Marconi Stallions FC

Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marconi, a social and sporting club founded in 1958 by Italian immigrants who settled in Sydney's western suburbs. It earned promotion to the top tier of soccer in New South Wales and established itself as one of the strongest clubs in Sydney during the 1970s, before becoming a founding member of the National Soccer League in 1977. Marconi, along with South Melbourne, were one of just two clubs to compete in all 27 seasons of the now-defunct National Soccer League. The club won its first national title in 1979 but the Stallions' heyday came in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when they won a further three NSL titles across six seasons, twice also finishing on top of the ladder as minor premiers. Marconi has produced at least six former captains of the Australia national soccer team, as well as former Internazionale and Italy national football team striker Christian Vieri who came through its junior ranks while his father Roberto lived and played in Sydney. Other Marconi youth products include former Leeds United, Liverpool and Australian winger Harry Kewell, former Middlesbrough and national team goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, current AZ goalkeeper and national team captain Mathew Ryan, ex-Lazio and Fiorentina midfielder Paul Okon, and former Bari striker Frank Farina, who went on to coach the Australia men's national soccer team. Marconi currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW; the second tier of soccer in Australia. Its home games are played at the 9000-capacity Marconi Stadium in the suburb of Bossley Park in Sydney's west; a venue known affectionately by players and fans as the Palace. Over the years, the club has been known as Club Marconi, Marconi-Datsun Leopards, Marconi-Fairfield and Marconi Stallions.