April 14th 2024, was a special day for New Zealand football as it was the official launch of the team name, logo and inaugural jersey of the newest A-League club … Auckland FC.
Drum roll … here they are:
In case you didn’t know, the A-League Men (currently known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men’s soccer league in Australia and New Zealand.
Auckland FC is now the second active New Zealand based team, alongside Wellington Phoenix, to join the A-League with their first season being the 2024-25 one. Auckland FC’s first official league match will most likely be the last week of October 2024.
But wait, there’s more … Auckland FC will also be joining the Liberty A-League Women’s league for Season 2025-26. That will be AWESOME for women’s football in New Zealand.
Right, let’s look at the shirt.
What is the Auckland FC kit?
While Auckland team colours are normally blue and white, Auckland FC’s colours will be (electric) blue and black vertical stripes, similar to the shirt of Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A.
Why black instead of white?
The colour black is typically associated with NZ international sport (you know, like the All Blacks and Black Ferns, etc.) and this also goes along with the club’s nickname “Black Knights” which we will talk more about later.
In you look more at the details of the shirt made by New Balance, you can see it is pinstriped … you know, with those thin little lines. The intention of that was totally intentional, to make us fans that have a bit of a belly … look slimmer.
What I am curious to know is how the sponsor will appear on the front. Will it be a black box with their name or what? More importantly, WHO do you think will be Auckland FC’s first sponsor?
Meanwhile, you can pre-order their inaugural shirt online… Ange and I did it on launch day!
Now let’s look at the club logo (or crest or shield or badge or whatever you want to call it).
Auckland FC Logo
Again, the Auckland FC logo is simple but elegant. It doesn’t need all of those squiggly details you sometimes see in other club logos (you know, like Wellington Phoenix, etc.) which means it is easier to reproduce it. The club logo is similar to a knight’s visor with a peak at the top in the form of a letter A (you know, for Auckland) which is also a tribute to Rangitoto, of course an iconic feature of Auckland.
I imagine they couldn’t use the other Auckland icon, the Sky Tower, as it already appears in the middle of the Auckland City FC logo. I’m glad they didn’t use the Sky Tower as this aesthetically more balanced or elegant.
Underneath the volcanic A are the three letters AFC in a “tan” colour. Maybe a full-on gold colour didn’t look so good when they were creating the logo, maybe it stuck out too much. With a “tan” colour, again, it goes well with the blue and black.
I just had a thought, maybe they didn’t want any yellow as that is a Wellington Phoenix thing.
You can also see the 20-24 number, the year of the club’s founding, nicely placed at the bottom of the logo under the “nose” of the helmet.
What do you think of the Auckland FC logo?
So, we have the club name (Auckland FC), a shirt with a logo on it (not sure about shorts, I haven’t seen any – they must be optional) but where are they going to play?
Where will Auckland FC play?
For the first seasons, Auckland FC’s home stadium will be Mt. Smart Stadium though the club’s billionaire owner, Bill Foley, mentioned in November last year that he wants to build their own stadium with eyes currently on an Auckland waterfront stadium.
The question is, WHERE will they train? They most likely won’t be able to train at Mt. Smart, I think because of the New Zealand Warriors League team using the facilities. So, where would they train? I imagine somewhere that isn’t openly accessible (or viewable) by the public. You know, because Wellington Phoenix will be looking for tips on how to play properly.
So, with a kit and a home stadium, we just need the final ingredient … rum … oops, I mean players.
Auckland FC Players
In an interview, they mentioned that they already have 9 players signed, 7 New Zealand players and 2 from Australia BUT they can’t say who until the season is over and out of respect for the players and their clubs since, they ARE still under contract elsewhere. They have also said they will definitely use the 5 foreigners limit and intend on having a squad of 25.
Official player announcements are expected from June 2024… BUT I have an exclusive for you.
I personally have been invited by Auckland FC for the position of LEFT RIGHT OUT.
If you heard it on the internet, it must be true!
Rob’s personal thoughts
Never eat that green furry stuff that grows in the back of your fridge … Oh wait, thoughts about Auckland FC, ok …
The name is quite simple but says all it needs to. One of the names that was being thrown around as an option was Auckland Volcanoes … I’m so glad that didn’t happen!
There may be a bit of confusion with Auckland City FC at the beginning … yes, it’s different but people will get used to it or will starting using Black Knights for the team.
Ange and I are going ALL IN to support Auckland FC. In fact, we have already paid our deposit to be founding members and to have our own season seats. We’ve also pre-ordered our club shirts which we will show when they arrive.
So, we’re really looking forward to the upcoming season AND can’t wait for the ball to start rolling … UP THE KNIGHTS!!!
(Or whatever else we are supposed to say, it’s all new, it’s all unexplored territory, times are exciting!)
Until next time, have an awesome day!
You can read the SPANISH version of this article here:
(Puedes ver la versión en español de este artículo aquí)
