Adelaide Olympic

Kristi Vangjeli, capped by Albania, took charge of a club that had spent most of its existence changing names. The team he manages began in 1978 as Adelaide Asteras, became Thebarton Asteras in 1982, and turned into Olympians in 1989 after the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia took it over and folded in Adelaide Rodos and Regency Lions. The present name dates only from 2001.

The blue and white comes from that Greek inheritance, and so does the nickname everyone uses — Olympic.

The climb was slow and done in order: the South Australian Third Division Championship in 1981, then the Second Division in 1992, 1995 and 2000. Promotion was followed in 2004 by a season in which the club finished runner-up in both the First Division Championship and the Premiership.

What the club has to show from recent years is the FFSA Federation Cup, won in 2019 and again in 2021. Among the players who passed through are Michael Valkanis and Robert Cornthwaite, both Socceroos; Branko Milosevic came back later as coach.

Andrew Calderbank was appointed in 2022, the same year Olympic became permanent tenants of the APEX Football Stadium at Angle Park. The ground was known as the VALO Football Centre before the handover and holds 3,000. Adelaide City and West Adelaide are the fixtures that fill it.