The Western Sydney Wanderers FC is a football club which has been established to represent Western Sydney since April 2012.
The constitution of the club preserves its founding principles of “for the people of western Sydney, by the people of western Sydney”.
The official club logo incorporates the key elements of the Western Sydney landscape; the mountains, valleys and winding river system that run throughout the region.
The badge captures the unity and intertwined multicultural community that the Wanderers represent.
The home jersey, comprised of the classic red & black hoop jersey with white shorts and black socks, provides Western Sydney Wanderers FC with a distinctive identity in the Australian sporting landscape.
Dubbed “Australia’s newest, oldest club” in respect to the long history of football in the region, the Western Sydney Wanderers have, through their name, a linkage to the first ever game of football played in New South Wales on 14 August 1880 between the King’s School and the Wanderers in North Parramatta.
The club was wholly owned by Football Federation Australia for its start-up phase from 2012 till 2014.
During that period an independent Board of Directors and Management ran the Club with Lyall Gorman, former head of the Hyundai A-League, taking up the position as the Club’s inaugural Chairman.
On 17 May 2012 former Socceroo and proud Western Sydney native Tony Popovic was appointed as the Club’s Head Coach putting together a team in under four months who would go on to be crowned Premiers in their debut season, which included a record 10-match winning streak and 14-match unbeaten run.
On 1 July 2014 the Club license was officially transferred from Football Federation Australia to a consortium of owners headed by Primo Group CEO Paul Lederer and includes Director of Sabre Sports United Jefferson Cheng, Pirtek director and head of international business, Glenn Duncan, and David Slade, a partner in the Australian arm of the UK retail chain Topshop-Topman.
Under the new structure, Lederer was appointed Chairman of the Western Sydney Wanderers while John Tsatsimas took up the role of the Club’s first CEO following his role as General Manager of Football and Chief Operating Officer since the Club’s inception.
That same year the club qualified for the Asian Champions League and went on to defy the odds by defeating some of the powerhouses of Asian football.
The Wanderers made history by becoming the first Australian club to win the Asian Champions League after defeating Al-Hilal.
On 4 September 2015 Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres announced that a new 30,000 seat rectangular venue will be constructed on the site of the existing Parramatta Stadium, the home of the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Wanderland 2.0 will be reopened by the NSW State Government in 2019 and will be a world-class rectangular football venue.
On 30 March 2016 the Wanderers announced that they will play out of ANZ and Spotless Stadium until the reopening of their new home.
Prior to the start of the 2017/18 Hyundai A-League season Tony Popovic departed the club to pursue an overseas opportunity following five successful seasons at the Wanderers which included three Hyundai A-League Grand Final appearances, a Premiers Plate and the 2014 AFC Champions League Trophy.
Josep Gombau was appointed the club’s new head coach on 1 November 2017, the same day as the Wanderers Champions League anniversary.
The club parted ways with Gombau at the end of the 2017/18 season.
On 19 May 2018, Markus Babbel was named the new head coach of the club.
The former German international (51 caps), Bayern Munich and Liverpool defender joined the club with a rich coaching pedigree following successful spells at FC Luzern in Switzerland and in Germany with Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart.
Following the departure of Babbel in January 2020, assistant coach Jean-Paul de Marigny was named interim head coach and in July 2020 was named head coach before his departure in October 2020.
The Wanderers appointed Carl Robinson as head coach in October 2020 along with his assistant Kenny Miller on a three-year deal.
Robinson, a former Wales international, and Miller, a former Scotland international, gained a strong reputation in the A-League on their arrival in Australia notching up seven wins and three draws in their first 11 matches.
