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Sydney Festival of Football
Founded2010
RegionAustralia, Europe and United Kingdom
Number of teams4
2010 Sydney Festival of Football

The Sydney Festival of Football was an association football friendly tournament competition hosted by A-League club Sydney FC in 2010, held in Sydney and funded by the Events NSW department of the New South Wales Government.

It was intended to be an annual event, with Sydney FC contracted as the Australian side for 3 years, but poor attendance from Sydney FC fans caused the even to make a loss and plans for future tournaments were scrapped. The event has not been held since and no plans have been made to revive the competition.

The first and only tournament to take place so far occurred from 25–31 July 2010, contested by English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers, Rangers from the Scottish Premier League and AEK Athens from the Greek Super League, who eventually won the tournament.[1]

History

The idea of an international club tournament hosted by Sydney FC was first brought up soon after the 2009-10 A-League season in which Sydney FC took out the Premiership & Championship. Sydney had been keen to participate once more in the Pan-Pacific Championship however due to unknown reasons the 2010 edition was not played. At the time it was revealed that they would be playing Everton, however rumors floated around a pre-season tournament between Sydney FC, Blackburn Rovers, Rangers and Argentinian giants Boca Juniors.[2][3] However this fell through when it was announced that Boca Juniors would only be playing Melbourne Victory[4] and Wellington Phoenix[5] on their tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Soon afterwards it was rumored that Greek Super League club AEK Athens would be going to Australia to play a friendly in either Sydney or Melbourne, due to their large Greek communities. It was announced on 4 June 2010, that the tournament would be held between 25–31 July.[6][7] The announcement was made by New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally, Sydney FC CEO Edwin Lugt, as well as Sydney FC players Terry McFlynn and Liam Reddy with manager Vitezslav Lavicka.[1]

Results

Year Venue Winner Runner-up 3rd place 4th place
2010 SFS, Sydney Greece AEK Athens England Blackburn Rovers Scotland Rangers FC Australia Sydney FC

References

  1. ^ a b Sydney FC to face Blackburn, Rangers and AEK
  2. ^ Hassett, Sebastian (10 May 2010). "Boca, Rangers line up for Sydney FC". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  3. ^ Smithies, Tom (10 May 2010). "Sydney FC's international extravaganza". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Victory to play Boca Juniors". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Phoenix to play pre-season in Hamilton". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Sydney FC to face three European teams". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  7. ^ Sydney FC To Host AEK, Rangers And Blackburn Rovers In July
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