Author: George Kouroumalis

South Melbourne FC is excited to announce that we have re-signed our 2015 Vice Captain Natalie Martineau for the upcoming season.

Since joining the Club three years ago, the Canadian born midfielder has impressed everyone with her exceptional work ethic and creative play. Natalie was an integral part of SMWFC’s back-to-back WPL Championships in 2014-2015 and continues to provide Coach Socrates Nicolaidis with a strong leader both on and off the park.

Speaking exclusively to SMFC TV, Natalie was excited about continuing her career as a South Melbourne player. “It has been a great three years so far and I am more than happy to extend my career here. With the recent merging of the Mens and Womens clubs to form the one club, it is a unique and exciting time for all our female players to help take South to another level. I am excited to be a part of this and I hope that we can win some more silverware in 2016.”

Newly appointed SMFC Director and Head of Women’s Football Gabrielle Giuliano was also pleased with the first acquisition of the new season. “The calibre of player Natalie is requires her to expect nothing but the best from herself and from her team. She is a professional both on and off the field and we are delighted to have her on board for the 2016 season.”

We wish Natalie all the best for the new season and look forward to seeing her in our new BLK shirt in 2016.

South Melbourne FC is pleased to announce the appointment of former player Strati Xynas as the Club’s new Technical Director for the 2016 National Premier League season.

Xynas joined South as a junior player in the Under 7s and progressed through the various age groups to eventually make a few appearances for the senior team in the mid 1980s. Whilst he was limited in senior appearances, Strati featured in South’s State League team in the 1980s. Some of the players he played with included current Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou and current FFV President Kimon Taliadoros.

After retiring from football, Xynas began to coach young and aspiring footballers. He became a Youth Coach at SMFC and also played an active role with the Middle Park Soccer Club for a few years. He became the Coaching Director at the Archie Thompson Football School and also played a leading role in the Nike Football Academy Program, which identifies some of Australia’s best football talent across the whole country.

Xynas holds an A-License and is an SMFC Life Member that has been attending matches and supporting the Club for the best part of 40 years. It is through this love of the Blue and White, combined with his coaching experience, that Strati is looking to take our Youth Program to another level, enabling SMFC to continue producing talented young players and ensuring that the SMFC brand and playing style is something that is distinct throughout each of our squads.

Speaking to smfc.com.au, Youth Director Andrew Mesourouni was excited about the appointment. “Strati is a driven, hard-working and very experienced individual that we all believe will be an asset to our club. He has only recently joined us but he has already done an excellent job in implementing our Trial and Spring Training programs. He has also started to work with Senior Coaches Chris Taylor (Men) and Socrates Nicolaidis (Women) as we prepare for the 2016 season.”

Xynas replaces the outgoing Technical Director Sean Gale, who has taken a role at Sunshine George Cross. We wish Sean all the best with his new move and welcome Strati as our new Technical Director.

South Melbourne FC is pleased to announce that Matthew Foschini has joined the Club ahead of the 2016 season.

South Melbourne FC is excited to announce that a group of our youth footballers will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to take on some of Spain’s best teams in the middle of January.

As part of the 10-day tour of Spain, SMFC will be sending two squads from (made up of 11 to 14 year olds) to participate in a range of matches against Spanish opposition. This includes our very own players being able to play against Real Madrid’s Youth teams, while also being able to train at their world class facilities in between matches as part of the partnership between both clubs.

This Monday evening at 6pm, the club will have an information session for the parents of our Under 11, Under 12, Under 13 and Under 14 boys teams. This information session will be held in the dressing rooms of the youth pavilion at Field 18.

For all information please get in touch with your coach and team manager for more information.

Go South!

South Melbourne FC is excited to announce our first signing of the 2016 summer transfer period, with former SMFC Youth Player and Hume City attacking midfielder Marcus Schroen re-joining the Club.

Schroen represented SMFC at Youth level, playing in the Under 18s and Under 20s. In 2010 and as a 17-year-old, Schroen played two senior matches in the old VPL under Club legend Vaughan Coveny before heading overseas for a two-year stint in Holland.

Since returning to Australia, short stints with Melbourne City and Dandenong Thunder in 2014 culminated in the exciting young talent signing with Hume City in 2015. The hard working attacking midfielder was one of the better players across the NPL Victoria competition in 2015, scoring on seven occasions in the League and assisting Hume City in reaching the Semi Finals. However it was his FFA Cup form which caught the attention of the wider football public, scoring for Hume against the Brisbane Strikers, Sydney Olympic and the Oakleigh Cannons, as Hume City reached the Semi Finals of the national cup competition.

South Melbourne FC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis was pleased with the new signing. “Marcus is a hard working individual who has had an exceptional 2015 season with Hume City. He is a player that we are all familiar with given his past history as a junior for our club, as well as his exceptional form in big games during 2015. We are excited to have him as part of the Seniors in 2016.”

We wish Marcus all the best for the 2016 season.

