Bankstown City Lions Football Club, commonly referred to as Bankstown City Lions or simply Bankstown City, is an Australian football club from Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the NSW League One Men's, playing their home games at Jensen Oval.
History In the 1940s and 1950s the original Bankstown club played at Bankstown Oval and then in the 1960s and 1970s, they played out of a ground at Stacey Street and Gartmore Ave, Bankstown, then known as Bankstown Soccer Centre and now Ruse Park.
In 1975, Yagoona Macedonia was created by Macedonian immigrants in Yagoona. They competed in their first domestic season and their first recorded game by the Bankstown Soccer Federation against Padstow.
By 1988, the original Bankstown club had become insolvent and there was no elite team in the local area for several years. A local consortium purchased Maccabi Hakoah's licence to participate in the New South Wales Division 2. Bankstown once again had a team in the NSW State League. The new club had strong support from the local Bankstown and wider Macedonian community in Sydney, and named itself "Sydney Macedonia". Sydney Macedonia finished 3rd in 1988.
In 1989, the club was Champion of Division 2, losing only 3 games all season and received promotion to New South Wales Division 1. They finished 6th in their first year in Division 1.
In 1992, Sydney Macedonia played its first game in the top tier of NSW Football since the early 1970s. The following year, the club finished 2nd, however they went on to win the grand final, scoring a goal in the final minute against perennial rival Blacktown City, and were Premiers of 1993. This was the first ever time that Bankstown had its team as champions of the NSW State League.
1994 was the most successful season in the club's history. The team lost only 1 game in the season, winning 16 games in total. They scored 52 goals and conceded 9, and went on to win the grand final and finished as back-to-back Champions. In addition, Sydney Macedonia went on to play Sydney Olympic in the 1994 Waratah Cup Final at Marconi Stadium. Sydney Macedonia defeated Sydney Olympic, an NSL team, 2–1 at a sold out Marconi Stadium. The club had ensured the treble: Premiers, Back to Back Champions, Cup Winners. This still is the most successful accomplishment for football in Bankstown. After the 1994 season, the club reverted to its current name.
In 2001, Bankstown City won the NSW Winter Super League and were promoted to the NSW Premier League. The club's members financed an upgrade to their home ground at Jensen Oval, which saw the installation of TV Standard lighting and covered seating.
In 2004, Bankstown City finished in the top four earning participation in the finals series. They went on to win the NSWPL Grand Final against Belconnen in front of 7500 fans at Marconi Stadium, bringing back the Championship to Bankstown for the first time in 10 years.
In 2005 local junior, former Socceroo and current player Sasho Petrovski re-joined Bankstown when the NSL was disbanded. Bankstown City started the season strongly, and finished the season in first place on the ladder despite losing Petrovski, and Chad Gibson to the A-League midway through the season. Peter Tsekenis took on the role of Player/Coach, and Bankstown City were for the second time in a decade back-to-back Champions, defeating Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3–1 in the Grand Final in front of 8000 fans at Parramatta Stadium.
The 2007 season the first grade finished in second position on the ladder. In the finals, Bankstown City were defeated by Blacktown City in the grand final 3–1. While the youth finished in 3rd spot of the club championship, their highest achievement since coming into the competition.
Bankstown City defeated Sydney Olympic in the Final of the Waratah Cup for the second time in 2008 and prevailing 3–1 winners.
They were relegated to the NSW Super League (Tier 2) in 2011. In 2013 they competed in a revamped National Premier Leagues NSW 2 competition and suffered a further relegation to the NPL NSW 3 Men's competition in 2017.
In 2022, National Premier Leagues NSW 3 competition rename as NSW League Two and as end of season 2022, Bankstown City finish tops 8 and earning promotion back in NSW League One in 2023, due to a restructuring of Football NSW competitions.
Supporters
Bankstown City FC generally draws support from Macedonian Australians, especially from the south-western suburbs of Sydney such as Bankstown and Yagoona
"The Lions Pride" is the name given to the actively vocal supporters group of the football club.
Rivalries
Sydney Olympic FC "Tensions always high between these two staunch rivals". This is due to the rivalry steming from the Macedonia naming dispute, but also from the fact that the two clubs are some of Sydney's largest and most successful and have often contested each other for silverware such as the 1994 Waratah Cup final where Bankstown came out on top.
Rockdale Ilinden FC Bankstown City and Rockdale Ilinden are the two biggest Macedonian Clubs New South Wales but Bankstown were the dominant force in this matchup until the late 2010s with Bankstown suffering relegation and Rockdale rising to the top of Football NSW and becoming premiers. This rivalry is a friendly rivalry with fans often following both clubs and hoping they both succeed.
Various other important rivalries over the years included matches against Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC, Sydney United 58 FC, Canterbury Bankstown FC, and Bankstown United.
