APIA Leichhardt FC

Nicknames	Tigers,Marronazzuri
Founded	1954 (71 years ago) (1954)
Ground	Lambert Park Leichhardt, New South Wales Leichhardt Oval Lilyfield, New South Wales
President	Tony Raciti
Coach	Franco Parisi (men's)
League	NPL NSW (men's)
2025	2nd of 16 (champions)
Website	apialeichhardt.football
Home colours Away colours

APIA Leichhardt FC (/ɑːpiəlaɪkɑːrt/AH-pee-ə lye-KART), also known simply asAPIA (Italian:Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana,lit. 'Italian Australian Multisport Association'), is asemi-professionalsoccer club based in the suburb ofLeichhardt inSydney, New South Wales (NSW). Its senior men's and women's teams play in theNational Premier Leagues NSW (NPL) andNSW Women's, in the second tier of theAustralian league system. It plays its home games at bothLambert Park andLeichhardt Oval. With Wests Ashfield, the club also co-ownsWests APIA FC, a foundation club in theAustralian Championship.

Founded in 1954 by theItalian Australian community in Sydney'sInner West, APIA was one of the charter members ofFootball NSW, and competed in its first division, where it won four NSW titles. On the national stage, the club appeared in four straightAustralia Cup finals from 1964 to 1967, winning one, and subsequently joined the burgeoningNational Soccer League (NSL) in 1979. It played fourteen seasons in the league, during which it won a championship, and twoNSL Cups. Facing financial troubles, APIA exited following the 1991–92 season, and returned to NSW's first division, where it has remained since. Its women's team suffered a relegation in 2013, though eventually regained promotion to the first division in 2020.

APIA's honours include seven NSW men's titles, one women's title, sixWaratah Cups, and twoSapphire Cups. Its best performances in the modern-dayAustralia Cup are quarter-final appearances in2018 and2021. It also reached the NPL's national semi-finals in2017.

The club was founded as the Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana ("APIA") in 1954 by members of theItalian-Australian community in Sydney's Inner West. After several years in the Canterbury District competition, the club joined the NSW Federation's state league.^[1]

In the 1960s APIA became one of the foremost soccer clubs in Australia and won the Premiership of NSW of the years 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1975, which was the highest level of achievement in the absence of a national competition. Between 1966 and 1974 APIA also won three times the State Cup of NSW, then named after a sponsorAmpol Cup. The 1974 final was considered "one of the most incredible finals" of the history of the club when skipperJimmy Rooney and centreforwardPeter Ollerton, who scored five goals, won 9–1 against Auburn in front of a crowd of 5210 atWentworth Park, the highest finals result ever.^[2]

Rooney and Ollerton were also in the team that represented Australia a few months later in its firstWorld Cup participation in Germany.

In 1979 APIA was given access to theNational Soccer League, the top tier of Australian soccer since 1977. In 1987 APIA won the national championship, six points ahead of thePreston Makedonia Soccer Club from Melbourne, with then only two points awarded per win. The coach in that season wasRale Rasic.Charlie Yankos andPeter Katholos are probably the best known players from that side. The main cast of that year consisted of Tony Pezzano; Charlie Yankos,Arno Bertogna, Mark Brown,Jean-Paul de Marigny, Peter Tredinnick,Peter Katholos, Edward Lorens, Hilton Phillips, Gary Ward, Rod Brown and Tony Parison. In 1988 APIA won the National Soccer League Cup. By 1992 the APIA Leichhardt was overwhelmed by financial difficulties. The club was somewhat restructured and forthwith played on state level with the moniker "Tigers."^[3][4][5]

In 2017, APIA won theNational Premier Leagues NSW premiership, but lost the grand final toManly United FC on penalties. APIA also made the grand final of the2017 Waratah Cup, but lost 3–1 toHakoah Sydney City East FC.

In 2018, APIA won the2018 Waratah Cup.^[6] On 21 August 2018, APIA defeated reigningA-League championsMelbourne Victory FC in the Round of 16 of the2018 FFA Cup, becoming the seventh state-league side to beat a top-tier team in the knockout tournament.^[7] The result was billed as one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history.^[8]

APIA won theNational Premier Leagues NSW Grand Final with a 2–1 victory over Sydney United in 2019.^[9] This was the first final ever played at Bankwest Stadium.

