Adelaide United Football Club is an Australian professional association football (soccer) club based in Adelaide, South Australia. It currently participates in the A-League as the sole team from the state of South Australia. Adelaide is one of the most successful clubs in the A-League. The club’s home ground is Hindmarsh Stadium.

The club was founded in 2003 to fill the place vacated by Adelaide City in the former National Soccer League (NSL). Adelaide United were premiers in the inaugural 2005–06 A-League season, finishing 7 points clear of the rest of the competition, before finishing 3rd in the finals, The Reds (the team’s new nickname) were also Grand Finalists in the 2006–07 and 2008–09 seasons.

The 2006-07 season saw Brazilian international Romario join the club for a four-game stint. Adelaide have the best winning record of all clubs in the A-League. Adelaide is the only A-League club to be present at the Asian Champions League more than once, making them the most successful Australian club in Asia. Adelaide however have not won the domestic A-league Championship.

The 2007–08 season was a season to forget for Adelaide as they battled a huge amount of player injury throughout the season. This effectively ended their finals hopes and it was the first time Adelaide failed to make the top two in A-League history.

2007 Campaign

Adelaide United were selected, along with Sydney FC, as the first Australian representatives to play in the 2007 AFC Champions League. They received their Asian berth as A-League premiers. Adelaide was drawn into Group G with Chinese champion Shandong Luneng Taishan, Korean champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Vietnamese league and Super Cup champions Gach Dong Tam Long An.

Adelaide lost to Shandong 1-0, defeated Long An 2-0, drew with Seongnam 2-2, then lost to the Korean team 1-0. The Reds broke Shandong’s winning streak in a 2-2 draw, before finishing its campaign with a 3-0 win over Long An, thanks to a hat trick from Travis Dodd. This match marked the last Adelaide United appearances of Fernando Rech and Carl Veart as the 1-0 loss to Seongyam knocked Adelaide out of Quarter Finals contention. Adelaide finished 3rd in its group, ahead of Long An and behind Shandong; with group winner Seongnam making the semi-finals. Dodd scored on 4 occasions, Rech 3 times, and Olyroos players Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns one a piece.
[edit] 2008 Campaign

Adelaide United participated in the 2008 AFC Champions League after finishing runner-up in the 2006-07 regular season and finals series to Melbourne Victory. Adelaide was drawn into Group E, along with V-League and Super Cup winners Bình Dương F.C., CSL champions Changchun Yatai, and K-League winners Pohang Steelers.

In their opening match of the 2008 campaign, Adelaide United defeated Pohang 2-0 in Korea. United drew against Changchun 0-0 in their second game, defeated Bình Dương 2-1 in Vietnam and followed this up with a 4-1 victory in the return leg. In their final group tie at home, Adelaide defeated Pohang 1-0, setting up a deciding away tie against Changchun to determine the Group E winner. In Changchun, Adelaide withstood considerable pressure to achieve an historic 0-0 draw, thus becoming the first Australian team to ever progress to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League.

Adelaide drew J-League and Emperor’s Cup champions Kashima Antlers in a two legged Quarter final starting in Japan, where they managed a 1-1 draw. Adelaide captain Travis Dodd scored first in the opening half, but right before halftime the Japanese side were gifted an equaliser when Robert Cornthwaite scored passed his own goalkeeper. In the return leg at the Hindmarsh Stadium a week later, Adelaide became the first Australian team to progress to the semifinals of the competition with a 1-0 win. Cornthwaite redeemed himself from his own goal in the first leg by scoring the only goal of the game midway through the second half.

Adelaide drew 2007 Uzbek League Runners-up FC Bunyodkor in the semi-final, after the Uzbeks knocked out Saipa F.C. in their quarter-final. In the first leg of the semi-final, Adelaide won 3-0 with Diego, Barbiero, and Cristiano (via a penalty) scoring. The match was witnessed by 16,998 fans (498 over capacity) at the Hindmarsh Stadium.[11]

In the second leg of the semi finals Adelaide United lost 1-0 to FC Bunyodkor but went through to the final 3-1 on aggregate[12]. Thus they became the first Australian team to make it to the final of Asia’s premier club competition.[13] In the two legged final, they took on Japanese team Gamba Osaka who deposed 2007 champions Urawa Red Diamonds in the other semifinal.[14]

This result ensured that Adelaide would participate in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup either as the AFC representatives or as the highest placed non-Japanese team – as the rules do not allow more than one Japanese team to participate.[15]

Adelaide lost heavily over two legs to Gamba Osaka. The score was 3-0 to Osaka at Osaka and 2-0 to Osaka at Adelaide, the Japanese club winning 5-0 on aggregate.[16]
[edit] 2010 Campaign

Adelaide will again compete in the Champions League in 2010 after finishing second on the 2008-09 A-League league table, and runner-up in the Finals series to cross-border rivals, Melbourne Victory.[17] This will mark the return of Adelaide United to the continental club champions’ tournament after a 1 year absence. Adelaide were drawn in Group H.

Official website: www.adelaideunited.com.au