Dandenong Thunder FC is a

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 from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria or NPL VIC) is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer league syst ...

. In 2012, Dandenong claimed the famous treble of the

Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...

Minor Premiership, the

Football Federation Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for association football, soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the n ...

State Knockout Cup and the VPL championship.

History

The club was founded by Albanian migrants in 1970 as South Dandenong. Some of the club's founders were Qamil Rexhepi, Amet Coca, Shaban Musa, Hamz Veseli and others. The club sometimes had the additional name Prishtina added to support the 1981 student protests campaigning for Kosovan independence in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

Fadil Muriqi Fadil Muriqi (Serbo-Croatian: Fadilj Murići / Фадиљ Мурићи; born 17 November 1959) is a former Yugoslav footballer of Kosovar Albanian descent who is best known for his time with Prishtina during the 1980s as part of the "Golden Ge ...

, a prominent 1980s soccer midfielder from Kosovo played at the club. Club membership is mainly composed of

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

with origins from Kišava (), a village in south-western

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. The committee of Dandenong Thunder, an influential organisation among Dandenong Albanians has it stipulated in the club constitution that only individuals with Albanian origins can be on its board. The grounds of Dandenong Thunder host the Qamil Rexhepi Cup, named after one of the club's founders Qamil Rexhepi and is played annually in January between local Albanian Melbourne based soccer clubs. Club grounds are also used by Albanians for community events and other functions, often organised by the local Albanian-Australian Community Association. The club logo is the Albanian double-headed eagle from the

Albanian flag The flag of Albania () depicts a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center of a red background. The red stands for bravery, strength, valour and bloodshed, while the Eagle – traditionally the symbol of Albanians – represents the so ...

. Dandenong Thunder is primarily backed and supported by Albanian Australians living in Melbourne.

Early years

South Dandenong started competing in the Victorian District League East Division, which was the 6th tier of

football (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 ...

in Victorian Football Pyramid. They played in the Provisional leagues until merging with Richmond United, and played under that name for the 1987 season in the 8th tier Provisional League Division 3. The following season, they were renamed back to South Dandenong and started the rise through the divisions. By 1992 they had reached State League Division 3, and from 1994 they continued their rise managing to get promotion to a higher level each year until they reached the

, the highest level in Victoria, in 1998.

2000–2013

South Dandenong returned to the

in 2001 but were relegated again as the season ended. At the end of the 2000 season, South Dandenong underwent a name change, becoming Dandenong Thunder for the 2001 season. They spent the next seven seasons in the

Victorian State League Division 1 The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

. The Club began spending more on players in 2007, bringing in Veton Korcari from Richmond SC and Louis Brain, a former

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

player for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

and were promoted from State League 1 in 2008. Thunder surprised everyone in their return to the top flight, clinching the 2009 Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership with a lead of 12 points. Thunder managed to go undefeated for the first 15 rounds of the season, taking their running total to 31 games undefeated, stretching back to Round 5 of the 2008 season. Individual player achievements included youngster Jack Hingert being selected to play for A-League side

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from th ...

and Joey Di Iorio winning the golden boot. Despite their season long domination, Thunder eventually lost the Grand Final to Altona Magic SC on penalties. In the 2012 season, Thunder managed a famous treble, the first in their history. They won the Victorian State Knockout Cup, beating Port Melbourne Sharks in the Grand Final on penalties, the Minor Premiership and the Championship, beating Oakleigh Cannons 2–1 in the Grand Final at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the suburb of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victor ...

. This was their first ever VPL Championship.

