Sydney Olympic FC

Sydney Olympic has traditionally been one of the most well supported football teams in Australia, setting numerous domestic crowd attendances.

The greatest crowd attendance for a Grand Final was recorded during the 2001/02 season when 42,735 people were present at Subiaco Oval to see Sydney Olympic defeat Perth Glory.

In the late 1940s and 50s there were several small Greek teams for the purposes of socialising and giving a sense of home for the newly arrived migrants.

It was decided there, that the newly formed team would be known as Pan-Hellenic, as it represented the shared journeys of Greeks from all over the world who migrated to Sydney and not just from Greece and Cyprus, but also from various other places like; Egypt, Romania, Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Anatolia and Asia Minor The club was established as Pan-Hellenic Soccer Club and its initial strip was blue and white vertical stripes.

1967 also saw Pan-Hellenic go on a great run in the inaugural National Club Knock-Out competition the – Australia Cup – falling one game short of the Final, as it lost to APIA Leichhardt 3–2 after extra-time in the Semi-Final.

The 1968 season though, was the highlight of the pre-National Soccer League era, 11 years after the club's foundation, Pan-Hellenic finished 2nd in the standings and reached the NSW First Division Grand Final for the first time.

For 1977 the club became a pioneering founding member of the National Soccer League, and also changed its name to Sydney Olympic.

That victory secured Sydney Olympic a return to top-flight Australian football in 1981 where it remained until the NSL folded in 2004.

The 1980s for Sydney Olympic were characterized with great football, large and passionate support, fantastic players, unfathomable highs as well as a litany of failures.

During this period many young players and future legends of the club would be given their opportunity to make their mark for Sydney Olympic.

Sydney Olympic also made it to the NSL Grand Finals of 1984 and 1986, losing to South Melbourne FC and Adelaide City respectively.

But it would not be 3rd time lucky for the Blues, as they succumbed to an injury-time winner in the Grand Final to lose 1–0 to Marconi in front of 23,387 fans at the Parramatta Stadium.

During that time, the club's home ground was Leichhardt Oval, 1995/96 also saw Olympic finish 3rd on the ladder 1 point behind eventual Minor Premiers and old foes Marconi.

Season 1997/98 also saw the club's worst ever defeat in January 1998, when the Canberra Cosmos inflicted an 8–1 loss on Sydney Olympic in the nation's capital.

That evening, 18,985 soccer-loving enthusiasts turned out to watch Sydney Olympic defeat new boys Northern Spirit 2–0.

This season also saw Olympic capture their 2nd NSL Championship, a lone Ante Milicic goal early in the second-half, being enough to defeat Perth Glory at Subiaco Oval in front of 42,735 fans.

Poor attendances took their toll on the venture and for season 2003/04 the club chose to revert to the widely preferred name of Sydney Olympic and moving to OKI Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah.

Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, Sydney Olympic participated in the 2004/05 NSW Premier League season and just missed out on the Finals Series.

2007 was a special year for Sydney Olympic as it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding, with the club's jersey reverting to the original blue and white vertical striped design.

[1] Kyrgiakos stated in the press conference; "It's a beautiful thing for me to come to Sydney & play football in Australia.

I will be thrilled to get to know Australian football and experience it and it's very significant that I'm coming to a very historic club with great Greek support".

Winning 3 sudden death matches in succession to make it to the NSW Grand Final, only to lose 2–1 to Blacktown City after extra-time.

In 2014 Sydney Olympic also made it to the FFA Cup Round of 16 only to be defeated 2–1 by Bentleigh Greens after a compressed end of year schedule eventually took its toll on the team.

After a convincing 2–0 victory in the first week of the Finals against Wollongong Wolves, the team set up a Semi-Final showdown against old rivals APIA Leichhardt, who took a 1–0 lead via a deflection.

Sydney Olympic couldn't capitalise on a string of great chances in the second half to equalise, seeing the team eliminated 1–0.

In 2015 Sydney Olympic again made it to the Round of 16 stage of the FFA Cup, but were disappointingly eliminated following a 3–1 loss to Hume City FC.

First clinching the Minor Premiership in a nail-biting last day of the season by leap-frogging old rivals APIA Leichhardt to finish top.

The competition only resumed after a 4 month hiatus and returned in August, as a shortened 11-round season, with the club finishing in 4th position.

The State Cup was cancelled, as was the League season, which was officially announced by Football NSW on August 12, 2021, with Sydney Olympic sitting in 4th spot at the time.

Hopes were high for a return to the top for Sydney Olympic in 2024, however, the club experienced yet another poor season, finishing a disappointing 8th in the League.

Chart of yearly table positions for Sydney Olympic in NSL