Adelaide Blue Eagles

Full name	Azzurri Sports Club Inc
Nickname(s)	Blue Eagles, Azzurri, ABE
Founded	1958; 66 years ago (1958)
Ground	Marden Sports Complex
Capacity	6,000
Chairman	Rep Giordano
Senior Coach	Andrej Rastovac
League	SA State League 1
2023	7th of 12
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The Azzurri Sports Club is home to the Adelaide Blue Eagles (ABE), a soccer club based at the Marden Sports Complex, South Australia. It has formerly been known as Napoli Sports Club, Eastern Districts, Eastern Districts Napoli Sports Club, and Eastern Districts Azzurri. Blue Eagles is a participant in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. ABE is a predominantly Italian Australian-supported club.

History

• The club was founded in June 1958 as the Napoli Sports Club, owing to most of the inaugural members originating from the Campania region around Naples in Italy. The name was changed to Eastern Districts due to the (then governing body) South Australian Soccer Football Association's ruling of only allowing one Italian named club in the local competition. The club was incorporated as Eastern Districts Napoli Sports Club, with the team known as Eastern Districts, as it represented a number of eastern suburbs of Adelaide.^[1]
• The club entered a team in the Metropolitan League in 1959 and played its first game against Edinburgh, losing 11–1. At first all home games were played at the Victoria Park Racecourse, then in the South Parklands, followed by Adey Reserve in Firle. The club moved to the new facilities at Marden in 2000.^[1]
• In 1962 the club played under the name of Eastern Districts Napoli and in 1966 adopted the name Eastern Districts Azzurri. In 1968 the club amalgamated with Seacliff Austria, which enabled them to acquire a place in the 1st division. In 1993 the club changed its name to Adelaide Blue Eagles, with the intention of broadening its appeal.^[1]
• Since its inception the club has been very successful particularly in the last decade. It has established itself as one of the leaders of local football both on and off the field, fielding many teams at all levels.^[1]
• They currently^[when?] run a side which competes in the Amateur League, called MSSC Blue Eagles. MSSC stands for Molinara Sports & Social Club.^{[citation needed]}

Current squad

As of 2022^[update] the main squad includes:

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 11  ARG Agustín Moreira 5  AUS Christopher Annicchiarico 6  AUS Brylon Nthoane 7  AUS Sheikman Hutton-Addy 8  AUS Damien Crettenden 9  ARG Dante Isla 10  ITA Gianmarco Mancini 26  AUS Evan Kounavelis 13  ERI Alemayo Kebede 14  AUS Stefan Gluscevic

No. Pos. Nation Player 15  AUS Christian D'Angelo 16  AUS Hamish McCabe 17  AUS Liam McCabe 20  AUS Julian Spadavecchia 21  AUS Beau Ieraci 24  AUS Antoni Panagoulias 23  AUS Adrian Barone 25  AUS Jack Vanderhaak —  AUS Nikolas Harpas

Club honours

1st Division Champions: 10

1981, 1982, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2011

Federation Cup Winners: 6

1984, 1986, 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2010

1st Division Minor Premiers: 6

1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2002

Coca-Cola Cup Winners: 3

1981, 1982 & 1990

Former players

• Peter Deng, later in the South Sudan national football team^[2]
• Thomas Deng, later in the Australia national football team^[2]