Canberra City entered the new national competition for the inaugural season in 1977 as the only team representing the ACT.

[1] In its first season, home games were played at Manuka Oval which had the honour of hosting the first ever NSL match when City were defeated 3-1 by West Adelaide SC in front of a crowd of 1,550.

Canberra remained competitive throughout its tenure in the league, but had limited success being unable to reach the finals series in any season.

Statistics by Season [2] (Pld)=Games Played, (W)=Wins, (D)=Draws, (L)=Losses, (GF)=Goals For, (GA)=Goals Against, (Pts)=Points, (Nth)=Northern Conference Canberra City dropped into the NSW State League Division One for the 1987 season, and finished runners-up to Wollongong Wolves FC, they also then lost the Finals Series 2-1 to the Wolves.

In the early 1990s Canberra City men achieved considerable Premiership success and more recently won the Federation Cup in 2005 under the coaching guidance of an ex player from the 1980s era, Steve Bryant.