Sydney

Sydney had rugby league, cricket and a harbour full of things to do on a winter Saturday before it had a football club with a national stage. The A-League set out in 2004 with eight sides built from nothing, and the one placed in the country's largest city was handed the job of making football matter in a market that had never been short of alternatives. Soccer NSW had been lined up for the licence and walked away over money before a ball was kicked; the club that took the slot in September 2004 inherited no history, no old rivalries and no supporters.

It bought attention instead. Dwight Yorke arrived for the first season, Pierre Littbarski took the coaching job, and within a year the team had won the OFC Champions League. Then Steve Corica scored the winner in the first Grand Final in 2006. He returned as head coach in 2018 and stayed five years.

But the glamour signings gave the club a name it has never shaken. When Western Sydney Wanderers were founded in the city's west, they cast themselves as the community side and cast Sydney FC as Bling FC, and the derby has run on that line ever since.

The Allianz Stadium the team plays in now opened in August 2022, built on the ground of the one demolished three years earlier. In between, the club moved between the Sydney Cricket Ground, Jubilee Oval and Leichhardt Oval, in a city where being seen is most of the argument.

What is missing is Asia. The OFC trophy from 2005 remains the only one won beyond Australia.