Category: News

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 wishes to announce the signing of Jason Hicks ahead of the 2016 National Premier League season.

The 25 year old midfielder arrives at Lakeside Stadium from the Wellington Phoenix, where he played 30 League matches and scored two goals. Previous to his time at the Phoenix, Hicks played for several clubs in New Zealand as well as Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He is a player that can play in various attacking positions on the park.

Although he is a New Zealander, Hicks was born in England and represented the English Under 17s before switching to play for New Zealand at Under 23 level. He made his senior international debut for New Zealand off the bench in the 0-0 draw against South Africa on 30 May 2014.

Hicks will join the likes of Steve Wooddin (1981-1983), Grant Turner (1982), Vaughan Coveny (1995-2006 & 2009) and James Musa (2014) as players that have represented both South Melbourne and New Zealand at senior international level.

SMFC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis was delighted with the signing. “Jason is an experienced player who has done quite well at a higher level and will give us a versatile option throughout the front third of the park, whether that is just behind the strikers or as a wide player in a supporting role. He trained with the club throughout the latter part of 2015 and has already settled well as part of the playing group. We are excited to have him join us.”

We welcome Jason Hicks to Lakeside Stadium and wish him all the best in 2016.

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 pleased to announce that its former goalkeeper Zaim Zeneli has returned to the Club ahead of the 2016 NPL season. He will be a direct replacement for young goalkeeper Fraser MacLaren, who has moved to Dandenong Thunder seeking greater game time.

Zeneli made his SMFC debut in the 2-1 win against the Oakleigh Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve in March 2011 and assumed the number one goalkeeping spot for most of that season. In August that year, he made a memorable penalty save deep into injury time as ten-man South Melbourne defeated Heidelberg United 1-0 in the Elimination Final at SS Anderson Reserve. Overall he made 19 League appearances (21 across all competitions) in 2011 before leaving the club.

Zeneli spent the 2012-2015 seasons at the Dandenong Thunder and enjoyed immediate success there under current SMFC coach Chris Taylor. Although he was second-choice goalkeeper in the League fixtures in 2012, Zeneli played in Thunder’s Dockerty Cup fixtures as they reached the Cup Final. He again made another big penalty save as the Thunder beat Port Melbourne 5-4 on penalties.

From 2013, Zeneli established himself as the number one goalkeeper at the Thunder. In 2016, he will be compete with Nikola Roganovic for the number one goalkeeping spot at SMFC, however the 26 year old is looking forward to the healthy competition. “Nikola had a great 2015 season so it’s now up to me to try and claim the number one spot next season.”

He is also looking forward to linking up with Taylor and some former teammates at Lakeside Stadium. “Tim Mala, Iqi Jawadi, Matty Theodore and Nick Epifano were some of my former teammates at Dandenong, so I think it won’t take me long to settle back into the environment at South Melbourne.”

“I’m happy to be back and I hope to play my part in bringing more success to Lakeside Stadium in 2016.”

SMFC Football Director Nicholas Maikousis was happy to see Zeneli back at Lakeside. “Zaim is a fantastic addition to the squad. Just like Marcus Schroen, he is an individual who has performed well in the NPL throughout 2015 and is also someone who is quite familiar with the club already given his previous stint. We look forward to seeing him in our colours once again”

We welcome Zaim Zeneli back to the Club and wish him well in 2016.

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.

The Under 13s took on the highly rated Whittlesea Ranges at ABD Stadium on Sunday in the NPL Grand Final. Perfect weather conditions, the large main pitch and vocal supporters welcomed the boys as they made their way on to the ground. A spirited performance resulted all the way through to the final minute however Whittlesea was too strong running out victors by two goals.

Whittlesea were a physically stronger and larger team however the speed of the South boys provided opportunities through the midfield to press forward in attack. The defence was consistently bombarded with long balls booted up the pitch and the back four did well to cover  and clear their lines. On one such occasion Whittlesea striker Giovanni Stellitano broke through and made his way into the left side of the area. His shot was deflected by South keeper Marcus Ellul but the ball still found its way into the net.

South continued to attack throughout the first half with Ethan Rosemond consistently stretching the Ranges defence down the right flank. Opportunities were tough to come by and an amazing run by Weeam Zeitoune as he rounded four defenders presented the best of them.

