Auckland FC

Auckland Football Club is a professional football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that will compete in the A-League Men, the top flight of Australian soccer, from the 2024–25 season. Established on 14 March 2024 as Auckland FC, the club is under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues. The club's home ground is Mount Smart Stadium in Penrose and adopts an electric blue and black home kit.

Auckland was given an A-Leagues licence under its chosen owner Bill Foley in November 2023 as part of the third tranche of expansion of the competition.

History
In March 2023, the Australian Professional Leagues confirmed plans for the next two expansion clubs to be based in Canberra and Auckland ahead of the 2024–25 season. In October 2023, the preferred bidder as owner of the new Auckland licence was confirmed to be Bill Foley, with the licence officially awarded on 21 November. Speaking at the time of the license awarding in November 2023, Foley stated there "was a lot of work to do" to determine the name and logo for the club and that he was "not wedded to any name at this point", despite expressing a personal preference for "Black Knights".

On 14 March 2024, the club officially announced its name, logo and inaugural home kit at its headquarters in Auckland. The name was announced as Auckland FC and a stripe kit that featured electric blue and black as its main colours. The kit was manufactured by New Balance. The nickname was unveiled to be "Black Knights" which is associated with several clubs that Foley owns and refers to the nickname of the United States Military Academy. On the same day of the announcement, the club revealed Terry McFlynn as its director of football, and Steve Corica as its inaugural head coach. Auckland FC announced four player signings, the first before the 2024–25 season, in May.

Club badge and colours
The club colours are electric blue and black, associated with the traditional royal blue of Auckland. The crest features an A in its centre to symbolise the city, representing Rangitoto Island and the Sky Tower. The black knight visor and stripes represent the club's owner Black Knight Sports & Entertainment. The club's short name AFC is displayed on the crest.

Stadium
Mount Smart Stadium is set to be the first home stadium of Auckland FC for the 2024–25 season. Foley stated that the ground would be used for a "few years" before construction of a new 20,000 seater venue to be built on the Auckland waterfront. The club also announced North Harbour Stadium as their training base due to scheduling issues with National Rugby League side New Zealand Warriors, who has played at Mount Smart Stadium since 1995.

Before the establishment of Auckland FC, Wellington Phoenix was named the home side in Auckland and played matches at North Harbour Stadium and Eden Park. The club played their last match in Auckland on 16 March 2024 against Sydney FC at Eden Park. Football Kingz, the first Auckland club to play in Australia, also named North Harbour Stadium and Mount Smart Stadium as their home ground before dissolving in 2004 due to finance. The New Zealand Knights replaced Football Kingz in the 2005–06 season of the A-League and played at the same ground. The Knights folded in the 2006–07 A-League season after the club's licence was removed from the Football Federation Australia (FFA) due to insolvency.

Supporters and rivalries
The Port are a supporters' group associated with Auckland FC. The club also have a supporters' pub located in The Chamberlain, Auckland CBD.

As the third Auckland-based club to compete in the top flight of Australia, succeeding from Football Kingz and New Zealand Knights, Auckland will share a rivalry with Wellington Phoenix, who have been the only New Zealand club in the A-League Men since the 2007–08 season.

Ownership
The owner of Auckland FC, Bill Foley, is a businessman and general partner of Black Knight Football and Entertainment. Under Black Knight, Foley is an owner of English football club AFC Bournemouth and the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League in the United States. He is a minor shareholder of football clubs FC Lorient and Hibernian. After the unveiling of Auckland FC on 14 March 2024, Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray, co-founder of Zuru, were announced as co-owners of the club. Williams is a former professional rugby union player and represented the New Zealand national team as a lock. In June 2024, Tim Bezbatchenko was appointed president of Black Knight.

Auckland FC Women and Academy teams
Auckland FC announced on 14 March 2024 that a women's football team would enter the 2025–26 season of the A-League Women with a youth team to act as an academy for the men and women squads. As director of football, Terry McFlynn will manage player and coach recruitment for both sides.