 | |
| Organising body | CSA Australia Savez |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1974 |
| Region |
|
| Number of teams | Varies |
| Current champions | Sydney United |
| Most successful club(s) | Sydney United (11 titles) |
| Website | croatian.savez |
The Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament, also known as Croatian Soccer Tournament[1][2] (Croatian: Hrvatski nogometni turnir[3]) is an annual tournament run by the Croatian Soccer Federation of Australia and New Zealand, an organisation founded in 1974. The inspiration for the tournament came from the successful examples in North America with the Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament founded in 1964 and West Coast Croatian Soccer Tournament founded in 1973.
The Tournament kicked off in 1974 with a trial event staged in Melbourne where six soccer clubs participated at Melbourne Croatia's ground, Montgomery Park in Essendon. Only six clubs participated. The Tournament's beginning was spawned from Melbourne Croatia's expulsion from the Victorian Soccer Federation in 1972, with the clubs leadership including Tony Vrzina and Josip Solic together with Mirko Furjanic, the now Honorary President of the Tournament, being instrumental in getting the Tournament established.
The first official Tournament was staged in 1975, hosted by Sydney Croatia and won out by Canberra FC who defeated Sydney Croatia 3–1 in the Final. The Tournament has gone on to become the largest and oldest ethnic football tournament in Australia, having been hosted in every state and territory except for the Northern Territory. It also holds the honour of being the oldest national soccer competition still running in Australia.
Melbourne Knights and Sydney United are the only two clubs to hold Life Membership to the Australian Croatian Soccer Federation due to their pioneering in the early days in establishing the Tournament, as well as their success on the national footballing stage.