| Club: | Auckland City |
| Season: | 2024 |
| Chairman: | Ivan Vuksich |
| Manager: | Albert Riera |
| Stadium: | Kiwitea Street |
| League: | Northern League |
| League Result: | 1st |
| League2: | New Zealand National League |
| League2 Result: | TBD |
| Cup1: | Chatham Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Final |
| Cup2: | OFC Champions League |
| Cup2 Result: | Winners |
| Cup3: | FIFA Intercontinental Cup |
| Cup3 Result: | First Round |
| League Topscorer: | Liam Gillion (10) |
| Season Topscorer: | Liam Gillion (13) |
| Highest Attendance: | 300 vs Wellington Olympic (9 March 2024) OFC Champions League |
| Largest Win: | 5–0 vs Solomon Warriors (N), 17 May 2024, OFC Champions League 5–0 vs Metro (H), 1 June 2024, Chatham Cup 5–0 vs Tauranga City (A), 29 June 2024, Northern League |
| Largest Loss: | 0–1 vs Bay Olympic (H), 24 April 2024, Northern League 0–1 vs Eastern Suburbs (A), 22 June 2024, Northern League |
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| Updated: | 10 August 2024 |
| Prevseason: | 2023 |
| Nextseason: | 2025 |
The 2024 season is the 21st in the history of Auckland City Football Club. In addition to the domestic league, the club is participating in the Chatham Cup for the fourth time and the OFC Champions League for the 19th time. They also qualified for the inaugural edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup by winning the OFC Champions League.
Auckland City began their preseason fixtures with a 1–0 loss to Birkenhead United at the Croatian Cultural Club.[1] The following day the club announced the signing of former England youth international Joe Ridley.[2] [3]
On 21 February 2024, City got their first win of pre-season, defeating West Coast Rangers 3–1 at the Croatian Cultural Club.[4] City grabbed their second win in the same week with a 3–2 win over Eastern Suburbs after being two behind at half time.[4]
City finished their pre-season with a 2–0 win over Manurewa on 2 March 2024.[5]
The league fixtures were announced on 1 March 2024.[6] City play the season opener against local rivals Auckland United in the Dominion Road Derby,[7] [8] and finish the season away at Melville United.[9]
City had a strong start to the season winning their first 5 games, conceding just 6 goals.[10] [11] In their round 9 fixture against Bay Olympic that was brought forward, they suffered their first Northern League defeat since 2022 in what was Albert Riera's 100th game in charge.[12] [13] [14]
As a Northern League side, City received a bye to Round 2 of the Chatham Cup.[15] The Navy Blues were drawn at home to NRFL Championship side Metro in Round 2.[16] [17]
After downing Metro 5–0 in Round 2, City were drawn at home to fellow Northern League side Hamilton Wanderers in Round 3.[18] [19] City beat Hamilton 2–1 thanks to goals from Liam Gillion and Angus Kilkolly.[20]
In Round 4 City were drawn away to NRFL Southern Conference leaders Cambridge.[21] [22] [23] The Navy Blues were able to overcome Cambridge with a 4–1 win qualifying for the quarter-finals.[24]
City were drawn away to Southern Premier League side Otago University in the quarter-final draw.[25]
Auckland City qualified for the 2023 Grand Final on 4 November 2023 after their National League win vs Petone. As the two finalists qualify for the OFC Champions League play-offs this meant they also qualified for the 2024 OFC Champions League.[26] [27] Wellington Olympic qualified on 10 November 2023 after Chirstchurch United lost to rivals Cashmere Technical. This meant Auckland City would face Wellington Olympic in the National play-offs.[28] [29]
The draw for the group stage took place on 17 January 2024 at OFC Home of Football in Auckland, New Zealand. The winner of the play-off between City and Wellington Olympic would face the play-off winners from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji in Group A.[30] [31]
Auckland City announced their Champions League squad on 8 March 2024.[32]
City started their competitive fixtures off with a 1–0 win over Wellington Olympic in the first league of the National play-offs. Stipe Ukich came off the bench to put City in front after 72 minutes, after receiving a ball down the left side from Nathan Lobo.[33] [34] After winning the first leg at home, City only required a draw in the return leg in Wellington.[35] Hamish Watson gave Olympic a lead in the 20th minute after he gained the ball from Vale's header, finishing into the bottom corner. Jesse Randall doubled their lead within 3 minutes, giving them the advantage in the tie. Mario Ilich pulled one back for City, before Watson restored the advantage a minute later. It took Murati three minutes into the second half to tie the aggregate score again, before Cam Howieson found the winner with eight minutes to go. The win for City sees them compete in the group stages for the 19 consecutive season since they first entered the competition.[36] [37] [38] The win also saw them win back the Mediterranean Cup, a cup contested between City and Olympic acknowledging their Croatian and Greek roots.[36]