South Melbourne FC is very proud and pleased to announce that from 2016 it will be joined by all South Melbourne Women’s FC (SMWFC) teams. The result will be a model super club comprised of top level men, women, boys’ and girls’ teams.

At its Annual General Meeting last night, SMWFC resolved to transfer all its women’s and girls’ teams to SMFC. To accommodate the joining of the SMWFC teams, SMFC will make the necessary amendments to its Constitution at its forthcoming AGM to ensure that the objectives of the club provide for the treatment of men, women, boys and girls equally.

The culmination of long term discussions between sub-committees of both clubs led by SMWFC’s President, Gabrielle Giuliano and SMFC Chairman, Nick Galatas, is the comprehensive SMFC One Club Policy (Click here to read PDF). This exciting initiative brings immeasurable benefits to all our new super club’s players but in particular, it represents an unprecedented advance for women’s and girls’ football in Victoria, if not the whole of Australia. All women’s and girls’ teams fielded by SMFC will receive the same benefits which the men and boys enjoy, including access to the existing Youth Program and sharing methodologies, coaching and playing resources.

The One Club Policy means that all SMWFC teams will form part of SMFC with the Senior SMWFC women’s team becoming SMFC’s flagship female football team. It will continue to play on Lakeside Stadium and benefit from the same resources enjoyed by our senior men’s team including increased media exposure through the club’s marketing and media team, SMFC TV, smfc.com.au, email broadcasts, Facebook and Twitter.

As part of implementing its new Policy, SMFC has welcomed SMWFC President, Gabrielle Giuliano, to its Board of Directors. Gabrielle brings to the SMFC Board a wealth of experience and knowledge in the football and corporate spheres as well as valuable experience within and insights into the women’s game.

Gabrielle is the daughter of John Margaritis, who played for South Melbourne Hellas between 1961 and 1967, winning four League Championships. He also had four separate coaching stints at the Club between 1974 and 1986, winning the League Championship once and securing back-to-back Dockerty Cup triumphs as well.

With the current SMFC President, Leo Athanasakis, Chairman, Nick Galatas, and the Director, Bill Papastergiadis all having daughters playing in SMWFC teams, they have gained an intimate understanding of the operations of SMWFC which will aid the smooth transition into SMFC.

SMFC President, Leo Athanasakis, was excited at the news. He spoke exclusively to smfc.com.au.

“We are delighted to finally have the South Women’s Football teams back together, as one, with the South Melbourne Football Club. It makes complete sense for all teams to be playing under SMFC.”

“We will work hard to ensure that the Senior Women become an NPL powerhouse and hopefully one day also feature in the W-League.”

“We have some exciting, modern and innovative ideas that we are looking to bring in for 2016. We will start working on these straight away in order to ensure we are able to implement them as soon as possible.”

For all media enquires, please email the club at multimedia@smfc.com.au.

South Melbourne FC’s women confirmed themselves as one of the more successful clubs of the modern era on Sunday afternoon after winning a third Championship in five years, yet they have effectively been relegated by FFV from competing at the top level next year.

SMWFC were able to overcome a very strong Boroondara Eagles outfit by equalising twice throughout the match and holding their nerve in the penalty shootout to claim consecutive Championships. It was the final match of the Sportsmart Women’s Premier League before the new Women’s National Premier League begins in 2016.

Boroondara started the Grand Final in the best possible way by finding the back of net after only four minutes of play. Despite peppering the Boroondara goal mouth for the remaining parts of the opening half, efforts from Tiffany Eliadis and Jamie Pollock wouldn’t fall the right way for the girls in blue.

South continued to push forward at every opportunity in the second half, seeking a well-deserved equaliser. Eliadis and Pollock continued to look most likely to unlock the Eagles defence, however it was Carol Howes that produced the magic to get her side back on level terms. The remaining twenty minutes of normal time were a frantic affair, with both sides throwing everything forward in search of a winning goal to avoid extra time but there were no further goals.

South were placed on the back foot early in the extra time period, with Taryne Boudreau of the Eagles scoring a stunning 30 metre effort past the stranded Frances Land in the South goal. South continued to throw numbers forward in search of yet another equalising goal and their effort and persistence were rewarded only a minute later thanks to an own goal scored from a header by Eagles player Alex Gummer that made the score 2-2.

The second period of extra time was a tough and torrid fifteen minutes, with both teams continuing to attack at will but with many players also starting to cramp up. Boroondara almost won the Championship in dramatic fashion only seconds before the final whistle when Amy Jackson’s free kick smashed into the crossbar, before Boudreau blasted the loose ball over the crossbar when following up the free kick. This was the final chance of the game as it went to penalties.

In an epic penalty shootout, it would be skipper Alex Cheal who would capatilise on the two failed penalty attempts by the Eagles to win the match for South 5-4 on penalties and to send the girls into delirium.

