Brisbane Roar FC

Origins and formation (1957–2004)

The origins of Brisbane Roar are traced back to the founding of Hollandia-Inala in 1957, by Dutch immigrants. The club was 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 coming to an agreement with the Australian rules football club, Brisbane Lions.

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 clubs's first-ever 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.

Early years (2004–2009)

Miron Bleiberg was appointed as the then Queensland Roar's inaugural manager on 2 March 2005. Under pressure from the fans to deliver on his promises of attractive, attacking and successful football he resigned on 12 November 2006 following a poor start to the 2006–07 season. 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.

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

On 10 October 2009, Farina was arrested by Queensland Police for Driving under the influence. 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 caretakers 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 femainder of the 2009–10 season.

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 football, he would lead 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 a memorable 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.

With such a successful season behind him, there was much talk as to whether the Roar could equal or better that in the 2011–12 season. Their title credentials were in doubt when the club went on a club-record worst losing streak of five matches immediately following the ending of their record 36-match unbeaten streak. Postecoglou remained steadfast in the club's footballing philosophy and the club went on to record just one loss in the last 14 games of the regular season to finish league runners-up. Unable to retain the Premiers Plate, Postecoglou led the club to back-to-back championships in the 2012 A-League Grand Final in front of a club-record 50,344 supporters. Postecoglou also led the Roar's initial foray into the 2012 Asian Champions League as reward for their success in the previous season. Success was mixed, picking up two draws from four matches.

On 24 April 2012, Postecoglou left the club by way of mutual consent, citing a desire to seek "a new challenge". Ange leaves the club as the most successful manager in the club's history.

On 26 April 2012, it was reported that Postecoglou did not, in fact, sign a new contract at the conclusion of the 2010–11 season due to the uncertainty around the club's ownership at the time. That allowed his original two-year contract with the club to expire at the conclusion of the 2011–12 season and leave to join Melbourne Victory !Melbourne Victory without the Victory needing to pay out his "contract" with the Roar.

Recent success (2012–present)

On 25 April 2012, Rado Vidošić was promoted to the managers' position after serving seven years as Assistant Manager under the three previous managers before him. On 18 December 2012, Vidošić was removed as coach, taking up the role of technical director for the club, with Mike Mulvey, then coach of the Melbourne Victory women's named as his replacement. Vidošić was only manager for 13 matches before transferring to the new role, similar to the one offered to Postecoglou before his exit earlier in 2012. At the end of the 2012–13 season, the Roar finished in 5th place, carried by striker Besart Berisha's 14 goals during the season. The club made it to the semi-finals in the finals series, bowing out to premiers Western Sydney Wanderers 2–0.

The 2013/14 season began in terrific style, with the Roar winning 8 of their first 10 games. This form continued for the rest of the season as the club became dominant premiers. Players like Ivan Franjic, Luke Brattan and Dimitri Petratos shone while the return of former captain Matt McKay bolstered the midfield. Brisbane won the grand final 2–1 after extra time against Western Sydney Wanderers. Club talisman Besart Berisha and star utility Ivan Franjic would leave the club over the off-season for Melbourne Victory and Torpedo Moscow respectively.

After a run of poor results at the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Mulvey stepped down from the head coach role. Frans Thijssen was appointed caretaker coach for the remainder of the season. Captain Matt Smith left the club in December to join Bangkok Glass, and was replaced by former captain and club favourite Matt McKay. The season ended with the club recovering to finish in 6th position and qualify for the finals series. Brisbane were knocked out by Adelaide United in the elimination final 2–1.

On 26 May 2015, John Aloisi was appointed head coach. Amidst off-field drama regarding the club's ownserhip during his first season as head coach, Aloisi led the Roar to an encouraging 3rd place on the ladder, narrowly missing out on the championship in the last game of the season and finishing only one point behind eventual champions Adelaide.

The 2015/16 performance was sufficient for the Roar to qualify for the 2017 Asian Champions League fit the fourth time in their history.

