Meet Group B
Updated: 7 minutes ago
With Adelaide City’s Australian Championship campaign days away from beginning, we take a closer look at the three clubs standing between Vas Parhas’ side and progression from Group B.
Avondale FC
The first visitors to Oakden are Australian Championship Foundation Club Avondale FC, who will face Adelaide City on Friday 16th of October. While Avondale are a fellow Italian club, they have a different history from other powerhouse clubs of a similar background around Australia.
Firstly, the Avengers are a much younger club than most traditional Italian clubs around the country. Avondale FC, originally named Keilor I.C.K.A, was founded in 1984. For context, Adelaide City (1946), APIA Leichhardt (1954), Marconi Stallions (1958), and Bayswater City (1961), the other Italian-heritage teams in the 2026 Australian Championship, are all multiple decades older than the Avengers.
Avondale FC may not have the historical prestige of its fellow Foundation Clubs, but it is one of Australian football's success stories in recent years. The club hit its lowest point in 2009, when it was relegated to the sixth tier of Victorian football.
After that, the Avenger moniker kicked into gear, with the club combining strong financial backing, strong management, and smart recruitment to claim five promotions in six years. The club also made an audacious bid to bring Azzurri legend Andrea Pirlo to play for it in an Australia Cup match against Sydney FC in 2018!
Avondale were promoted to the NPL in 2015 and have remained there ever since. In recent years, they have become one of the elite teams in Victoria’s top flight, attracting players like Bruno Fornaroli and claiming the NPL Victoria Championship in 2023 and 2026.
Avondale’s on-field success and financial viability made its Australian Championship Foundation Club bid a no-brainer.
Wests APIA (APIA Leichhardt )
A week after Avondale visit Adelaide City Park, the Black and White host the second Foundation Club of Group B, Wests APIA, on Friday the 23rd of October. Founded in 1954 in Sydney’s inner-western suburbs by Italian migrants as Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana, APIA Leichhardt, known in the Australian Championship as Wests APIA, became a powerhouse club early in its existence.
The Marronazzurri became the gold standard of success in their second decade of existence, winning four New South Wales Premierships, four New South Wales Championships, three Waratah Cups, and two Ampol Cups, all between 1965 and 1976. In that period, the club’s state dominance translated to the national stage, with the club reaching four consecutive Australia Cup Finals and claiming the trophy in 1966.
The Australia Cup triumph foreshadowed what was to come, with APIA joining the NSL in 1979 and eventually claiming the competition title in 1987, coached by the former Adelaide City coach Rale Rasic, with Socceroos captain Charlie Yankos leading the club’s backline to the competition's stingiest defensive record. APIA also won the NSL Cup in 1982 and 1988.
In the modern version of the Australia Cup, APIA have kept alive the spirit of the four consecutive finals it made in the 1960s. Despite being a semi-professional side, the Marronazzurri have reached the Quarter-Finals three times and claimed memorable victories against A-League powerhouses Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, and Western Sydney Wanderers.
The club’s star-studded history and financial backing make it one of the more prominent participants in the Australian Championship.
Broadmeadow Magic
The group is rounded out by Broadmeadow Magic, who visit Adelaide City Park for the final match of the group stage on Sunday the 22nd November. Like Adelaide City, the Newcastle-based club qualified for the 2026 Australia Cup by winning the Premiership in their local competition.
Founded in 1966 as Newcastle Macedonia, Broadmeadow Magic began as a social and football club for migrants of Macedonian background in Newcastle before eventually becoming one of the region’s premier clubs. The rise to consistent prominence came after the turn of the millennium, with Magic claiming 9 Northern New South Wales Premierships and another 9 Championships since 2001
Broadmeadow is renowned for developing young footballers in Northern New South Wales, many of whom eventually go on to represent the Newcastle Jets on the national stage, such as Ben Kantarovski, Ben Kennedy, and Andrew Hoole.
Since the reintroduction of the Australia Cup, Broadmeadow Magic has developed a national reputation as one of Newcastle’s most prominent clubs, reaching the Round of 32 seven times. The club qualified for the Round of 16 of the 2018 Australia Cup after defeating Canberra Croatia 4-1 away from home. It enters the Australian Championship for a second consecutive season.
Be there for Adelaide City’s return to the national stage.