National Premier Leagues Victoria

In late 2013, the club had their bid for a place in the

accepted and competed in the top tier of the NPL Victoria in 2014. Thunder placed 9th in the 14 team league in 2014. Young winger Matthew Millar was the club's top goalscorer with seven goals, also winning the NPL Rising Star award. In 2015, Thunder slashed its budget in an attempt to reduce club debt, and replaced many higher earners with young and inexperienced but talented players. Then manager Dean Hennessey also departed, joining Hume City, and the club brought in

Stuart Munro Stuart David Munro (born 15 September 1962 in Falkirk) is a Scottish former professional football player, who is best known for his time with Rangers. Munro was signed from Alloa Athletic and made his top team debut for the Rangers against Dunde ...

as the new head coach. The season didn't go to plan, though, with the team struggling to put together good performances. Relegation was confirmed in Round 25, when the side lost 3–0 to

North Geelong Warriors North Geelong Warriors Football Club, formerly known as North Geelong Croatia, is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club from the regional Victoria (Australia), Victorian city of Geelong. The club currently competes in the ...

. In the off-season, Thunder named Huss Skenderovic as the coach for the 2016 NPL1 season, and announced the signings of former

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under North American professional sports leag ...

player

Kristian Sarkies Kristian Ronald Sarkies (born 25 October 1986 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian footballer who plays for Sandringham SC in the Victorian Metropolitan League 1. He grew up in Dingley Village, a suburb in Melbourne's South-East 10 kilome ...

, former Socceroo

Simon Colosimo Simon Colosimo (born 8 January 1979) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a centre back and defensive midfielder. He spent two years playing in Europe with spells in the Premier League with Manchester City and in the Belgian Fir ...

and English striker Brandon Barnes. Dandenong Thunder opened its NPL2 East campaign with 15 consecutive wins, before a 3–3 draw against NPL2 West leaders Whittlesea Ranges. On 14 April, Dandenong were deducted three league points after being found guilty by the Football Federation Victoria tribunal of fielding ineligible player Amir Osmančević in Round 1, where he should have sat out through a suspension accumulated the previous season while at his previous club. Thunder's first loss of the season came in Round 21, when it unexpectedly went down to Box Hill United 2-1. Thunder lost three more games in the final seven games of the season, leading to Kingston City winning the league title on the final match day of the season. Dandy's second place finish meant it went to the NPL2 promotion playoff, facing

, whom they had beaten 2–0 at

Elcho Park Elcho Park is a soccer facility located on Gibbons Road in Lara, Victoria, a northern suburb of Geelong. It is owned privately by the Australian Croatian Soccer Association Geelong. The tenants of the facility are National Premier Leagues Victo ...

earlier in the season. Despite going into the clash as favourites, Thunder went down 4–1, North Geelong condemning the side to NPL2 soccer for the second season running. At the end of season awards night, Thunder marksman Barnes took out both the league Top Goalscorer, with an NPL2 record 41 goals, and league Best and Fairest awards. Dandenong Thunder lost senior head manager Huss Skenderović as he joined

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's Association football, soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently ...

to become the

side's head W-League and National Youth League coach. Thunder began its preparations for 2017 by appointing Italian Giuseppe Anastasi as its new head coach for the 2017 NPL2 East season. Thunder had to change coaches just a few weeks later, as Anastasi was unable to travel to Australia due to family reasons. Dandenong reacted by appointing Gianfranco Impellizzeri to the helm. The race to promotion from NPL2 East was contested for most of the season between Thunder and neighbours

Dandenong City SC Dandenong City Soccer Club, commonly as Dandenong City Hajduk and formerly known as Chelsea Hajduk, is an Australian soccer club based in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria. The club's home is at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex in the s ...

. Led by Barnes, who scored 35 goals in 28 games, winning the league golden boot again, Thunder achieved promotion by taking out the NPL2 East title. Despite promotion, Thunder and Impellizzeri parted ways in the off-season and the club appointed Andy Vargas as the new head manager. Thunder started the 2018 NPL season with four consecutive losses, including an embarrassing 9-0 loss to South Melbourne at home. Thunder won six of its next nine games and pulled itself well clear of the relegation zone. On 7 June 2018, Veton Korcari ceased playing with Thunder to take up the recently vacated coaching role. Korcari had been a long-serving and well regarded player at Thunder. Thunder finished the season in 8th place with Barnes taking out the league golden boot for the third season running, scoring 22 goals. In 2019, Thunder avoided automatic relegation on the final day of the home-and-away season with a 4-1 win over

Melbourne Knights FC Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Victoria, Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, t ...

