National Soccer League

The National Soccer League (NSL) was a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. It had 28 seasons and existed from 1977 until 2004, when it was replaced by the A-League. It was run by Soccer Australia.

The NSL was actually one of Australia's oldest nationwide sports leagues, being older than the Australian Football League (AFL) in Australian rules football^[a] and the National Rugby League (NRL) in rugby league.

Clubs

Throughout its history, the NSL had 42 teams, 41 based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. In all 28 seasons, 13 clubs have won the grand final at least once.

While the clubs were not restricted to people of a certain background, many of the teams had strong connections to multicultural communities in Australia. Many of the clubs were founded by migrants from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia, and one club was founded by the Jewish community.

Throughout its history, clubs came from Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra/Queanbeyan, Melbourne, Morwell, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Wollongong.

Team	Location	Also called	Years in the NSL	Total NSL seasons	NSL Honours[1]	Current status	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
Adelaide City	Adelaide	Adelaide Juventus Adelaide City Giants Adelaide City Zebras Adelaide (City) Force	1977–2003	27	1986, 1991–92, 1993–94 National Soccer League 1979, 1989, 1991–92 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues South Australia	768	321	194	253	1134	913
Adelaide United	Adelaide		2003–2004	1		A-League	28	13	7	8	34	35
APIA Leichhardt	Sydney	Leichhardt Strikers	1979–1992	14	1987 National Soccer League 1982, 1988 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues NSW	371	135	104	132	462	471
Blacktown City	Sydney		1980–1981 1984–1986 1989–1990	7		National Premier Leagues NSW	181	51	39	91	222	328
Brisbane City	Brisbane	Azzurri Brisbane City Gladiators	1977–1986	10		National Premier Leagues Queensland	266	75	72	119	292	407
Brisbane Lions	Brisbane	Hollandia	1977–1986 1988	11		A-League as Brisbane Roar National Premier Leagues Queensland as Queensland Lions	294	92	79	123	362	442
Brisbane Strikers	Brisbane	Brisbane United	1991–2004	13	1996–97 National Soccer League	National Premier Leagues Queensland	358	129	79	150	506	539
Brunswick Juventus	Melbourne	Brunswick Pumas Melbourne BUSC Melbourne Zebras	1984–1988 1993–1995	7	1985 National Soccer League	Victorian State League Division 3 as Brunswick Zebras	180	67	37	76	207	251
Canberra City	Canberra	Canberra City Arrows Canberra City Olympians	1977–1986	10		National Premier Leagues Capital Football	266	79	67	120	335	394
Canberra Cosmos	Canberra		1995–2001	6		Defunct	176	35	40	101	216	362
Canterbury-Marrickville	Sydney	Canterbury-Marrickville Olympic	1986	1		NSW League One as CanterBury-Bankstown FC	22	2	7	13	17	41
Carlton	Melbourne		1997–2001	4		Defunct	104	45	24	35	168	127
Collingwood Warriors	Melbourne		1996–1997	1	1996–97 NSL Cup	Defunct	26	6	9	11	32	41
Football Kingz	Auckland (NZ)	Auckland Kingz	1999–2004	5		Defunct	135	38	27	70	182	265
Footscray JUST	Melbourne	Footscray Eagles Melbourne City JUST	1977–1989	13		Defunct	346	100	96	150	379	502
Green Gully	Melbourne	Green Gully Ajax	1984–1986	3		National Premier Leagues Victoria	72	17	18	37	74	103
Heidelberg United	Melbourne	Fitzroy United Heidelberg Alexander	1977–1987 1989 1990–1995	17	1992–93, 1996–97 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues Victoria	451	160	122	169	595	651
Inter Monaro	Canberra-Queanbeyan		1985–1986	2		National Premier Leagues Capital Football as Monaro Panthers	44	10	11	23	47	80
