2024 Auckland City FC season

Pre-season

Auckland City began their preseason fixtures with a 1–0 loss to Birkenhead United at the Croatian Cultural Club.^[1] The following day the club announced the signing of former England youth international Joe Ridley.^[2][3]

On 21 February 2024, City got their first win of pre-season, defeating West Coast Rangers 3–1 at the Croatian Cultural Club.^[4] City grabbed their second win in the same week with a 3–2 win over Eastern Suburbs after being two behind at half time.^[4]

City finished their pre-season with a 2–0 win over Manurewa on 2 March 2024.^[5]

Northern League

The league fixtures were announced on 1 March 2024.^[6] City play the season opener against local rivals Auckland United in the Dominion Road Derby,^[7][8] and finish the season away at Melville United.^[9]

City had a strong start to the season winning their first 5 games, conceding just 6 goals.^[10][11] In their round 9 fixture against Bay Olympic that was brought forward, they suffered their first Northern League defeat since 2022 in what was Albert Riera's 100th game in charge.^[12][13][14]

National League

City qualified for the National League on 7 August after beating Birkenhead United 3–1.^[15] After beating Coastal Spirit 5–1 in the final round City finished second and qualified for the Grand Final.^[16] The Navy Blues won the Grand Final after beating Birkenhead United 2–1 after extra time.^[17]

Chatham Cup

As a Northern League side, City received a bye to Round 2 of the Chatham Cup.^[18] The Navy Blues were drawn at home to NRFL Championship side Metro in Round 2.^[19][20]

After downing Metro 5–0 in Round 2, City were drawn at home to fellow Northern League side Hamilton Wanderers in Round 3.^[21][22] City beat Hamilton 2–1 thanks to goals from Liam Gillion and Angus Kilkolly.^[23]

In Round 4 City were drawn away to NRFL Southern Conference leaders Cambridge.^[24][25][26] The Navy Blues were able to overcome Cambridge with a 4–1 win qualifying for the quarter-finals.^[27]

City were drawn away to Southern Premier League side Otago University in the quarter-final draw.^[28] The Navy Blues won the match 5–1, after the match was delayed when the floodlights went out less than a minute after kick-off.^[29][30]

In the semi-finals, City were drawn home to fellow Northern League side Birkenhead United.^[31][32] In the match, City defeated Birkenhead 4–2 after extra time to qualify for their second Chatham Cup final.^[33][34]

Auckland City were drawn away to Wellington Olympic, where the match was played at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.^[35][36][37] After a goalless first half, Wellington Olympic took the lead in the 77th minute through an own goal from Nathan Lobo. Stipe Ukich scored an equalizer in the 6th minute of injury time to take the game to extra time. After extra time the score was left unchanged at 1–1. The Navy Blues lost 5–4 on penalties after Tong Zhou's penalty was saved.^{[38][39][40][41]}

OFC Men's Champions League

Auckland City qualified for the 2023 Grand Final on 4 November 2023 after their National League win vs Petone. As the two finalists qualify for the OFC Men's Champions League play-offs this meant they also qualified for the 2024 OFC Men's Champions League.^[42][43] Wellington Olympic qualified on 10 November 2023 after Christchurch United lost to rivals Cashmere Technical. This meant Auckland City would face Wellington Olympic in the National play-offs.^[44][45]

The draw for the group stage took place on 17 January 2024 at OFC Home of Football in Auckland, New Zealand. The winner of the play-off between City and Wellington Olympic would face the play-off winners from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji in Group A.^[46][47]

Auckland City announced their Champions League squad on 8 March 2024.^[48]

City started their competitive fixtures off with a 1–0 win over Wellington Olympic in the first league of the National play-offs. Stipe Ukich came off the bench to put City in front after 72 minutes, after receiving a ball down the left side from Nathan Lobo.^[49][50] After winning the first leg at home, City only required a draw in the return leg in Wellington.^[51] Hamish Watson gave Olympic a lead in the 20th minute after he gained the ball from Vale's header, finishing into the bottom corner. Jesse Randall doubled their lead within 3 minutes, giving them the advantage in the tie. Mario Ilich pulled one back for City, before Watson restored the advantage a minute later. It took Murati three minutes into the second half to tie the aggregate score again, before Cam Howieson found the winner with eight minutes to go. The win for City sees them compete in the group stages for the 19 consecutive season since they first entered the competition.^[52][53][54] The win also saw them win back the Mediterranean Cup, a cup contested between City and Olympic acknowledging their Croatian and Greek roots.^[52]

City were drawn into a group with Fiji's Rewa, Papua New Guinea's Hekari United and Solomon Warriors of the Solomon Islands.^[52][55] After drawing with Rewa in their opening game,^[56] City bounced back with a 1–0 win over Hekari United and a 5–0 win over Solomon Warriors to finish top of their group on goal difference.^[57][58][59] As group winners they played runners-up of Group B, AS Magenta.^[60][61] After heading in to the break scoreless, Stipe Ukich calmy slotted the ball into the far corner in the 66th minute to give City a 1–0 win.^[62] This win meant they qualified for the final where they would face Pirae. This was a replay of City's first Oceanian final in 2006, when they faced Pirae at North Harbour Stadium.^[63]