Crest and colours

During the first two seasons the Roar played in a predominantly orange home strip with blue shorts and maroon socks. Queensland sporting teams traditionally play in maroon but the original home strip kept with the colours used by the team in its earlier incarnations. The colours of orange and blue honour the club's Dutch origins. On 31 July 2007 the club announced that it had ordered a strip that was half orange and half maroon, but that the colours were manufactured for prominence on television. For season three the home kit had been redesigned, the home strip is still orange but features maroon sleeves, the shorts are maroon instead of blue and orange socks are worn. Danny Tiatto and Craig Moore modelled in the strip launch on 1 August 2007

Before the 2009–10 A-League season, in accordance with the name changing of the club from Queensland Roar to Brisbane Roar, the club's logo was also changed with "Queensland" being dropped to make way for "Brisbane". On 20 May 2009, Reinaldo and Sergio van Dijk unveiled a new kit for the club, which would be worn for the next two seasons. The club stuck with the maroon and orange they had used for the last kit, but instead opted to drop the white slashes on the home kit. The orange used for the previous kit was brightened to the one used in season 1 of the A-League, with the design of both the new home and away kits changing. The slashes were dropped for a shoulder-pad style. The maroon shoulder pads would be displayed on an orange body, with maroon shorts. This was reversed on the away kit, with the shoulder-pads being orange on a white body with orange shorts.

Prior to the 2011–12 A-League season, the club announced that maroon, which had featured in some way on the clubs' kits since the A-League inception, would be removed and replaced with black. On 5 September 2011, the club released their kits for the upcoming season. The club showed off their home kit, which was orange with black diagonal shoulders with a thin, white line under the black. This was supported by orange with black banded socks. The away kit would turn out to be predominately black, with only the orange shoulders on the top with the white line underneath and the black with orange banded socks. The same pants would be used for both the home and away kits, which would sport two orange bands and a white band on black pants. The kits released were almost identical to the same design used by Tottenham Hotspur during their 2010–11 season with the only difference being full diagonal sashes and a collared neck instead of a "V" neck.

After two seasons in the diagonally sashed kit, both yielding Final Series football, the first season, winning the Grand Final, Puma released a new set of kits, including, for the first time, an alternative strip, deemed by the club as an "Event" kit. The home kit consisted of the usual orange, with black sides, black arm cuffs and a black V-neck collar, which also had a white piece of round-collared fabric attached, which had 3 centrally based lines, white in the centre, orange on the left and black on the right with white on the outside of the black and orange lines. The away kit reverted to the white with orange sides, black arm cuffs and a black V-neck collar. As with the home kit, the away kit had an orange piece of collared fabric attached to the collar, which had 3 centrally based lines, orange in the middle with a white stripe on the left and black on the right of the orange stripe with orange on the outside of the black and white lines. The alternative, or "event" strip, was silver with a top left to bottom right, orange diagonal sash. It also had black arm cuffs and a black V-neck collar with the inner silver fabric and the 3 centrally based stripes. Silver stripe in the middle with a black stripe on either side of the silver stripe and silver on the outside of the two black stripes.

On 15 August 2014, before the 2014 FFA Cup game vs Stirling Lions of the 2014–15 season,the Roar would reveal that Umbro would be making their kits for the next 4 years, ending a 4-year tenure with Puma. Two days later, Brisbane Roar changed their logo to a more "traditional" shield type crest, the biggest change since the club was renamed ahead of the 2009–10 season. The revelation received mixed reviews, some saying it lost the plastic, American franchise logo feel and some saying it's too bland and that not enough time was put into it. Another 2 days later, the Roar would release their new Umbro home kit, ditching the black pants and going with an all orange kit. The top would be completely orange with white piping on the collar with the pants being orange as well and have a white vertical strip going 3/4 of the way up the sides of the pants from the bottom, topped off with orange socks.