Marconi	Sydney	Marconi-Fairfield Marconi-Datsun Leopards Marconi Stallions	1977–2004	28	1979, 1988, 1989, 1992–93 National Soccer League 1980 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues NSW	786	356	186	244	1293	986
Melbourne Knights	Melbourne	Essendon Lions Melbourne Croatia Melbourne CSC	1984–2004	21	1994–95, 1995–96 National Soccer League 1994–95 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues Victoria	579	248	130	201	877	779
Mooroolbark	Melbourne	Mooroolbark United	1977	1		Victorian State League Division 2	26	5	5	16	31	61
Morwell Falcons	Morwell	Gippsland Falcons Eastern Pride	1992–2001	10		Latrobe Valley Soccer League as Falcons 2000	254	66	69	119	265	403
Newcastle Breakers	Newcastle	Newcastle BHP Breakers	1991–1994 1995–2000	9		Defunct	225	62	63	110	276	365
Newcastle KB United	Newcastle	Newcastle United Newcastle KB Raiders	1978–1984	7		Defunct
Newcastle Rosebud United	Newcastle	Adamstown Rosebuds	1984–1986	3	1984 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues Northern NSW as Adamstown Rosebud
Newcastle United	Newcastle		2000–2004	4		A-League as Newcastle Jets
Northern Spirit	Sydney		1998–2004	6		National Premier Leagues NSW as NWS Spirit FC	174	62	32	80	223	284
Parramatta Eagles	Sydney	Parramatta Melita	1984 1989–1995	7	1990–91, 1993–94 NSL Cup	NSW League Two as Parramatta FC	185	61	53	71	212	235
Parramatta Power	Sydney		1999–2004	5		Defunct	147	68	23	56	250	204
Penrith City	Sydney		1984–1985	2		Defunct	50	12	16	22	53	76
Perth Glory	Perth		1996–2004	8	2002–03, 2003–04 National Soccer League	A-League	242	138	46	58	484	286
Preston Lions	Melbourne	Preston Rams Preston Makedonia	1981–1993	13		National Premier Leagues Victoria 2	347	121	101	125	442	424
South Melbourne	Melbourne	South Melbourne Hellas South Melbourne Gunners South Melbourne Lakers	1977–2004	28	1984, 1990–91, 1997–98, 1998–99 National Soccer League 1989–90, 1995–96 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues Victoria	791	378	183	230	1260	917
St George Saints	Sydney	St George-Budapest	1977–1980 1982–1991	14	1983 National Soccer League	NSW League One	371	135	103	133	516	520
Sunshine George Cross	Melbourne		1984–1991	8		National Premier Leagues Victoria 3 as Caroline Springs George Cross	202	56	51	95	229	320
Sydney City	Sydney	Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Sydney City Slickers	1977–1987	11	1977, 1980, 1981, 1982 National Soccer League 1986 NSL Cup	NSW League One as Hakoah Sydney City East	273	155	66	52	529	273
Sydney Olympic	Sydney	Pan-Hellenic Sydney Olympians UTS Olympic Olympic Sharks	1977–1979 1981–2004	27	1989–90, 2001–02 National Soccer League 1983, 1985 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues NSW	770	325	192	253	1124	963
Sydney United	Sydney	Sydney Croatia Sydney CSC Sydney United Pumas	1984–2004	21	1987 NSL Cup	National Premier Leagues NSW	576	239	144	193	762	721
West Adelaide	Adelaide	West Adelaide Hellas West Adelaide Hawks (West) Adelaide Sharks	1977–1986 1989–1990 1991–1999	19	1978 National Soccer League	National Premier Leagues South Australia	511	170	105	236	634	780
Western Suburbs	Sydney		1977–78	2		Amalgamated in 1979 with APIA Leichhardt	52	20	13	19	79	74
Wollongong Macedonia	Wollongong	Wollongong United Illawarra Lions	1990–1991	1		Illawarra Premier League as Wollongong United	26	3	9	14	23	53
Wollongong Wolves	Wollongong	Wollongong City	1981–1986 1988–2004	23	1999–2000, 2000–01 National Soccer League	National Premier Leagues NSW	632	211	166	255	867	966

Source:^[2]

Notes

1. The AFL existed as the Victorian Football League (VFL) long before the NSL was created, but it only included Victorian clubs until 1982, when the Sydney Swans joined the VFL. It was renamed the AFL in 1990 after it expanded into other states.