Current squad
First team squad
U20s Players to have been featured in a first-team matchday squad for Bankstown City in a competitive match
Notable players On 20 June 2025, Bankstown City announced a "Team of the Half-Century" to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Management Coaching staff PositionStaffHead coach Panagiotis Nikas Assistant coach William TsovolosCoaches Huseyin Jasli Yannick MifsudGoalkeeper coach Ante Covic
Seasons
SeasonLeagueWaratahCupAustraliaCupOtherTop scorerPlayer(s)Goals 1988 NSW State League Second Division 26 1835 7040 393rdRU 1989 NSW State League Second Division 26 2123 7217 441st↑– 1990 NSWSL 16 925 2522 206th–RU 1991 NSWSL 22 75+19 2930 329th– 1992 NSWSL 22 110+47 3930 376th– Scott Gilbert 16 1993 NSWSL 26 164+24 5325 582ndW QF 1994 NSWSL 22 162+31 529 551stWW Scott Gilbert16 1995 NSWSL 26 99+08 5545 416th–6R Nikolce Joseski171996 NSWSL1 13 625 2820 205th– 5R Nikolce Joseski 21 NSWSL2 13634 252421 5th 1997 NSWSL 20 767 3230 275thEFRU Bobby Zafirov - Nick Bosevski 5 1998 NSWSL 22 1147 4834 377th– Mile Todoroski 6 1999 NSWSL 22 1318 4331 405thPF Mendo Lozevski 10 2000 NSWSL 26 989 3938 357th 2001 NSWSL 22 1453 3914 471st↑RU 2001–02 NSWPL 22 1057 5148 357th – 2002–03 NSWPL 22 6511 2845 2310th Aleksander Asanovic 7 2003–04 NSWPL 22 1228 4033 243rdW 3R Matthew Borg 19 2004–05 NSWPL 22 1363 3828 451stW 3R 2006 NSWPL 18 1035 3528 332nd PF 3R 2007 NSWPL 18 873 2920 312ndRU 3R Tallan Martin 11 2008 NSWPL 22 769 2727 277th – W W Robert Mileski 5 2009 NSWPL 22 1156 3931 384th QF QF Hussein Salameh 11 2010 NSWPL 22 7510 3741 268th – 4R Robert Mileski 11 2011 NSWPL 22 6313 3047 2111th↓– 4R F. Graham - A. Hadid - H.Salameh - 5 2012 NSW Super League 22 1534 5329 482nd PF QF W Gosue Sama 21 2013 NPL NSW 2 22 7510 3040 2610th 3R Sasho Petrovski 10 2014 NPL NSW 2 22 6106 3637 287th– 4R Bradley Boardman 5 2015 NPL NSW 2 22 1066 5620 365thRU 6R Chris Gomez 12 2016 NPL NSW 2 22 1439 5341 453rd EF 5R Chris Gomez 12 2017 NPL NSW 2 26 5120 3281 1614th↓– 4R Huseyin Jasli 13 2018 NPL NSW 3 26 1448 6341 465thEF4R Ante Tomic 22 2019 NPL NSW 3261736 8247 543rd SF4R Nikola Todoroski 32 2020 NPL NSW 311803 3024 242ndRU Not Held Ante Tomic 8 2021 NPL NSW 316952 392832season cancelled 5R Nikola Todoroski 10 2022 NSW League Two221219 4438376th↑ – 5R Nikola Todoroski 16 2023 NSW League One309813404235 10th Not held 3R Jonathan Grozdanovski9 2024 NSW League One3018575735593rd Not held 4R W Chris Payne19 2025 NSW League One301141538453710th Not held 4R Jonathan Grozdanovski18 2026 NSW League One3017586545563rd Not held 5R Bai Antoniou 18
Honours
League NSW First Division Championship (level 2) Champions (4): 1993, 1994, 2003/2004, 2004/2005 Runners-up: 2007 NSW First Division Premiership (level 2) Champions (2): 1994, 2004/2005 Runners-up: 1993, 2006, 2007 NSW Second Division Championship (level 3) Runners-up: 2001, 2015 NSW Second Division Premiership (level 3) Champions (2): 1989, 2001 Runners-up: 2012 NSW Third Division Championship (level 4) Runners-up: 2020 NSW Third Division Premiership (level 4) Runners-up: 2020 Promoted: 2022
Cups Waratah Cup Winners (2): 1994, 2008 Runners-up: 1990, 1997 Johnny Warren Cup Winners (1): 2008 Maso Cup Winners (2): 2012, 2024 Runners-up: 2026
Bankstown City Women
2013 was a milestone year for the club with the introduction of Women's teams. The senior team were competitive from the start and secured promotion from the third tier Women's State League to the National Premier League 2 in 2015.
In 2017, Bankstown City were crowned Champions of the NPL2 Women's, defeating Sydney Olympic in the Grand Final and earning promotion to the NPL1 Women's for the first time in 2018.
The 2018 NPL 1 Women's season saw Bankstown in a relegation battle against Sutherland for the duration of the season, with the Club winning their last match, and finishing 10th out of 12 teams.
Notes
References