City got off to a quick start in the final taking the lead through a Michael den Heijer goal in the 6th minute. Liam Gillion doubled the lead just before half time, with Stipe Ukich and Christian Gray also finding the back of the net in the second half to give City a 4–0 win in the final. This is a record-extending 12th OFC Men's Champions League title for City and their third consecutive.^[64][65]

FIFA Intercontinental Cup

As winners of the 2024 OFC Men's Champions League, City qualified for the first edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup to be held in December.^[65][66] The Navy Blues played Al Ain of United Arab Emirates in the first round losing 6–2.^[67]

Transfers in

More information No., Position ...

No.	Position	Player	Transferred from	Type/fee	Contract length	Date	Ref.
17	FW	Joe Ridley	Unattached	Free transfer	1 year	18 February 2024	[3]
	FW	Nabil Begg	Police	Free transfer	1 year	1 March 2024	[68]
	FW	Robert Tipelu	Bay Olympic	Free transfer	1 year	March 2024	[68]
6	FW	Kailan Gould	Wellington Olympic	Free transfer	6 months	31 May 2024	[69]
28	MF	Derek Tieku	Hamilton Wanderers	Free transfer	6 months	9 June 2024	[70]
5	DF	Marco Lorenz	Western Springs	Free transfer	6 months	30 June 2024	[71]
17	FW	Jerson Lagos	Manurewa	Free transfer	6 months	30 June 2024	[71]
7	FW	Myer Bevan	Cavalry	Free transfer	6 months	September 2024	[72][73]
24	GK	Nathan Garrow	Auckland United	Free transfer	6 months	September 2024	[72][73]
19	DF	Yuki Aizu	Auckland United	Free transfer	6 months	September 2024	[72][73]
15	DF	Aston Burns	Fencibles United	Free transfer	6 months	September 2024	[72][73]
	MF	Kentaro Ozaki	Manurewa	Free transfer	6 months	September 2024	[74]

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Transfers out

More information No., Position ...

No.	Position	Player	Transferred to	Type/fee	Date	Ref.
20	FW	Emiliano Tade	Western Springs	End of contract	15 December 2023	[75]
25	DF	Takuya Iwata	Western Springs	End of contract	1 January 2024	[68]
	FW	Jordy Tasip	Ifira Black Bird	End of contract	1 January 2024	[68]
15	MF	Aidan Carey	Western Springs	End of contract	7 January 2024	[76]
17	FW	Oliver Colloty	Wellington Olympic	End of contract	22 January 2024	[77]
7	MF	Cameron Howieson	Auckland FC	Free transfer	30 May 2024	[78]
19	FW	Liam Gillion	Auckland FC	Free transfer	19 June 2024	[79]
17	FW	Joe Ridley	Caroline Springs George Cross	Free transfer	9 July 2024	[80]
24	GK	Joe Wallis	West Bromwich Albion U21	Undisclosed	5 September 2024	[81]

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Overall record

Northern League

National League

Chatham Cup

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixtures

OFC Men's Champions League

National play-offs

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Champions League qualifying stage

Auckland City v Wellington Olympic

9 March 2024 (2024-03-09) First leg	Auckland City	1–0	Wellington Olympic	Auckland, New Zealand
14:00 (UTC+13:00)	Ukich 72'	Report	Supyk  72' Gulley  90+1' Randall  90+6'	Stadium: Kiwitea Street Attendance: 300 Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Wellington Olympic v Auckland City

16 March 2024 (2024-03-16) Second leg	Wellington Olympic	3–3 (3–4 agg.)	Auckland City	Wellington, New Zealand
14:00 (UTC+13:00)	Watson 20', 28' Supyk  21' Randall 23' Mata  44'	Report	Ilich 27'  77' Murati 48' Howieson 81' Ukich  87'	Stadium: Martin Luckie Park Attendance: 200 Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

Group stage

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Champions League group stage

More information Pos, Pld ...

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Auckland City	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Rewa	3	2	1	0	8	6	+2	7
3	Hekari United	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	3
4	Solomon Warriors	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

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Source: OFC

Rewa v Auckland City

11 May 2024 (2024-05-11) 1	Rewa	2–2	Auckland City	Pā'ea
15:00	Sela 62', 64'	Report	Gray  45+1' Howieson 50' de Vries 66'	Stadium: Stade Paea Attendance: 105 Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)

Auckland City v Hekari United

14 May 2024 (2024-05-14) 2	Auckland City	1–0	Hekari United	Pā'ea
15:00	Mitchell  88' Gillion 90+3'	Report	Ani  45' Haro  81'	Stadium: Stade Paea Attendance: 101 Referee: Tim Danaskos (Australia)

Auckland City v Solomon Warriors

17 May 2024 (2024-05-17) 3	Auckland City	5–0	Solomon Warriors	Pā'ea
18:00	Manickum 40', 49', 61' (pen.) Ukich 66' (pen.) de Vries 75'	Report	Gagame  39'	Stadium: Stade Paea Attendance: 105 Referee: Médéric Lacour (New Caledonia)

