History of Western United FC
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The history of Western United Football Club covers the time from the club's foundation to their first three seasons in the A-League Men. Western United Football Club was founded in 2018 as Western Melbourne in a bidding process to expand the number of teams in the A-League for the 2019–20 season. They were chosen as one of two new A-League clubs along with Macarthur FC, who would enter the competition a season later for the 2020–21 A-League season. Western United's first season had the club finish 5th and progress to the semi-finals.
Western United were founded as Western Melbourne in 2018 as part of a bidding process as the Western Melbourne Group to potentially be chosen as one of two teams out of eight bids to join the A-League; Australia's premier soccer competition. It was confirmed four months later that the Western Melbourne Group was accepted by the FFA for the club to join the A-League along with Macarthur FC. They were to play their first two seasons playing their home matches at GMHBA Stadium while the club enters plans to building a permanent home ground in Tarneit called the Wyndham City Stadium proposed to finish in 2021.
Their first coaching staff signing came on 11 January 2019 where John Anastasiadis as their assistant coach.[1] They decided to change their club name to Western United Football Club via a public vote held in the Herald Sun newspaper.[2][3] It was then confirmed that Western United announced their club's colours and identity for their first season wearing a green and black strip on their kits.
Western United revealed their crest on 8 May 2019 which was made, based on the club's fans thoughts, and a modern brand identity for the club. On 23 May 2019, the club announced that Marko Rudan would be their head coach in their inaugural season.[4] Western United played their first match on 22 August 2019 against Caroline Springs George Cross at the City Vista Pavilion and Sports Field, where they won 4–0 in front of over 3,000 spectators.[5] During plans for the club's inaugural season, the FFA announced that Western United would not be participating potentially their first FFA Cup in 2019.[6]
Mark Rudan and inaugural season (2019–20)
Western United's first season in the A-League commenced on 13 October 2019 with a 1–0 win against Wellington Phoenix; the goalscorer being the competition's all-time top goalscorer Besart Berisha. Six days later, they played their first competitive home match on 19 October 2019 with over 6,000 spectators attending the match in a 1–1 draw against Perth Glory.[7]
After the season went on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia to play the remainder of the season in New South Wales, in three days the FFA sought exemptions for all three Victorian clubs in the league to travel to NSW to play their remaining games.[8] The day after, it was announced that the three clubs will stay in Victoria[9] until they were let in New South Wales with an official exemption the next day.[10] Prior to the break of the season in 2019–20, they played home matches in three different stadiums across Victoria; GMHBA Stadium, Mars Stadium and Whitten Oval. Their first finals series involved the team winning 1–0 against Brisbane Roar, until they lost in the semi-final 2–0 against cross-town rivals Melbourne City.[11]
