Canberra Olympic FC

Canberra Olympic FC is an Australian semi-professional Association football club based in the suburb of O'Connor in the north of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The club was founded in 1956, and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football.

Canberra Olympic FC
Full nameCanberra Olympic Football Club
Nickname(s)Olympic
Founded1956
GroundO'Connor Enclosed
Capacity1,000
Coordinates35°15′39″S 149°7′25″E
PresidentJohn Efkarpidis
Head CoachRobbie Cattanach
LeagueNPL ACT1
20206th
WebsiteClub website

History

Olympic was founded in the early 1950s by the local Greek community of Canberra. Formally the name Olympic was decided in a General Meeting of players and committee members in 1956 with the alternative name AEK losing out in the vote.[1]

Olympic have won the ACT top division league (premiership) on seven occasions under the names Canberra Olympic, Olympic and Downer Olympic. The most recent title was the NPL Capital Football premiership in 2017.[2]

In addition to this, Olympic have won six grand finals (championship). The most recent being 2016 NPL Capital Football Grand Final, defeating Canberra FC 3-0 at Deakin Stadium in front of 2,782 people.[3]

In 1980, as Downer Olympic, the club won their closest premiership ahead of Croatia Deakin (now Canberra FC) by one goal. After 21 games both clubs finished on 32 points and had scored 53 goals with Olympic claiming the title on the back of their superior defence with the side conceding only 16 goals compared to Deakin's 17.[4]

Canberra Olympic have succeeded in winning the premiership and championship 'double' three times in the club's history in 1993 1994 and 2016. In 1993, Olympic won the premiership by three points ahead of Southern Cross while they beat the same opposition in the grand final on penalties 8-7.[5] In 1994, Olympic finished first in the league ahead of Tuggeranong United while they beat Tuggers in the grand final 3-1.[6]

In 2016, Canberra Olympic won the premiership by three points ahead of Cooma FC, while they beat Canberra FC 3-0 in the Grand Final.

On 18 June 2016, Canberra Olympic qualified for their first FFA Cup with a 3-1 victory over Cooma FC in the 2016 ACT Federation Cup final, played at Deakin Stadium.[7]

Canberra Olympic advanced to the 2016 FFA Cup semi finals as the last remaining NPL club in the cup that year, before being defeated by A-League side Sydney FC 3-0 at Viking Park in front of a ground record 5,581 crowd.[8][9] On the way to the semi finals Olympic advanced past Surfers Paradise Apollo SC 1-0 (round 32),[10] Redlands United FC 2-0 (round 16)[11] and Green Gully SC 1-0 (quarter finals) at Deakin Stadium.[12]

In 2017, Canberra Olympic won the premiership by 11 points ahead of the FFA Centre of Excellence, only losing one game during the regular season.

In 2017, Canberra Olympic qualified for their second successive FFA Cup with victory over Tuggeranong FC in the 2017 ACT Federation Cup final, played at Deakin Stadium.

Canberra Olympic lost their 2017 FFA Cup Round of 32 play off to Sorrento FC in Perth 1-0.[13]

Club identity

Colours and crest

Olympic's primary colours of blue and white reflect the club's Greek heritage as it shares the colours of the Greek national flag. Olympics alternative colours are red and white. The club's crest is a traditional shield of white with a blue trim encompassing the club's name, location and the Olympic torch and rings.

Club name

The club was founded as Olympic Soccer Club in 1956 by the local Greek community which settled in Canberra. in 1973 the club changed its name to Downer Olympic before changing it back to simply Olympic in 1991. Finally, in 1997 the club changed its name to Canberra Olympic, which it has retained as its name since that point.

