2010's

2010

New coach Vaughan Coveny brought in some fresh faces over the summer, with Daniel Vasilevski, Marinos Gasparis and Joe Keenan all arriving at Lakeside. Carl Recchia, Peter Zois and James Stefanou also joined for their second stints at the club. After comfortably getting through the group stage of the Hellenic Cup, South overcame VPL outfits Northcote City and Heidelberg United in the Quarter and Semi Finals. In the final against the newly-promoted Bentleigh Greens, South were the stronger team but could not find a way through as the match reached a goal-less stalemate and went to a penalty shoot-out. Despite having two chances to win, South failed to take advantage and eventually the Greens won 5-4. The League season began slowly for South, with three draws in the opening three matches before a wonder goal by Fernando De Moraes gave South its first win in round four against Green Gully. South farewelled Lakeside Stadium in round 6 in the 1-1 draw with Heidelberg United before relocating to Northcote City's John Cain Memorial Park whilst Lakeside began redevelopments. Gianni De Nittis became only the ninth South player in history to score four goals in a League match when South defeated Hume City 0-6 at Broadmeadows Valley Park on ANZAC Day to retain the ANZAC Day Cup. 

In May, South were awarded Oceania's Club of the 20th Century in a glamourous event in London. President Leo Athanasakis, Major Sponsor George Parthimos, Board Member Tony Margaritis and Club legends Jim Armstrong and Paul Trimboli were all present to accept the award as South were recognised along with Real Madrid and Penarol as being the best club in their confederation. Also in May, the team travelled to Singapore to play Gombak United in the opening round of the RHB Singapore Cup after being invited to participate in the Cup by the Football Association of Singapore. Goals by Daniel Vasilevski and Joseph Youssef gave South a historic 2-1 victory and a date against Thailand's Bangkok Glass FC in the Quarter Final in October. The highs of Singapore were quickly forgotten as South returned to League action and struggled to get consistency going. South finally hit form again in late July and went undefeated in the final five League matches of the season, but tragically fell a single point short of a finals appearance. 

Eddie Krncevic took over as coach at the close of the League season, with this being his second stint as South coach following coaching the club in the 2001/02 National Soccer League season. Krncevic brought in several new players and promoted youth players from the highly successful Under-21s team that won the League so convincingly during the season, in preparation for the two matches against Bangkok Glass FC in Singapore. Despite losing the first leg 1-3, South rallied in the second leg to be leading 2-1 and then 3-2, before a late goal from Bangkok ensured the Thai team progressed. Bangkok ended up winning the tournament, so Krncevic and his young side could at least be proud that they were highly competitive against the eventual Cup champions. Fernando De Moraes capped off a magnificent season by winning the Golden Boot and the Theo Marmaras Medal, whilst Club volunteers George Kouroumalis and Michael Dimoudis were both awarded the Sam Papasavas Medal for their outstanding contributions to South Melbourne FC. Another positive story was Gus Caminos' Under-21s side winning their league.

2011

South won two trophies in pre-season, winning the Thrifty Cup against South Hobart in Tasmania before defeating Heidelberg 2-1 in extra time in the Hellenic Cup final. Big things were expected by Eddie Krncevic's side in the Premier League season, which began strongly as the Club was on top of the League after eight rounds. Disaster then struck when South experienced two disastrous 5-0 losses at the hands of Hume City and Northcote City, as well as injuries and suspensions of key players such as Carl Recchia and Jesse Krncevic. Coach Krncevic used the mid-season transfer window as an opportunity to bring in some more players. In the midst of the topsy-turvy Premier League campaign, South defeated Yarraville Glory 14-0 to progress through to the Fifth Round of the inaugural Mirabella Cup where it crashed to an embarrassing 1-2 defeat against high-flying State League One side Port Melbourne. Four days later the side was in Singapore as it crashed out of the Singapore Cup, following a spirited yet unrewarding 0-3 loss against Albirex Niigata. 

The positive of elimination from Cup football was that the focus was solely on the Premier League. The players turned their form around with key wins in the final few rounds of the season and gained the point necessary against Northcote City in the final round to qualify for the finals series. A tough Elimination Final against old foe Heidelberg was won thanks to a Jesse Krncevic penalty as well as a double-save from goalkeeper Zaim Zeneli from ex-South man Hamlet Armenian's penalty in the final moments of the match. This set up a Semi Final against Oakleigh, where the Cannons scored the winning goal in the final minute of normal time to eliminate South from the finals series. 

Post-season, the Club decided not to re-appoint Eddie Krncevic as coach for season 2012. It was a difficult season for a number of reasons, following the departure of key past players in Rama Tavsancioglu and Gianni De Nittis, coupled with the fact the Club played the entire season away from Lakeside Stadium and due to the number of injuries and suspensions during the year. This resulted in 33 players making at least one appearance for South in either Premier League, Mirabella Cup or Singapore Cup competitions. A huge positive was Gus Caminos' Under-21s side recording back-to-back Championships following a 2-1 victory over Northcote on the final day of the season.