Cooma FC

Tigers FC
Full nameCooma Tigers Football Club
Nickname(s)Tigers
Founded1952
GroundAIS Field 2 Oval
Capacity1,000
Coordinates36°13′52.5″S 149°7′15.5″E / 36.231250°S 149.120972°E / -36.231250; 149.120972
ManagerHatef Biegi
LeagueNPL Capital Football
20244th of 8
Websitehttps://www.tigers-fc.com.au/

Cooma Tigers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club previously based in Cooma, New South Wales. Now based in Canberra (ACT) The club is affiliated with Capital Football and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues 1 ACT and the Community State Leagues Capital Football in the ACT. Cooma's home venue is AIS Field 2 Oval.

History

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Cooma Football Club was formed in 1952 by the workforce of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme which attracted people from all over the world to the Australian Alps. Cooma FC is one of the oldest continuous football clubs in Australia with a very proud tradition considering the small region in which it resides.[1]

In 2014, Cooma won the league premiership for the first time in the club's sixty-three-year history. The Tigers defeated title rivals Belconnen United 3–0 at home to clinch the title.[2]

In 2015, Cooma FC announced a partnership with club Brindabella Blues FC. The partnership saw Brindabella Blues administer and run the U12, U14, U16 and U18 NPL programs out of Brindabella's home at Calwell District Playing Fields while the U20 and senior NPL programs remain based in Cooma with Cooma FC. At the time the NPL games were split between Calwell playing fields and Nijong, with U12, U14 and U16 playing at Calwell and U18, U20 and first grade playing at Nijong Oval Cooma, Capital Football Board insisted that the two clubs must form a new entity, the two clubs agreed to form Tigers FC as their NPL club.[3]

In 2016, the Tigers fell short of winning the league title by three points as Canberra Olympic claimed the premiership.[4] In the finals series Cooma lost the major semi-final to Olympic 5–3 on penalties after the two sides drew 2–2 after 120 minutes. The Tigers had looked certain to advance to the grand final as they headed into the final minutes of the match 2–1 up but a late goal by Colombian striker Phillippe Bernabo-Madrid sent the match into extra time.[5] Cooma advanced to the preliminary final against Canberra FC but a number of injuries in the lead up to the match saw a depleted Tigers lose the match 1–5 and end the club's season.[6] Cooma also missed out on reaching the round of 32 of the FFA Cup in 2016 when they lost the Capital Football Federation Cup final to Olympic 1–3 at Deakin Stadium on 18 June 2016.[7]

Tigers won the NPL ACT mens title twice in 2019 and 2021, as well as reaching the australia cup knockout stage against APIA.[7]

In 2022 Cooma Tigers FC rebranded itself as Canberra Tigers, then Tigers FC, they relocated to canberra under a new logo, and jersey colour going from yellow to orange to better fit the name tigers.

Current squad

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As of 6th January 2025 [8]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Australia AUS Gabe Taurasi
DF Australia AUS Nikola Taneski
DF Australia AUS Sam Whitehear
7 FW Australia AUS Josh Millicević
DF Australia AUS Marko Miluntovic
11 FW Australia AUS Archie McGregor
DF Australia AUS Nikolas Popovich
13 DF Australia AUS Shandon Whitehead
DF Australia AUS Nathen Megic
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF Australia AUS Bailey Dickinson
MF Australia AUS Angus Pitkin
12 GK Australia AUS Jakob Cole
MF Chile CHI Alessandro Pena
9 DF Albania ALB Jack Bitani
MF Australia AUS Hamish Wales
MF Japan JPN Tomohiro Ogowa
MF Australia AUS Nicholas Pulciani
MF Greece GRE Nikos Kalfas
10 FW Italy ITA Cristian Barresi
DF Australia AUS Noah Steinacker

Staff

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Club management

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As of 4th of February 2022[9]
Club Management
Position Name
Club President Mauritius Gerard Rampal
Vice President England Ian Worthington
Director Australia TurkeyAli Efe
Treasurer Australia Nicolas Alcaazar
Junior Coordinator Australia Mark Burke
Head Coach Iran Hatef Biegi

Club identity

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Club colours

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Cooma FC has traditionally used yellow and black, including at a community level. But is now Orange and Black following their club rebrand in 2022 to just Tigers FC after relocating to Canberra. Tigers remains one of the top contenders in the ACT MENS NPL 1, having won 2 titles in 2019 and 2021, as well as reaching the australia cup knockout stages facing APIA in 2021, Tigers made the 2024 NPL1 Grand Final narrowly losing to canberra croatia.

Having recruited Capital Football Representative coaches Ali Efe, Hatef Biegi and Ian Worthington the squad has seen major improvements getting some of the best young players in Canberra to play for the Tigers as well as bringing home canberra players who went to play interstate at teams such as the central coast mariners.

Club Grounds

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Their home previous home ground in cooma was Nijong Oval, located in the middle of Cooma. Now having relocated to Canberra they play at the AIS, whilst juniors play at Ainslie Enclosed oval

Honours

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  • Womens State League 2
Premiers (1): 2014[10]
  • Womens State League 3
Premiers (1): 2021[11]
Champions (1):2021 (finals cancelled due to COVID pandemic)
  • Mens State League 1
Premiers (1): 2018[12]
  • Mens State League 2
Premiers (1): 2016[13]
  • NPL Mens ACT
Premiers (2): 2019[13]2021
Runner-up (5): 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016 Winners 2019 Federation Cup

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Brief History". coomafc.net. Archived from the original on 29 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  2. ^ Gaskin, Lee (17 August 2014). "Cooma Tigers win Capital Football NPL championship for first time". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  3. ^ "BBFC & Cooma SC form NPL partnership – Tigers FC". bbfc.org.au. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Entrants confirmed for PS4 NPL 2016 Finals Series". nationalpremierleagues.com.au. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  5. ^ Dutton, Chris (28 August 2016). "Capital Football: Canberra Olympic win tense shootout with Tigers to book grand final spot". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  6. ^ Helmers, Caden (5 September 2016). "Capital Football NPL: Canberra FC advance to the decider with Cooma thumping". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  7. ^ a b Hall, James (18 June 2016). "Canberra Olympic to play on national stage in FFA Cup". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  8. ^ "O'Connor Knights Team List". www.sportstg.com. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  9. ^ https://www.tigers-fc.com.au/
  10. ^ "Ladder for Women's Division 2".
  11. ^ "Ladder for Div 3 - State League Women's".
  12. ^ "Ladder for Men's State League Division 1".
  13. ^ a b "Ladder for Men's Division 2".
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