Club Name Changes
# Name From To
1 Olympic 19561972
2 Downer Olympic 19731990
3 Olympic 19911996
4 Canberra Olympic 1997Current

Current squad
As of 15 March 2020 [14][15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  AUS Rory Larkin
2 DF  AUS Nick Faust
3 DF  AUS Aisosa Ihegie
4 DF  AUS Dimitrios Paraskos
7 DF  AUS Lasse Olrik
9 FW  AUS Nik Popovich
10 FW  AUS Stephen Domenici
11 MF  AUS Michael Reeve
14 FW  AUS Dylan Aitolu
15 MF  AUS Adam Forner
16 MF  AUS Jordan Cachia
17 DF  AUS Daniel Linstead
18 DF  AUS Michael Southam
20 GK  AUS James Christis
21 FW  AUS Michael Piccolo
23 DF  AUS Daniel Sparrow
24 FW  AUS Jay Kelly
35 MF  AUS Sebastian Woods
40 GK  AUS Angelo Konstantinou
45 DF  AUS Hristijian Tanoski
98 MF  AUS Joshua Calabria

Coaching staff

All the Canberra Olympic NPL men's and women's team staff for the 2019 season.

As of 3 February 2019 [16]
Men
PositionName
Head Coach Robbie Cattanach
Assistant Coach Nyegosh Popovic
U23 Coach Victor Yanes
U18 Coach Ben Rolfe
U16 Coach Ante Ujdur & Mark Markezic
U14 Coach Danny Milczarek
U13 Coach Adam Kaufhold
Women
PositionName
Head Coach Andrew Woodman
Assistant Coach Nicole Begg
Reserves Coach Katrina Alexander
U17 Coach Carlos Albert
U15 Coach Samantha Montenegro
U13 Coach Dave Ruberto & Matthew Cachia

Honours
Premiers (7): 1975, 1980, 1993, 1994, 2006, 2016, 2017
Champions (6): 1958, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2013, 2015, 2016
Winners (6): 1979, 1981, 1983, 1997, 1999, 2016, 2017

Season-by-season results

The below table is updated with the statistics and final results for Canberra Olympic FC following the conclusion of each National Premier League Capital Football season.

Champions Runners-up Third Place
Canberra Olympic Season-by-Season Results
Season National Premier League ACT NPL
Finals		 Fed
Cup		 FFA
Cup		 Top scorer
GP W D L GF GA GD PTS League Finals Name Goals
20132313644725+22453rdChampions-QF-Mark Shields19
2014168354128+13273rdSemi-final-SF-Mark Shields15
2015167453821+17255thChampions-QF-Philippe Bernabo-Madrid10
20161815035016+3445PremiersChampionsQFWSFPhilippe Bernabo-Madrid10
20171815216622+4447PremiersRunner-upQFWR32Stephen Domenici28
20181611054021+19332ndRunner-up-QF-Michael John12

References
  1. "Our History". www.canberraolympic.com.au. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  2. "A.C.T Champions". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  3. "PS4 NPL: Olympic win back-to-back Grand Finals". Capital Football. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  4. "ACT Division One 1980". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  5. "ACT Division One 1993". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  6. "ACT Division One 1994". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  7. Hall, James (18 June 2016). "Canberra Olympic to play on national stage in FFA Cup". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  8. "Canberra Olympic v Sydney FC". Football Federation Australia. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  9. "FFA Cup: Sydney FC beats Canberra Olympic 3-0 at Viking Park in first Cup semi-final". ABC News (Australia). 21 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  10. Helmers, Caden (3 August 2016). "FFA Cup: Canberra Olympic move into the Round of 16 with win over Surfers Apollo". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  11. Helmers, Caden (24 August 2016). "FFA Cup: Canberra Olympic through to the quarter-finals with defeat of Redlands". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  12. Hall, James (28 September 2016). "FFA Cup: Canberra Olympic stun by reaching semi-final". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  13. "Canberra Olympic's FFA Cup dream crushed in round of 32". The Daily Advertiser. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  14. "Canberra Olympic squad". www.sportstg.com. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  15. "Premier League - Players". www.canberraolympic.com.au. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  16. "Men's Coaches". www.canberraolympic.com.au. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
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