Brisbane City

Foundation as Hollandia-Inala F.C. (1957–1970s)

The origins of Brisbane Roar are traced back to the founding of Hollandia F.C. by Dutch immigrants in 1957. The club competed under this name for almost 20 years until, in the interest of inclusiveness and because perceptions that members of the public saw soccer as a migrants' game, all clubs were required to adopt non-ethnic names after a ruling by the Queensland Soccer Federation in 1973.

Brisbane Lions F.C. (1973–2009)

The club continued to be based in the Brisbane suburb of Richlands. After adopting the name Brisbane Lions in the 1970s, the club joined the National Soccer League (NSL) as one of the founding clubs in the 1977 season and competed until the end of the 1988 season before reverting down to the Brisbane Premier League thereafter.

In the 1990s, the club again changed its name to Queensland Lions after a legal dispute and subsequent agreement with the Australian rules football club, Brisbane Lions.

At the end of the 2004 season, Queensland Lions withdrew from the local Senior Men's competition to compete in the new National A-League as Queensland Roar. The Premier Youth team remained in the local soccer league.

For the next 3 seasons the senior Lions FC men's team was the Brisbane Roar but after three financially challenging years, Queensland Lions relinquished ownership of the Roar and reformed their men's team in the local senior men's competition.

Entering the A-League (2004)

Lions FC entered the A-League as Queensland Roar as a foundation member in 2004. The club continued to be based at Richlands, where club administration and player training continued.

At the time of conception of the A-League, teams from several capital cities were preferred to form the foundation clubs. By June 2004, two of the twenty submissions for joining the league were sought by partnerships formed in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. On 1 November 2004, the group headed by Queensland Lions were chosen as operators of the Brisbane team. On 2 March the following year, Queensland Roar FC were officially announced.

The board consisted of chairman John Ribot, a former CEO of both National Rugby League clubs Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, deputy chairman Gary Wilkins, former Queensland and Australian international player, and CEO Lawrence Oudendyk, who was also Queensland Lions CEO.

Miron Bleiberg was appointed as the inaugural manager on 2 March 2005 but resigned during his second season with the club on 12 November 2006.

After much speculation, Bleiberg was replaced by former Australian national team coach, Frank Farina just three days after Bleiberg's resignation.

Frank Farina's arrival led to a mini-revival which saw the club narrowly miss out on what would have been the Roar's first finals appearance, on goal difference. The 2007–08 season, however, saw Farina make up for the shortfall of the previous season, qualifying for the finals for the first time in the club's history. A memorable performance in the second leg of the semi-final saw the Roar defeat arch rivals 2–0 (2–0 agg.) Sydney FC in front of a (then) club record 36,221 fans to qualify for the preliminary final against the Newcastle Jets. The Roar would controversially lose 3–2 to the Newcastle side, who would ultimately go on to win the Grand Final. Farina again qualified for the finals in 2008–09, where the Roar dispatched of Central Coast Mariners 4–2 on aggregate; however they ultimately lost, again in the preliminary final, to Adelaide United after failing to capitalise on their dominance.

On 10 October 2009, Farina was arrested by Queensland Police for drink driving. He was initially suspended by the Roar and asked to show cause as to why he should not be sacked for tarnishing the name of the club. It was announced that assistant manager Rado Vidošić would step into a caretaker role until a decision had been made which would include the M1 Derby, which the Roar lost 1–0 at home. Farina was ultimately sacked on 14 October 2009, with the club tasked with finding a replacement for the remainder of the 2009–10 season.

Brisbane Roar (2009–)

In 2009, the club was officially renamed to Brisbane Roar Football Club due to two other Queensland-based clubs entering the A-League competition, namely Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury.

This was the club's fifth change of name after Hollandia-Inala, Brisbane Lions, Queensland Lions and Queensland Roar.

Postecoglou era (2009–2012)

Ange Postecoglou arrived mid-season armed with the task of picking up the pieces of a season in tatters. Postecoglou's first season ended as the worst in the club's short history, finishing second from the bottom. Postecoglou completed a turn-around in the 2010–11 season. He made wholesale changes to the squad, commencing with the replacement of the "old-guard" of Charlie Miller, Craig Moore and Danny Tiatto and brought in his own squad which was a mixture of youth and talented experience. Under his brand of possession/attacking soccer, he led the team to win the club's inaugural premiership and go on to complete the club's first Double by also wrapping up the championship in the 2011 A-League Grand Final in front of a then-club-record 50,168 supporters. The club went on an Australian sporting record 36-match unbeaten run, which commenced in the 2010–11 season and ran through to the 2011–12 season. After much speculation on his future at the club, it was reported that Postecoglou had signed a three-year contract extension.