Auckland FC

Formation

In March 2023, the Australian Professional Leagues confirmed plans for the next two expansion clubs to be based in Canberra and Auckland ahead of the 2024–25 season. In October 2023, the preferred bidder as owner of the new Auckland license was confirmed to be Bill Foley, with the license officially awarded on 21 November. Speaking at the time of the license awarding in November 2023, Foley stated there "was a lot of work to do" to determine the name and logo for the club and that he was "not wedded to any name at this point", despite expressing a personal preference for "Black Knights".

On 14 March 2024, the club officially announced its name, logo and inaugural home kit at its headquarters in Auckland. The kit (manufactured by New Balance) featured electric blue and black vertical stripes as its main features. The nickname was unveiled to be "Black Knights", which is associated with several clubs that Foley owns and refers to the nickname of the sports teams at his alma mater, the United States Military Academy. Terry McFlynn was chosen as the inaugural director of football, and Steve Corica as head coach. Auckland announced their first player signings in May 2024, ahead of the 2024–25 season.

Debut seasons and early success

On 19 October 2024, Auckland played their inaugural A-League Men's fixture at the Mount Smart Stadium against Brisbane Roar. In front of, a sell-out crowd of 24,492, the club secured a 2–0 win. Auckland would then go on to win their next 5 games and go undefeated for their first seven league matches. One of these wins was in the first New Zealand derby at Sky Stadium against Wellington Phoenix, thanks to a late brace from Jake Brimmer. Auckland finished the 2024–25 season as A-League Men Premiers, becoming the first New Zealand-based club to win A-League silverware. Auckland did not qualify for the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite competition, as the team is based in New Zealand and is a member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). In their first finals series, Auckland won 1–0 at AAMI Park against Melbourne Victory, but later lost 2–0 (2–1 on aggregate) in front of a record crowd of 29,148 at Mount Smart Stadium.

Following the abrupt end to their inaugural season, Auckland set their eyes on becoming the first New Zealand based club to win the A-League Championship. Their season began with a deep run into the Australia Cup, reaching the Semi-finals before a shock 2-0 defeat against Heidelberg United ended their run. In the league, Auckland had six wins in nine matches to open their season before struggling to put together consistent form throughout the rest of it, which saw them win just one of six matches in January, and fail to win any of their last five regular season matches. A 2–2 draw with Sydney FC in their last match saw Auckland drop to third place in the regular season table, placing them in their first Elimination-Final match, a 1–1 draw (7–6 win on penalties) against Melbourne City. Auckland faced Adelaide United over two legs in the semi-finals, a 1–1 draw at home followed by a 3–0 win away to win the tie 4–1 on aggregate saw Auckland FC qualify for their first ever A-League Grand Final, to be played at home against 6th place Sydney FC. In front of a sellout crowd of 28,374, Auckland FC defeated Sydney FC 1–0 thanks to a deflected Cameron Howieson volley to make Auckland the first ever New Zealand based club to win the Championship. To cap off their season, one day after winning the Championship, Auckland FC defeated South Melbourne FC in the inaugural OFC Professional League final to be crowned Champions of Oceania.