Knockout stage

Main article: 2024 OFC Men's Champions League knockout stage

Semi-final

Auckland City v AS Magenta

22 May 2024 (2024-05-22) Semi-final	Auckland City	1–0	AS Magenta	Pirae
14:00	Ukich 66'	Report	Watu  38' Jewine  86'  86'	Stadium: Stade Pater Attendance: 321 Referee: Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)

Final

Auckland City v Pirae

24 May 2024 (2024-05-24) Final	Auckland City	4–0	Pirae	Pirae
18:00 UTC−10	den Heijer 6' Lobo  11' Gillion 30' Ukich  36' 48' Gray 59'  90+3'	Report	Tehau  26' Tau  33'	Stadium: Stade Pater Attendance: 819 Referee: Ben Aukwai (Solomon Islands)

FIFA Intercontinental Cup

Al Ain v Auckland City

22 September 2024 (2024-09-22) First Round	Al Ain	6–2	Auckland City	Al Ain
20:00 GST	Cardoso 6' Gassama 11' Palacios 45+1'  57' Park  57' Sanabria  58' Traoré  66' Rahimi 78', 90+4' Al-Ahbabi  89' Kaku 90+2'	Report	Lagos 43'  74' Bevan 54' Tieku  89'	Stadium: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 13,826 Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Appearances and goals

Includes all competitions. One own goal scored in Northern League, National League and Chatham Cup.

As of 1 December 2024

More information No., Pos ...

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Northern League		National League		Chatham Cup		OFC Men's Champions League		FIFA Intercontinental Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers:
1	GK	NZL	Conor Tracey	32	0	14	0	7	0	3	0	7	0	1	0
18	GK	FIJ	Areya Prasad	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
24	GK	NZL	Nathan Garrow	4	0	0	0	3+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders:
3	DF	NZL	Adam Mitchell	37	2	12+5	1	10	1	4	0	5	0	1	0
4	DF	NZL	Christian Gray	26	3	14+1	1	0	0	4+1	1	6	1	0	0
5	DF	NZL	Marco Lorenz	12	0	7	0	4+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	DF	KOS	Regont Murati	32	7	6+11	5	0+3	0	2+3	1	7	1	0	0
13	DF	NZL	Nathan Lobo	39	1	17+1	0	7+1	1	5	0	7	0	1	0
14	DF	NZL	Jordan Vale	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
15	DF	NZL	Aston Burns	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	DF	JPN	Yuki Aizu	4	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
21	DF	NZL	Adam Bell	20	0	11+2	0	1+1	0	4	0	0+1	0	0	0
22	DF	CHN	Zhou Tong	28	2	9+3	2	0+4	0	2+3	0	0+6	0	0+1	0
23	DF	NZL	Alfie Rogers	23	2	11+5	2	0	0	4	0	1+2	0	0	0
25	DF	NZL	Michael den Heijer	39	1	14+2	0	10	0	4+1	0	7	1	1	0
—	DF	NZL	Jesse Gage	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders:
2	MF	NZL	Mario Ilich	32	3	14+2	1	10	1	2+1	0	2	1	1	0
8	MF	ESP	Gerard Garriga	41	5	18+1	3	8+2	0	5	2	6	0	1	0
26	MF	NZL	Rayan Tayeb	3	0	1	0	0	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
—	MF	JPN	Kentaro Ozaki	10	1	0	0	4+6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
—	MF	NZL	Luka Vicelich	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards:
6	FW	ENG	Kailan Gould	20	3	5+6	3	3+1	0	3+1	0	0	0	0+1	0
7	FW	NZL	Myer Bevan	9	8	0	0	8	7	0	0	0	0	1	1
9	FW	NZL	Angus Kilkolly	38	18	6+10	4	1+9	5	4+2	9	1+4	0	0+1	0
10	FW	NZL	Dylan Manickum	31	6	7+3	2	9+1	1	3+1	0	7	3	0	0
11	FW	NZL	Ryan De Vries	38	13	7+11	8	3+3	1	3+3	2	1+6	2	1	0
16	FW	NZL	Joseph Lee	37	4	18+3	4	3+3	0	3+1	0	1+4	0	1	0
17	FW	COL	Jerson Lagos	19	2	7+2	1	9	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
20	FW	GHA	Derek Tieku	18	4	9+3	3	0+1	0	2+2	1	0	0	0+1	0
27	FW	NZL	Stipe Ukich	38	10	13+3	2	7+3	3	3+2	1	3+3	4	1	0
—	FW	NZL	Matthew Matanayire	4	0	1+1	0	0	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
Players who left during the season:
7	MF	NZL	Cameron Howieson	11	4	2+1	0	0	0	1	2	7	2	0	0
17	FW	ENG	Joe Ridley	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	FW	NZL	Liam Gillion	21	13	11+1	10	0	0	2	1	7	2	0	0
24	GK	NZL	Joe Wallis	9	0	7	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0

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