 | |||
| Founded | 28 August 2008 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground | Coplicks Family Sports Park (North) | ||
| Owner | Sports Gold Coast[1] | ||
| League | NPL Queensland | ||
| 2023 | 3rd of 12 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
| |||
Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast United senior teams competed in the Brisbane leagues until the club disbanded after the 1979 season, allowing Broadbeach United Soccer Club to form its first senior team in 1980 at the same grounds.
Twenty-eight years later the club was revived and was officially announced as a professional expansion team for the A-League's 2009–2010 season on 28 August 2008. It was the second bid accepted by the league, with an unrelated bid known as Gold Coast Galaxy FC preceding it. The club was owned by Clive Palmer, the wealthiest man in Queensland, until the FFA took over the club's A-League licence in February 2012.
In their first two A-League seasons Gold Coast had strong on-field performance with a pair of top four finishes and playing in the finals, albeit without qualifying for a Grand Final. Their 3rd and final season saw the club's performance collapse as they finished last, and their attendance dropped from their 5,500 average to just under 3,300 people per game, making them the lowest attended team.[2] On 29 February 2012, the FFA revoked Palmer's Gold Coast United A-League licence. The governing body had been in conflict with Palmer over a variety of license breaches, controversial statements, sacking the coach, giving a 17 year old a professional debut & appointment as the match day Captain, and his decision to implement a "crowd cap" that closed most of the stadium. The club finished out the season and were shut down shortly after with their place in the competition taken by the hastily formed Western Sydney Wanderers FC.[3]
On 3 August 2017, it was announced that they would be joining the National Premier League Queensland to compete in both Men's and Women's competitions.[4]
- ^ "Riches to rags: The rebirth of Gold Coast United, Australia's most ridiculed team". 26 March 2018. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
- ^ "A-League expansion assured as tycoon agrees to fund Gold Coast". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 May 2008. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
- ^ "A-League revokes Gold Coast licence". Herald Sun. Melbourne. 29 February 2012.
- ^ "Gold Coast United back from the dead". Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.