Sponsors

On 30 November 2007, the club signed a two and a half year deal with cafe chain The Coffee Club to be their main shirt sponsor. The Coffee Club would re-sign with the Roar in August 2010 for another 3 years, making it one of the longest sponsorship deals in the A-League. After the club's licence was taken back by Football Federation Australia in March 2011, the Coffee Club committed their future to the club, signing a $2 Million dollar, 3-year contract extension, sealing their future as sponsors until at least 2015.

At the conclusion of the 2010-11 A-League season, the League's collective kit deal with Reebok came to an end meaning that all A-League clubs could enter into their own separate kit manufacturer agreements. On 2 August 2011, the Roar announced that Puma would be the clubs' first kit manufacturer decided by the club, and agreed to a three-year deal with the sports brand. The club announced that Puma will manufacture the official playing kits for all Brisbane Roar teams, including the Youth and Women’s teams as well as replica kits and other merchandise.

Before the start of the 2014/15 A-League season Brisbane Roar announced that Umbro would be replacing Puma as the clubs playing kit and apparel partner for the next four seasons. On 24 February 2015, it was announced that Griffith University would be the principal kit Sponsor for the 2015 AFC Champions League campaign.

On 3 July 2015, it was announced that former front shirt sponsor, The Coffee Club will not renew its sponsorship with the club for the 2015/16 season. It was then announced that Ladbrokes will be the front shirt sponsor for the Roar's friendly against Liverpool on 17 July 2015.

Steadfast were announced as "Principal Partners" and "Front of Shirt Sponsors" by the club on 10 August 2015 for the duration of the 2015-16 A-League season. Steadfast had previously sponsored the rear of the men's teams' shirts and this new partnership will see the Steadfast logo feature on the shirts of all three Brisbane Roar teams.

Stadium and facilities

Since their inception, Brisbane Roar have played their home matches at the 52,500-capacity Lang Park (known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons) in the inner-city suburb of Milton. The stadium was also the home ground for the Brisbane Strikers in the now-defunct NSL. The stadium was also one of five venues in the successful 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship where the ground hosted seven matches. Suncorp Stadium has hosted Australian international fixtures, games at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, 2008 Rugby League World Cup and concerts, including the U2 360° Tour.

At the beginning of the 2010–11 Season, during negotiations with the operator of Suncorp Stadium, there were suggestions that the club may move its home games to Ballymore Stadium where the club had its administration and training facilities. However, the owners of the club opted to stay at Suncorp Stadium on a new restructured contract that would ensure the financial viability of hosting games at the more expensive Suncorp Stadium.

Following the flooding of Suncorp Stadium in the 2010–2011 Queensland floods, the Roar were forced to move two home games against Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Heart to the regular home of Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast. These matches are the first 'home' league fixtures that the Roar have played at a venue other than Suncorp Stadium in the club's history.

In a spectacular 2011 A-League Grand Final, the 50,168 strong fans would make history, being the largest crowd to watch both the Roar and a football match in Brisbane. This was bettered the following season when 50,334 people saw Brisbane defeat Perth in the 2012 A-League Grand Final. The attendance of the 2012 Grand Final would be bettered two years later when the 2013–14 Premiers, the Roar, would do the double, beating Western Sydney Wanderers !Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2014 A-League Grand Final in front of 51,153 passionate fans.

During their 2015–16 campaign, the Nathan campus of Griffith University became Brisbane Roar's new training base, with the Roar’s contract at long-time training venue Ballymore Stadium expiring, and the field at their previous Perry Park administration base not meeting the standards required by the Roar. Later, in 2016, Brisbane announced the club would move to a permanent administration and training facility in Logan City. The $9 million Logan Metro Sports Park will also be the home to the club's academy, youth and women's sides, as well as Football Brisbane. Prior to the commencement of the 2016–17, it was announced that Brisbane would return to Ballymore for at least another year, due to the club's new Logan training fields not being complete.