Despite their success on the park, the reality quickly sunk in that both Grand Finalists may have played their final game at the top level of football in the state, with both Boroondara and SMWFC not offered one of the eight spots in the new competition next year. SMWFC and Boroondara join Bundoora United, Casey Comets (part of Southern United consortium), Caulfield United Cobras, NTC, Sandringham (part of Bayside United consortium) and South Yarra in missing out on a place in the Women’s NPL.

SMWFC is continuing to participate in mediation with FFV concerning its participation in the WNPL.

We congratulate SMWFC on their fantastic achievement and hope that they will soon be back in the top flight to defend their back-to-back Championships!

We are excited to announce that registrations are now open for trials ahead of the 2016 NPL Victoria​ Season.

Trials for the 2016 season are FREE and commence on Monday September 28th, concluding on Saturday October 10th.

Successful trialists will be informed by the club and will be asked to join the relevant squad for Spring Training, which will commence for all existing squads on October 12th 2015.

All Sub Juniors will commence Spring Training on September 1st 2015 and can register by clicking here

Click here to register 

South Melbourne FC will have the opportunity to host and accommodate Real Madrid over the next few weeks as part of their 2015 International Champions Cup tour.

On 11 May 2010, both clubs were honoured at the World Football Gala in London. Real Madrid were crowned the European Club of the Century and South Melbourne were crowned the Oceania Club of the Century. With former legendary players such as Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Iker Casillas and current player Cristiano Ronaldo, coupled with Madrid’s record ten European Cup (UEFA Champions League) victories, it was certainly an honour for South Melbourne to be in the same room with one of the giants of world football on that special night.

Ferenc Puskás (2 November 1927 to 17 November 2006) represented both Real Madrid (as a player) and South Melbourne (as a coach). The Hungarian is rated by many as one of the greatest players in the history of football. He was with Madrid from 1958 to 1966 and in that time won the Spanish First Division Championship (La Liga) in five straight seasons from 1960/61 to 1964/65, as well as the Intercontinental Cup in 1960 and the Spanish Cup in 1961/62. He won three European Cups with Real Madrid (1958/59, 1959/60 and 1965/66) and personally scored an incredible four goals as Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the 1959/60 European Cup final in Glasgow on 18 May 1960.

From October 1989 until June 1992, Puskás coached South Melbourne in the National Soccer League. He oversaw South Melbourne’s first National League Cup triumph on 25 April 1990 (4-1 against Sydney Olympic at Olympic Park), before overseeing South’s dramatic 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Melbourne Croatia in the 1990/91 NSL Grand Final (following a 1-1 draw) for the Club’s second National League Championship. Overall, Puskás managed South in 87 League matches for 46 wins, 17 draws and 24 losses, an overall winning record of 53%.

Over the past few days, SMFC Director and Major Sponsor Andrew Mesourouni (of PlastaMasta Knauf) has been in Madrid with Club Partner Morris Pagniello from the Genova International School of Football. On Sunday, Mr Mesourouni was invited to be a guest of Real Madrid and met current Manager Rafael Benitez as well as President Florentino Perez.

Mr Mesourouni’s trip has allowed South Melbourne FC to build a more formal partnership with Real Madrid, with the Club inviting Real Madrid to enjoy unlimited access to its exclusive areas and resources at Lakeside Stadium during their stay in Melbourne over the next few weeks.

South Melbourne FC would also like to confirm that as part of their newly-formed partnership with Real Madrid, both clubs will shortly be hosting a combined event that commemorates the history of both clubs. This event will also formally welcome Real Madrid to Melbourne and to its partnership with South Melbourne FC.

Speaking to smfc.com.au, Mr Mesourouni was excited about the new partnership. “Firstly, I’d personally like to thank Real Madrid and in particular Mr Benitez and Mr Perez for going out of their way to make me feel welcome at Real Madrid. As we all know, Real Madrid is one of the biggest clubs and brands in world football and to have them open their doors to South Melbourne FC is greatly appreciated.”

“It is quite exciting that as a club, we can return the favour and allow Real Madrid to use our facilities when they are in Melbourne. Building a relationship and partnership with such a huge club like Real Madrid can only be good for us, so we are more than happy to do whatever we can to look after them during their stay in Melbourne.”

“On behalf of South Melbourne FC, I would also like to thank Mr Morris Pagniello of Genova International Soccer Academy for all of his tireless work in assisting us to get to this point. Our relationship with him will also allow for a pathway to be formed, allowing many of our youth players the opportunity to play in Europe if they are good enough. We cannot wait to work with both Real Madrid and Morris over the next few weeks.”

Keep an eye on smfc.com.au and our social media channels for more exciting developments over the next few weeks and months.

South Melbourne FC wishes to inform its members, sponsors and supporters that Football Federation Victoria has confirmed the postponement of the Hume City match that was scheduled to be played at Lakeside Stadium this Sunday 19 July.

Both the Under 20s and Seniors matches will now be played on Wednesday 19 August at Lakeside Stadium.

The Under 20s will kick off at 6:15pm, with the Seniors kicking off at 8:30pm.

Please note that all 2015 SMFC Members will have access to this match by scanning their membership cards at the entrance as per normal.