Histoire
Western United Football Club was an Australian soccer club. The club was based in the western Melbourne suburb of Tarneit; the club represented western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the regional cities of Ballarat, and Geelong; and regional and country towns in western Victoria.
The club was established as part of an expansion process of the A-League, the country's premier soccer competition. It began playing in the 2019–20 A-League season, under licence from Football Australia (FA). On 12 May 2022 it announced the establishment of an A-League Women team.
United played its home matches at Ironbark Fields in Wyndham. The club previously played home matches at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong, University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston, North Hobart Oval in Hobart, AAMI Park in Melbourne and Mars Stadium in Ballarat, with the club planning to permanently relocate matches to Wyndham City Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium in Wyndham upon its construction.
The club lost their licence to compete in the 2025–26 season, with the possibility of returning at a later date. On 10 August 2026, the Australian Professional Leagues had announced that it had terminated the club's A-Leagues Men and Womens' licenses. Two days later, Football Victoria withdrew the club from all state based competitions following the Federal Court's decision to order the club's owners to be wound up in insolvency, resulting in the club becoming defunct.
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Origins and early success (2018–2024)
In August 2018, the Western Melbourne Group was one of the eight teams that the FFA had accepted in the official bidding phase, as part of the new expansion process. Four months later, the bid's success was announced, along with the bid from Macarthur FC. Western Melbourne played home games at Kardinia Park in Geelong for its first two seasons, while building its stadium and training centre in Tarneit, with completion expected in 2021.
On 11 January 2019, Western Melbourne Group announced John Anastasiadis as senior assistant coach for the club's debut season. On 24 January 2019, the consortium announced that John Hutchinson would also join the club as an assistant coach.
On 31 January 2019, Western Melbourne made its first player and marquee signing Panagiotis Kone ahead of its inaugural season. On 12 February 2019, Socceroos defender Josh Risdon became Western Melbourne's first Australian signing.
On 13 February 2019, it was announced that the club would be called Western United Football Club after a public vote was held through the Herald Sun newspaper. The club's colours of green and black were also chosen
In May 2019, Western United announced partnership with sports brand Kappa. Two months later, the club unveiled their inaugural jerseys for their first season in the A-League, featuring green and black stripes.
On 2 June 2019 the Director of Football for Western United, Steve Horvat presented Geelong representative players with their kits for the 2019 Country Championships. Horvat additionally announced the club would set up a Geelong-based academy by 2021.
On 28 May 2022 they became A-League champions, defeating defending champions Melbourne City in the 2022 A-League Men Grand Final. Their Grand Final win saw Western United became just the second expansion side ever to win the A-League Championship, the quickest expansion side to win the championship, the first team since to triumph in their first grand final appearance since Brisbane Roar in 2011, and one of just two teams to have won the championship after finishing outside the top two, with Melbourne Victory first achieving this feat in 2018.
The 2022–23 A-League season saw Western United become the first A-League champion in 6 years to fail to qualify for the A-League finals, with the club finishing the season in 7th place on 32 points, with a final tally of 9 wins,5 draws and 12 losses.
In October 2023, it was announced that Western United had been given approval from the Wyndham City Council to play home A-Leagues matches at their training ground, the Wyndham Regional Football Facility, in the 2023–24 A-League season, with the venue to serve as Western United's temporary home stadium until the Wyndham City Stadium is completed.
The 2023–24 A-League season started promisingly for Western United, with the club recording a 2–1 win over Melbourne City at AAMI Park. However, this was followed by a run of 6 consecutive losses, with this losing run halted with a 2–1 win over Brisbane Roar. Western United eventually finished the season in 11th place, their worst league finish to date, ensuring that the club missed finals for the second straight season.
Debts and wind-up
On 1 May 2025, it was reported that the club was subject to a player registration ban by FIFA, effective until the January 2027 transfer window. Media reports indicated that this was due to a dispute with former player Aleksandar Prijovic.
On 2 May, the club's owners announced that KAM Melbourne would acquire a majority stake in the club, subject to the approval of Australian Professional Leagues and Football Australia. Later that month the club was served with breach notices by both their men's and women's teams over unpaid wages. It was reported on 2 August that the club lost $11 million in the 2023/24 financial year, with liabilities exceeding assets by more than $55 million, and a deficit of more than $12m for the preceding period. By this point the proposed KAM Melbourne takeover had not eventuated and then they formally pulled out on 27 August.
On 29 August, the club's parent company WMG Football Club Limited was placed in liquidation, after a Federal Court order. However, the club attempted to argue that it found "a fresh $15 million investment to pay off their debts" and simply needed an adjournment to resolve the situation.
In April 2026, it was announced that a new wind-up action was served on Western Melbourne Group, with a hearing scheduled for June 2026.
Suspension of license
On 8 August 2025, the First Instance Board of Football Australia determined that Western United had failed to meet the criteria to hold an A-Leagues license. The renewal of the club's license was rescinded, with the club subsequently ejected from both Australian Professional Leagues (APL) competitions – the A-League Men and the A-League Women. Appeal by the club followed, The APL in the meantime restructured the schedules for the 2025–26 A-League men's and women's seasons to exclude Western United, with the expectation that they will be omitted before mid-September. On 2 September, Football Australia's Appeals and Entry Control Body (A&ECB) adjourned its decision on the matter of Western United's licence until 9 September.
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Effectif
| # | Gardiens | Matchs | Buts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T. Heward-Belle | ||
| 33 | M. Sutton | ||
| 70 | M. Vonja | ||
| A. Nassiep |
| # | Défenseurs | Matchs | Buts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | J. Donachie | ||
| 13 | T. Russell | ||
| 17 | B. Garuccio | ||
| 22 | K. Vidmar | ||
| 29 | Charbel Shamoon | ||
| 30 | D. Leonard | ||
| 47 | L. Coveny |
| # | Milieux | Matchs | Buts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | M. Grimaldi | ||
| 21 | S. Pasquali | ||
| 23 | R. Bozinovski | ||
| 32 | A. Thurgate | ||
| 34 | J. York | ||
| 44 | J. Lauton | ||
| 48 | M. Leonard | ||
| 77 | R. Danzaki |
| # | Attaquants | Matchs | Buts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | O. Lavale | ||
| 9 | H. Ibusuki | ||
| 14 | J. Najdovski | ||
| 24 | M. Ruhs | ||
| 37 | L. Vickery |
| # | Autres | Matchs | Buts |
|---|---|---|---|
| T. Servin |