Affiliations

Ownership and finances

Currently, the club is owned by:

Brisbane Roar was established by Queensland Lions SC in March 2005 as the team that would represent Brisbane in the newly formed A-League. Queensland Lions held a majority share in the club through to 2008. It is understood that in 2008 the 25% share owned by Queensland Lions was bought by the Roar board at a discount. This led to financial instability in the club and rumours of the club handing back its A-League licence to Football Federation Australia (FFA). On 16 April 2009 reports surfaced that the FFA were willing to purchase up to a 55% share in the Roar to ensure its financial stability. This 55% encompassed CEO Lawrence Oudendyk's 15% per cent interest, the 25% previously owned by Queensland Lions and the 15% share owned by Rob Jones and Rob Jansen. FFA advised that any takeover by the FFA would see Oudendyk replaced as CEO. Ultimately a new Brisbane-based ownership structure was formed with investors Emmanuel Drivas, Emmanuel Kokoris, Claude Baradel and Serge Baradel taking over 100% ownership of the club.

On 30 April 2009 the FFA confirmed their offer to take a controlling share in the Roar. The new ownership group declined the FFA's assistance on 22 May 2009. The owners' commitment to the club was reinforced in a statement released by Emmanuel Drivas on behalf of the owners on 12 April 2010 after further speculation that the Roar would require financial assistance from the FFA after a poor 2009–10 season.

In March 2011, just a week after the club won its first Grand Final, the FFA would take back the club's licence, agreeing to fund the club until new owners were found. Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley thanked the previous owners for pouring money into the Roar, who could not keep up with the future costs for the club.

On 4 October 2011, The World Game reported that Indonesian mining magnate, The Bakrie Group, would takeover ownership of the club from the FFA under a 10-year term. Under the terms of the deal, The Bakrie Group paid A$8 million for a 70% share of the club, with the FFA retaining the remaining 30% share. Under the terms of this deal, the Bakrie Group had the option to purchase a further 20% stake in the club with the FFA holding the remaining 10% share. The Bakrie Group also own Indonesia Super League club Arema Cronus and Belgian Second Division club C.S. Visé. Following this change of ownership, the new chairman of the Roar was announced as Dali Tahir.

After becoming the first majority-share foreign owner of an A-League team, on 6 February 2012, the FFA announced that Bakrie had acquired 100 percent ownership of the Brisbane club.

On 30 June, it was reported that the Roar's owners, The Bakrie Group, were 9 billion dollars in debt, after having promising to inject 3.5 million dollars into the club. It was later revealed that players and staff, who were due to paid on 15 June – had yet to be remunerated for the month amid growing concerns over the ongoing viability of the three-time champion under the control of the Bakries.

It was announced on 10 July 2015, Brisbane Roar owner The Bakrie Group will sell the A-League club and a new owner will own the club later this month. On 25 July the Football Federation Australia threatened to wind up the Brisbane Roar due to unpaid debts

Support

Brisbane Roar have two supporter groups, the main supporter group is known as The Den. The Den are located in Bay 332 of the Northern stand of Suncorp Stadium, where they have been since the inaugural season of the A-League.

Rivalries

First team squad

Correct as of 30 September 2016 – players' numbers as per the official Brisbane Roar website

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Women's team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Youth team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Honours

Records

Matt McKay presently holds the team record for number of total games played with 196 matches. Besart Berisha is the all-time highest goalscorer in all competitions for the club with 50 goals (48 in A-League and 2 in ACL). Brisbane Roar's highest league home game attendance was 32,371 in 2007 against Sydney FC. The highest grand final match hosted by the club was 51,153.

Brisbane Roar currently hold the record for most A-League Championships won, and furthermore hold the greatest unbeaten streak in Australian sport of 36 games undefeated, spanning two seasons. The record considers only the leagues which currently represent the top level in each of the four major football codes, and any predecessors to those leagues. The record does not include other leagues in these sports, including those which were once considered to be of equivalent standard to today's top leagues.