APIA Leichhardt Tigers

The final of the 1987 National Soccer League was decided under Rale Rasic, whose side carried a squad built around Charlie Yankos, Peter Katholos and Jean-Paul de Marigny through that campaign. In 2019 that habit reasserted itself against Sydney United 58, a 2-1 extra-time win in the NPL NSW grand final against a club whose Croatian roots have made every meeting with APIA Leichhardt into something closer to a rivalry than a fixture.

Founded in 1954 by Italian immigrants in Leichhardt as Associazione Polisportiva Italo Australiana, the club spent 1992 trading under the name Leichhardt Tigers alone, a change forced by financial trouble before the APIA name was restored.

Further back, Jimmy Rooney and Peter Ollerton each scored five goals in the 9-1 rout that won the 1974 NSW State Cup final, months before both took their places in Australia's squad at the 1974 World Cup.

Matches are played at Lambert Park in Leichhardt, known to regulars as Leichhardt Oval, which holds around 7,000 people, 2,000 of them seated. The suburb that gave the club its second name remains its home ground in every sense the name implies.