. The result sent Thunder to the promotion-relegation playoff, where they defeated FC Bulleen Lions at

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the suburb of East Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victor ...

1-0 through a Barnes goal. Barnes finished 3rd in the league Golden Boot race, scoring 19 goals. After the season, it was announced that Barnes would be leaving the club after scoring 119 goals in 116 games. A week later, it was announced that head coach Korcari would also be leaving the club by mutual consent.

Current squad

As of July 2025

Previous players

See: Dandenong Thunder FC players

Honours

*2017– NPL Victoria 2 Champions *2012– Victorian Premier League Premiers *2012– Victorian Premier League Minor Premiers *2012– Dockerty Cup Winners (FFV State Knockout Cup) *2009– Victorian Premier League Minor Premiers *2008– Victorian State League Division 1 Runners-Up *2000– Victorian State League Division 1 Champion *1997– Victorian State League Division 1 Champion *1996– Victorian State League Division 2 Runners-Up *1995– Victorian State League Division 3 Runners-Up *1991– Victorian State League Division 4 Runners-Up *1990– Victorian Provisional League 1 Champion *1989– Victorian Provisional League 2 Runners-Up *1988– Victorian Provisional League 3 Champion

Individual honours

*2016– NPL2 Best and Fairest: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Players' Player of the Year: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Golden Boot: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Goalkeeper of the Year: Fraser Maclaren *2014– NPL Rising Star Winner: Matthew Millar *2012– Jimmy Rooney Medalist: Nate Foster *2012– Jimmy McKay Medalist: Shane Rexhepi *2012– Victorian Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year: Stuart Webster *2012– Victorian Premier League Coach of the Year: Chris Taylor *2012– Victorian Premier League Leading Goal Scorer: Luke Sherbon *2012– Bill Fleming Media Award Player of the Year: Luke Sherbon *2009– Victorian Premier League Coach of the Year:

*2009– Victorian Premier League Leading Goal Scorer: Joe Di Iorio

Top goal-scorers

*2017– Brandon Barnes 35 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2016– Brandon Barnes 41 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2015– Yusuf Ahmed 11 goals *2014– Matthew Millar 7 goals *2013– ''Unknown'' *2012– Luke Sherbon 21 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2011– Luke Sherbon 14 goals *2010– Jamie Reed 6 Goals *2009– Joe Di Iorio 18 Goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2008– Ryan Davidson 11 Goals *2007– Veton Korcari 10 Goals (Runner up in the league) *2006– Ryan Davidson 9 Goals *2005– Leon Buhic 9 Goals *2004– Veton Korcari 9 Goals *2003– Miles Tidd, Joey Di Iorio 11 Goals *2002– Alfonso Opazo 10 Goals *2001– Boris Ovcin 4 Goals *2000– Victor Korkaric 17 Goals *1999– Nick Van Egmond, Billy Wright 7 Goals *1998– Pino Corallo, Reshat Mezensof 11 Goals *1997– Billy Wright 28 Goals (Top scorer in the league) *1996– Billy Wright 30 Goals (Top scorer in the league) *1995– Billy Wright 27 Goals (Joint Top scorer in the league) *1994– Billy Wright 22 Goals (Top scorer in the league)

Club Champion Award

*2012 – Luke Sherbon *2011 – Shane Rexhepi *2010 – Levent Osman *2009 – Levent Osman *2008 – Levent Osman

References

External links

Official Website Club History (archived)
{{AUS fb state Vic Dandenong Thunder FC National Premier Leagues clubs National Premier Leagues Victoria Soccer clubs in Melbourne Association football clubs established in 1970 1970 establishments in Australia European-Australian culture Dandenong, Victoria Diaspora sports clubs in Australia Sport in the City of Greater Dandenong