When the Football Federation Australia repealed its controversial National Club Identification Policy, which effectively banned clubs from having ethnic identities APIA dropped the "Tigers" moniker and reverted to its original badge.^[10]

The club was announced on 20 November 2023, as one of the eight foundation teams for theAustralian Championship, due to start October 2025. They will continue to play in the NPL NSW for the 2024 & 2025 season, before transitioning to the new league.^[11]

Lambert Park in Leichhardt is the club's traditional home ground. It was opened in 1954 and has, over the years, been used for most of the club's home games. It is still APIA's main ground and hosts all of the club's NPL matches. APIA has also hosted home games at a number of other venues, includingWentworth Park,Henson Park^[12] and, most notably,Leichhardt Oval, whereAustralia Cup ties against high-profile teams have typically been hosted.^[13][14]

Updated October 2025.^[15][16]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  AUS Anthony Bouzanis 2 MF  JPN Seiya Kambayashi 4 DF  AUS Joshua Symons 5 DF  CAN Dredon Kelly 6 DF  AUS Patrick Flottmann 7 FW  AUS Jack Stewart 8 MF  AUS Franco Farinella 9 FW  AUS Presley Ortiz 11 FW  AUS Rory Jordan 12 DF  AUS Oscar Gonzalez 14 MF  AUS Max Court 15 DF  AUS Themba Muata-Marlow 16 FW  AUS Sean Symons

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  AUS Jordan Segreto 18 MF  AUS Adrian Ucchino 19 MF  AUS Fabian Monge 20 GK  AUS Alex Parkes 21 DF  AUS Michael Kouta 22 MF  AUS Eddie Caspers 24 DF  AUS Cameron Fong 29 MF  AUS Maksim Kasalovic 30 FW  AUS Alex Denmead 36 MF  AUS Jensen Vout 41 DF  AUS Nick Azzone — MF  AUS Domenico Costanzo 80 GK  AUS Oliver Kalac 99 MF  AUS Franco Farinella

Correct as of 14th August 2025

SourceOzFootball

• APIA Leichhardt FC Women's

Correct as of 10th August 2025

• National Premier Leagues NSW
  • Premiers (6): 1964, 1966, 1967, 1975,2017,2023
  • Runners-Up (11): 1959, 1960, 1963, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1997,2002–03,2015,2018, 2019
• National Premier Leagues NSW Grand Finals^{[broken anchor]}
  • Championships (7): 1964, 1965, 1969, 1976, 2002–03, 2019, 2025
  • Runners-Up (7): 1959, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1975, 2017, 2018,
• Waratah Cup
  • Winners (6): 1962, 1966, 1975,2013,2018,2024
  • Runners-Up (4): 2006,2012,2017, 2023
• Johnny Warren Cup
  • Winners (1): 2007
• Ampol Cup
  • Winners (3): 1966, 1970, 1974

• National Soccer League
  • Champions (1): 1987
  • Premiers (1):1987 National Soccer League
• Australia Cup
  • Winners (1):1966
  • Runners-Up (3):1964,1965,1967
• NSL Cup
  • Winners (2):1982,1988

• National Soccer League Coach of the Year (1)
  • Rale Rasic - 1987

• NPL NSW Premier League Player of the year (5)
  • George Blues - 1970
  • Terry Butler - 1978
  • Franco Parisi - 2015
  • Sean Symons - 2017
  • Tasuku Sekiya - 2018
• NPL NSW Premier League Coach of the Year (2)
  • Franco Parisi - 2023
  • Danial Cummins - 2017
• Robbie Slater Award (1)
  • Sean Symons - 2019
• NPL NSW Premier Leagues Golden Boot (9)
  • Jordan Murray (23) - 2018
  • Blake Powell (21) - 2015
  • Robert Younis (21) - 2008
  • Paul Ollerton (17) - 1975
  • Paul Ollerton (18) - 1974
  • John Giacometti (22) - 1967
  • John Giacometti (20) - 1966
  • John Giacometti (21) - 1965
  • John Watkiss (24) - 1964
• NPL NSW Goalkeeper of the Year (2)
  • Ivan Necevski - 2023
  • Anthony Bouzanis - 2024
• NPL NSW Goal of the Year (1)
  • Blake Powell - 2015

• Official website
• Oz Football Profile
• NPL NSW Fixtures & Results

• National Premier Leagues clubs
• National Soccer League (Australia) clubs
• National Premier Leagues NSW
• Association football clubs established in 1954
• 1954 establishments in Australia
• APIA Leichhardt FC
• Italian-Australian backed sports clubs of New South Wales
• Australian Championship

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• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Use dmy dates from January 2021
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