football clubs in Auckland Association football clubs established in 1963 1963 establishments in New Zealand