Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria
Association football team from australia
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria
Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory entered the competition in the inaugural season as the only Victorian-based club in the newly revamped domestic Australian league.
Recognised as the most supported and second most successful club in the league to date, Victory has won four A-League Championships, three A-League Premierships, one Pre-Season Challenge Cup and two FFA Cup, the only club to have won all four domestic trophies in the modern era of Australian soccer. They have also competed in the AFC Champions League on seven occasions, most recently in 2020. Their furthest placement in the tournament was in the 2016 campaign and 2020 campaign, where they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by the eventual champion on both occasions.
The club's home ground is the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, currently known as AAMI Park for sponsorship purposes, a 30,050-seat stadium on Olympic Boulevard in Melbourne's city centre. The Victory has previously played its home matches at other stadiums throughout Melbourne and surrounding areas, including Olympic Park Stadium, Docklands Stadium and Kardinia Park.
Although Victory is supported across the whole Melbourne metropolitan area, as well as regional cities in the state, it is based primarily in the city centre. Victory's main supporters' group is 'Original Style Melbourne'; from the Victory's first season until its disbanding in 2016, 'North Terrace' had served as Melbourne Victory's main active supporters group. The club has rivalries with Melbourne City (the Melbourne Derby), Sydney (The Big Blue), Adelaide United (The Original Rivalry), and Western United (the Westgate Derby/the Battle of the Bridge). The club's all-time leading goalscorer is Archie Thompson, with 97 goals to his name in all competitions. Leigh Broxham has the record for most matches played, with 405 appearances for the Victory.