City were drawn into a group with Fiji's Rewa, Papua New Guinea's Hekari United and Solomon Warriors of the Solomon Islands.[36] [39] After drawing with Rewa in their opening game,[40] City bounced back with a 1–0 win over Hekari United and a 5–0 win over Solomon Warriors to finish top of their group on goal difference.[41] [42] [43] As group winners they played runners-up of Group B, AS Magenta.[44] [45] After heading in to the break scoreless, Stipe Ukich calmy slotted the ball into the far corner in the 66th minute to give City a 1–0 win.[46] This win meant they qualified for the final where they would face Pirae. This was a replay of City's first Oceanian final in 2006, when they faced Pirae at North Harbour Stadium.[47]
City got off to a quick start in the final taking the lead through a Michael den Heijer goal in the 6th minute. Liam Gillion doubled the lead just before half time, with Stipe Ukich and Christian Gray also finding the back of the net in the second half to give City a 4–0 win in the final. This is a record-extending 12th OFC Champions League title for City and their third consecutive.[48] [49]
As winners of the 2024 OFC Champions League, City qualified for the first edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup to be held in December.[49] [50]
Players and squad numbers last updated on 30 June 2024.[32]
Staff last updated on 8 March 2024.[32]
| Position | Staff | |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach |  Albert Riera | |
| Assistant coach |  Ivan Vicelich | |
| Goalkeeper coach | Enaut Zubikarai | |
| Technical | Adrià Casals | |
| Jarrod Wallace | ||
| Physio | Matt Payne |
| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | Unattached | Free transfer | 1 year | 18 February 2024 | |||
| Police | Free transfer | 1 year | 1 March 2024 | ||||
| | Bay Olympic | Free transfer | 1 year | March 2024 | |||
| 6 | Wellington Olympic | Free transfer | 6 months | 31 May 2024 | [51] | ||
| 28 |  | Hamilton Wanderers | Free transfer | 6 months | 9 June 2024 | [52] | |
| 5 | | Western Springs | Free transfer | 6 months | 30 June 2024 | [53] | |
| 17 |  | Manurewa | Free transfer | 6 months | 30 June 2024 | ||
| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 |  | Western Springs | End of contract | 15 December 2023 | [54] | |
| 25 |  | Western Springs | End of contract | 1 January 2024 | [55] | |
| Ifira Black Bird | End of contract | 1 January 2024 | ||||
| 15 | | Western Springs | End of contract | 7 January 2024 | [56] | |
| 17 | | Wellington Olympic | End of contract | 22 January 2024 | [57] | |
| 7 | | Auckland FC | Free transfer | 30 May 2024 | [58] | |
| 19 | | Auckland FC | Free transfer | 19 June 2024 | [59] | |
| 17 | Caroline Springs George Cross | Free transfer | 9 July 2024 | [60] | ||
See main article: 2024 New Zealand National League.
See main article: 2024 Chatham Cup.
See main article: 2024 OFC Champions League.
See main article: 2024 OFC Champions League qualifying stage.
See main article: 2024 OFC Champions League group stage.
See main article: 2024 OFC Champions League knockout stage.
See main article: 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
Includes all competitions. One own goal scored in Northern League.
|-|colspan="16"|Goalkeepers:|-|-|colspan="16"|Defenders:|-|-|colspan="16"|Midfielders:|-|-|colspan="16"|Forwards:|-|-|colspan="16"|Players who left during the season:|-|-
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal.
| Player | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Conor Tracey | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | |
| 2 | 24 | Joe Wallis | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Total | 8 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 14 | |||
Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Award | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GK | Conor Tracey | OFC Champions League Golden Glove | [61] |
| 19 | FW | Liam Gillion | OFC Champions League Golden Ball | |
| Auckland City | OFC Champions League Fair Play Award | |||