The second half began positively however after just two minutes Whittlesea found themselves forward in numbers. A run down the left took the ball almost to the by-line before being cut across the face of goal. Ata-Khan Cetin was hovering near the back post and his tap in doubled the lead for Ranges and sparked excited celebrations for the boys in red.

Our squad didn’t drop their heads and would have done the Clarendon Corner proud with their efforts of ‘South Melbourne right till the end’. It wasn’t to be however and Whittlesea Ranges secured the title as 2015 NPL Under 13 Champions.

South Melbourne coach Brian MacNicol spoke to smfc.com.au after the match saying “I thought our boys did very very well. It just came down to Whittlesea being a little bit more physical and stronger than us, a bit more developed. I was proud of the boys and the performance they put in today. ”

Reflecting on the season overall MacNicol said “We have developed into a very good footballing side. Today in patches we played very well and the boys will continue to develop. I think there are certainly some future players for the South first team that were out there today. Billy and Yianni were both Under 12s and got promoted into the Under 13s halfway through the season. They have developed well and we continue to develop all our young boys for the future.”

Under 13 Captains Corban Baker told smfc.com.au “We played well as a team but didn’t go in hard enough. They just outplayed us today.”

There is little rest for the squad as they are back on the pitch for 2016 Selection Trials this week, then straight into Spring  training in preparation for a tournament in Shepparton in just a few weeks time.

After the match, the South Melbourne FC squad were presented with their NPL Grand Final runners-up medal, their NPL East Champions medal and the club pennant for winning the NPL East Championship.

The South Melbourne FC Under 13s wrapped up the NPL East title with a few rounds to spare. Four days out from a Grand Final against a dominate Whittlesea Ranges, coach Brian MacNicol bought in friend and former NSL player and now race horse trainer Manny Gelagotis to talk to the boys about personal accountability, preparation and working hard.

At dusk on Thursday evening at Albert Park, the squad were introduced to Gelagotis for a bit of a chat. At first glance Gelagotis seemed an odd choice however his playing history and current experience in the horse racing industry delivered highs and lows that would reinforce the value of preparation and hard work as well as personal responsibility.

Gelagotis spent six years at the Gippsland Falcons as a player and as the club’s Development Officer. In the fourteen years since his time at the Falcons came to an end in 2001, Gelagotis has continued to run his own restaurant business as well as being a core component of the families Moe-based horse racing business.

His opening message to the successful playing group was the premise they are old enough now to understand what their aspirations and football dreams should be. They are growing in maturity and have the responsibility to work hard and be diligent in their approach to football and family life – be good kids , work hard , encourage each other and focus on the job in hand.

Gelagotis spoke on the importance of supporting and encouraging each other even when things are difficult, to ensure they won their personal positions on the field, to not have any regrets for the weekend and to prepare like little professionals to ensure they have no excuses. If they delivered on that with confidence, the rest will take care of itself. Focus very hard on training and to train the way you play.

“Experiences such as playing in a Grand Final, at such a young age and for a big name club like South Melbourne FC would invaluable in these boys lives. The players are a great group and I reinforced to them the main thing is to make sure they respect their family, their parents, their team mates and their coach for what they do for them. Carry that respect into this week’s game with passion and desire to give themselves every chance of ultimate success” Gelagotis told smfc.com.au.

The Under 13 squad had a very successful season in the NPL East under the guidance of coach Brian MacNicol. The squad won 29 of 34 matches with an impressive 113 goals, conceding just 20 and finishing 19 points clear at the top of the table on 90 points. Talking to smfc.com.au, MacNicol said “I am really impressed and proud of all the players, both as individuals and as a team. It was a mixed group who came together at the start of the season and they have grown together in skill level, tactics and teamwork. They deserve their success throughout the year.”

On Sunday the team will walk on to the main ABD Stadium pitch at Broadmeadows Valley Park for the NPL Youth Gala Day. The NPL Grand Finals brings together the winners from the East and West conference against each other throughout the day. South Melbourne FC will take on Whittlesea Ranges and despite our very successful season, we will go into the match as underdogs.

Whittlesea Ranges have had a dominant season in the NPL Under 13 West. They went through the season undefeated, with 27 wins from 28 matches. They found the net 149 times and conceded just 14 goals.

The Grand Final for the NPL Under 13s kicks off at 10:20am.

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!