Waitakere United

Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeū and The Trusts Arena.

Waitakere United

Full name	Waitakere United Football Club
Founded	2004; 21 years ago (2004)
Dissolved	2021; 4 years ago (2021)
Ground	Douglas Field at The Trusts Arena
Capacity	3,000[1]
Chairman	Peter Bult
Manager	Paul Hobson
League	ISPS Handa Premiership
2019-20	3rd
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

Chart of yearly ladder positions for Waitakere United in NZ 1st division soccer

Waitakere United was formed as a special franchise club in 2004 to play in the New Zealand Football Championship (NZFC), New Zealand's top domestic football competition. The team represented 12 member clubs from Mt Albert to the Kaipara.

In the inaugural season (2004–05) of the NZFC, Waitakere United finished runners-up to the champions Auckland City but they followed up with a very disappointing 6th place in the next season. In the following season, however, Waitakere finished as NZFC premiers but lost in the grand final once again to Auckland City FC 3–2.

Due to the withdrawal of Vanuatu's Port Vila Sharks, Waitakere was given a berth in the inaugural OFC Champions League, for 2007, as NZFC premiers. They finished atop their group, edging out Auckland City and New Caledonia's AS Mont-Dore.^[2] They went on to defeat Ba FC of Fiji in the final, becoming the first OFC-League champions.^[2] Commins Menapi scored a crucial away goal that proved the difference as the tie finished 2–2 in aggregate. Taking this championship qualified United to compete in the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, where they lost in the 'play-in' match to Sepahan 1–3.^[3]

Waitakere United defended their championship in capturing the 2007–08 OFC Champions League, defeating Kossa in the final 6–3 in goal aggregate. During this season, Douglas Field was under extensive renovation forcing Waitakere United to play most of their home fixtures at Fred Taylor Park in Whenuapai.

Waitakere had a notable rivalry with neighbours Auckland City. With the change of structure of football in New Zealand at the start of 2021, and the creation of the new New Zealand National League,^[4] this saw the end of Waitakere United, and consequently the end of the Auckland Derby.^[5]

Honours

National

• New Zealand Football Championship
  • Champions (5): 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
  • Premiers (5): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13
• ASB Charity Cup
  • Champions (1): 2012

International

• OFC Champions League
  • Champions (2): 2007, 2007–08

Youth team

• ASB National Youth League
  • Champions (2): 2008, 2011

Performance in OFC competitions

• OFC Champions League: 7 appearances

Best: Champions in 2007 and 2007–08

2007: Champions

2007–08: Champions

2008–09: 2° in Group A

2009–10: Finalist

2010–11: 2° in Group B

2011–12: 2° in Group A

2012–13: Finalist

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2007[6]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Auckland City	2–2	2–2	1st
			Mont-Dore	6–1	3–0
		Final	4R Electrical Ba	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
2007–08[7]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Auckland City	1–1	1–0	1st
			Mana-Ura	2–1	1–1
		Final	Kossa	5–0	1–3	6–3
2008–09[8]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Auckland City	1–3	2–2	2nd
			Port Vila Sharks	3–0	3–2
2009–10[9]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Auckland City	1–1	2–2	1st
			Magenta	4–1	1–1
			Manu-Ura	2–0	5–1
		Final	Hekari United	2–1	0–3	2–4
2010–11[10]	OFC Champions League	Group B	Auckland City	1–1	0–1	2nd
			Magenta	2–1	1–1
			Tefana	3–1	1–3
2011–12[11]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Tefana	10–0	0–3	2nd
			Ba	4–0	2–3
			Mont-Dore	4–0	1–0
2012–13[12]	OFC Champions League	Group B	Auckland City	1–3	1–0	1st
			Dragon	0–0	1–0
			Mont-Dore	3–1	3–2
		Semi-finals	Amicale	2–1	2–0	4–1
		Final	Auckland City	1–2
2013–14[13]	OFC Champions League	Group A	Pirae	1–3	3rd
			Solomon Warriors	1–1
			Kiwi	2–0

FIFA Club World Cup History

FIFA Club World Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result	Scorers
2007	Play-off	Waitakere United 1 – 3 Sepahan	Loss	Aghily 74' (o.g.)
2008	Play-off	Waitakere United 1 – 2 Adelaide United	Loss	Seaman 34'

Current squad

As of 23 January 2021

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Nick Draper 2 DF  KOS Regont Murati 3 MF  NZL Jack Duncan 4 DF  NZL Robert Dymond 6 MF  NZL Dane Schnell 7 FW  NZL Alex Connor-McLean 8 MF  ESP Gerard Garriga 9 FW  NZL Angus Kilkolly 10 MF  NZL Sam Burfoot (captain) 11 MF  NZL Alex Grieve 12 MF  NZL Hayden Aish

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  NZL Zac Zoricich 15 DF  NZL Leon van den Hoven 17 FW  NZL Joshua Redfearn 18 FW  CHI Nicolas Zambrano 19 DF  FIJ Mohammed Khan 20 DF  NZL Nicolas Milicich 21 DF  NZL Andrew Cromb 21 DF  NZL Dylan Hobson 22 GK  NZL Elliot Munford 23 MF  ENG Dawson Straffon 24 MF  NZL Nathan Lobo — MF  NZL Oscar Browne

Staff

• Goalkeeper coach: Kevin O'Leary

Managers

• Chris Milicich (2004–05)
• Steve Cain (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007)
• Chris Milicich (1 July 2007 – 30 June 2009)
• Neil Emblen (1 July 2009 – 30 June 2012)
• Paul Marshall (1 July 2012 – 30 June 2013)
• Paul Temple & Brian Shelley(1 July 2013–15)
• Chris Milicich (2015 – 2019)
• Paul Hobson (30 November 2019 – Present)