Our story begins in late-1950s inner Sydney, coinciding with the great wave of post-World War Two migration to Australia.

It is in many ways a typical Australian story of belonging, struggling and succeeding. Above all, it is the story of a football club which grew from the most modest of roots to become a nursery for many of the great Australian footballers of the modern era. From a bunch of refugees playing a pick-up game in Sydney's Moore Park to a giant of Australian football in 65 years.

Ron Giles, Vic Reynolds, Nigel Shepherd, Ron Corry, John Doyle, Dennis Yaager, Atti Abonyi, Graham Arnold, Robbie Slater, Ned Zelic, Tony Popovic, Mark Bosnich, Zeliko Kalac, Tim Cahill, Jason Culina and Mile Jedinak. Just some of the 60+ Australian internationals from the six and a half decades of the existence of the club.

This is also an immigrant story. The two are inseparable. A uniquely Australian success story about having a go - giving your best for yourself and your new country. Not a refugee, not a trouble-making Croat who to the discomfort of the Australian authorities insists on being called by his rightful name. It was hard-headed persistence, sometimes effrontery, and the desire to find a place in their new country on just terms.

Our club initially joined the NSW Soccer Football Association (NSWSFA). However after only one year in the NSWSFA - where our club did not lose a match - Croatia as we were known back then, transferred to the newly formed "rebel" NSW Soccer Federation (NSWSF). After competing in the NSWSF third division in 1959, Croatia eventually won promotion to the first division in 1963. They won their first state league championship in 1977, and repeated this effort with NSW first division titles in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982.

The next step was to join Australia's national league. In the early 1980s, Sydney Croatia were often drawing home attendances of 10,000+ in the NSW state league. Yet the national league clubs of the time could only manage average crowds of 3,000. The national league was crying out for such a heavily-supported club to enter the national competition. But the national league executive had deemed it not appropriate for clubs to enter the league under nationalistic titles. Croatia were not keen to change their name. However after a massive national league shake-up in 1984, Sydney Croatia were accepted into the national league, and under that name.

Large home crowds in these early national league days ensured that Sydney Croatia soon became the most popular club in Sydney. Finals series' were reached in 1985 and 1986.  In 1987, the club reached the final of the national knock-out cup competition, then called the 'Beach Fashions Cup'. Against South Melbourne, Robbie Slater scored the winner in the first leg in Sydney. Graham Arnold was the sole scorer in the second leg which led to a cup final 2-0 aggregate scoreline to Croatia.

In 1988, Sydney Croatia made their first and only league grand final. The score stood at 1-1 after 90 minutes, and 2-2 after 30 minutes of extra time. In front of an audience of over 17,000, the 1988 championship decider then went down to penalties. In the end Marconi came out on top. This game was Farina's last match in Australia before heading off the week after to the 1988 Olympics, and from there to Europe for seven years. Whilst being renamed to Sydney United in 1993, the club ability to be an ever-reliable source of Australian soccer talent did not change.

During many season, particularly in the 90s, our Sydney United squad consisted of 75 percent locally produced players, and which made our Grand Final appearances and Minor Premierships even sweeter. 

During the 1996–97 season, under Branko Culina's the guidance, United added another minor premiership and made its second Grand Final of the decade. In front of an Australian soccer record crowd of 44,000, United lost 2–0 to Farina's Brisbane Strikers. Kresimir Maursic was voted the Prestigious NSL Player of the Year award, and David Zdrillic was the NSL's leading scorer with 21 goals (Ante Milicic finished second, with 19). However, the club lost players to overseas clubs: Popovic, Kalac, Milicic, Zdrilic and Robert Enes.

Former Socceroo striker David Mitchell took over as coach for the 1997–98 season. The club, while struggling, finished fourth with Abbas Saad its top scorer for the season. With Paul Bilokapic and Mark Rudan off to Northern Spirit, United won its third NSL minor premiership during the 1998–1999 season. Led by former St. Albans Dinamo defender Velimir Kupresak and talent from the youth league (such as Jacob Burns, Joel Griffiths and Mile Sterjovski), United reached the NSL Grand Final for the second time. However, in Melbourne against South Melbourne, United lost 3–2 (with goals by Mile Sterjovski and Danny Townsend) in front of 15,000 fans.

Following the demise of the NSL, Sydney United returned to the NSW NPL in 2005, and whilst our national status may have diminished, our standard for football hasn’t. During this period, our club has been NPL Champions twice (2013, 2016), NSW NPL Champions twice (2006, 2020), NSW NPL Premiers three times (2009, 2013, 2016) and Waratah Cup Winners three (2005, 2015, 2016). 

This is only a handful of our accolades during this period, but we feel our crowning achievement, and statement of our clubs ethos came in 2022. 

In 2022, Sydney United became the first NPL club to qualify for the Australia Cup final. Our road to the final included beating the 2021–22 A-League Men champions Western United on penalties in the round of 16 and three-time A-League champions Brisbane Roar in the semi-final 3–2 after extra time. Our club may have lost to Macarthur FC in the final, but the journey there more than certainly has inspired all other clubs outside the A-League to go above and succeed for their own communities!

Many of the pioneers of the club are still with us, but several have passed away. All should be rightly proud of their achievements. For the club's founders, Sydney United 58 FC was created not just for football, but also for the community which nurtured it. Sixty Five years on, the club's contribution to Australian football has been enormous. While there is great pride in the club's Croatian heritage, there is equal pride in what the club has done for Australian football and the broader Australian community, of which it is a part. Building on the foundations of this proud football and community heritage is the way forward. The second, third and fourth generations of supporters must now bear the responsibility to carry the club into the future.

From its origins until today, Sydney United has always been about more than just the game.