Canberra City Football Club, also known for some time as the Canberra Arrows, is a semi-professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT). It currently participates in the

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for soccer in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affiliated clubs based in surrounding areas of New South Wales. It i ...

s Division One competition and competed 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 ...

from 1977 to 1986.

National Soccer League

Canberra City entered the new national competition for the inaugural season in 1977 as the only team representing the ACT. In its first season, home games were played at

Manuka Oval Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka, Australian Capital Territory, Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating ...

which had the honour of hosting the first ever NSL match when City were defeated 3-1 by

West Adelaide SC West Adelaide Soccer Club is an Australian association football, soccer club currently playing in State League South Australia, South Australian State League 1. Traditionally named Hellas, the club was founded by members of the Greek Australian, ...

in front of a crowd of 1,550. In 1978 the club moved to the newly constructed

Bruce Stadium Canberra Stadium, commercially known as GIO Stadium Canberra, is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sp ...

. Canberra remained competitive throughout its tenure in the league, but had limited success being unable to reach the finals series in any season. The most successful seasons were in 1981 with a fifth-placed finish, and in 1985 finishing sixth in the Northern Conference, missing out on the finals series on goal difference to

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

. A restructure of the national league for the 1987 season saw Canberra relegated to the NSW State League. Statistics by Season The Australian National Soccer League
(Pld)=Games Played, (W)=Wins, (D)=Draws, (L)=Losses, (GF)=Goals For, (GA)=Goals Against, (Pts)=Points, (Nth)=Northern Conference

Back to the ACT Premier League

Canberra City dropped into the NSW State League Division One for the 1987 season, and finished runners-up to

Wollongong Wolves FC Wollongong Wolves Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, the second-tier of Australian soccer ...

, they also then lost the Finals Series 2-1 to the Wolves. The Wolves returned to the NSL, whilst City withdrew to join ACT football. In the early 1990s Canberra City men achieved considerable Premiership success and more recently won the Federation Cup in 2005 under the coaching guidance of an ex player from the 1980s era, Steve Bryant. Also in 2005, Canberra City Premier League Women won just about everything on offer under the guidance of 2005 Women's Coach of the Year,

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfath ...

. Canberra City has close links with one of Canberra's largest junior organisations the

Gungahlin United FC Gungahlin United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Canberra district of Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory, ACT. Gungahlin currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football with home matc ...

. After relegation from the National Premier Leagues Capital Football in 2014, Canberra City currently find themselves in the

s Division One, the third level of football in the ACT.

Notable players

:'' :Canberra City FC players'' * Steve Hogg *

Harry Williams (Australian soccer player) Harry Williams (born 7 May 1951) is a former soccer player. He was the first recognised Indigenous Australian to play for the senior Australian national football team, the Socceroos. He was part of Australia's 1974 FIFA World Cup squad. Earl ...

Frank Farina Frank Farina Order of Australia, OAM (born 5 September 1964) is an Australian Association football, football (soccer) coach and former player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. His playing career spanned Australia, Belg ...

Ian Callaghan Ian Robert Callaghan (born 10 April 1942) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He holds the record for most appearances for Liverpool. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in th ...

Jimmy Cant Jim Cant (born 24 September 1953) is a former soccer player who played in the Scottish and Australian national leagues. Born in Scotland, he played at international level for Australia. Playing career Club career Cant signed for Hearts Of Midl ...

Ian Gibson (footballer, born February 1956) Ian Gibson (born 3 February 1956) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a striker. Football career Gibson began his professional career at the Scottish Highland League club Nairn County. He then moved to Aberdeen in 1975, making hi ...

Ian Purdie Ian Purdie (born 7 March 1953 in Bellshill) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a winger. He started his professional career at Aberdeen before moving on to Dundee and then Motherwell. Following a disagreement with his manager at Mot ...

Peter Marinello Peter Marinello (born 20 February 1950) is a Scottish former footballer. Career Hibernian Marinello started his career at Hibernian, and could play either as a centre forward or right winger. He was regarded as being talented enough there that ...

Tom Sermanni Thomas Dorby Sermanni (born 1 July 1954) is a Scottish football manager and former professional player, who mostly works in women's football. He has previously managed the Australia women's national team across three stints (1994–1997, 2005� ...

Duncan Cole Duncan Edward Cole (12 July 1958 – 21 May 2014) was a New Zealand association football player who represented New Zealand at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. His senior career began with North Shore United before he moved to Australia to j ...

Richard Wilson (footballer, born 1956) Richard Hardie Wilson (born 8 May 1956) is a retired New Zealand association football player, who was a goalkeeper during the country's first successful campaign to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, in 1982. His international career spanned fr ...

* Tony Henderson

Notable managers

Johnny Warren John Norman Warren, MBE, OAM (17 May 1943 – 6 November 2004) was an Australian soccer player, coach, administrator, writer and broadcaster. He was known as ''Captain Socceroo'' for his passionate work to promote the game in Australia. The a ...

* Pat Caggiano * Matt Moore * George Murray * Nick Palagyi */ Nick Tsakiris

References

{{AUS fb state ACT Association football clubs established in 1977 National Soccer League (Australia) clubs National Premier Leagues clubs Soccer clubs in Canberra 1977 establishments in Australia