Bentleigh Greens Club History

Around the middle of the year in 1986 a small group of former members of Melbourne Cyprus Community’s Soccer Club, Central City, met at 15-17 Heffernan Lane. This group determined to create a strong Greek Cypriot based team in Melbourne.

There were two previous failed attempts, one in the mid 1950’s and secondly Central City from 1977 to 1983 which ran under the control of the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria from 1977 to 1980. The “Founders” at this initial meeting were Michael Christopher, Ray Georgiou, Andrew Nicolaou, Michael Iaonnou, Harry Theocharous, Phillip Philippou, Tony Antoniou and Harry Constantinou.

After making a huge fund raising effort and gathering together 150 foundation members we were able to take over Greensborough and move it to Victory Park in the then City of Moorabbin.

The name of the club was changed to Bentleigh Greens.

The club competed in the First Division of the Provisional League in the 1987 season. That year the club finished runners up to Chelsea on goal difference.

At the AGM of November 1992, the meeting recommended that a community and cultural committee should be established in order to broaden the appeal of the club and increase the participation rate of Cypriots in: Soccer and related Sports, Health and Community Care, Senior Citizens activities, Performing Arts groups, Youth Club activity.

The club has since achieved 5 promotions in 9 seasons: 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995 plus a Vic-Health Youth championship in 1993-94.

Bentleigh Greens have also won the Hellenic Cup on six occassions: 1991, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003 & 2010.

In 1996, Bentleigh Greens were promoted to the Victorian Premier League, for the first time the club would compete in Victoria's top tier.

In 2010, The Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, Bentleigh Greens' home ground, underwent a $3 million upgrade. This included the building a 3,300 capacity grandstand and pavilion, smaller grandstand, function and club rooms, change rooms, artificial pitches and broadcast-quality lighting.

In 2014, Bentleigh Greens made the inaugural FFA Cup Semi Finals, the only state team to do so. They were eventually knocked out by A-League Perth Glory but the dream FFA Cup run was savoured by club fans, players and staff.

In 2015, Bentleigh Greens their first ever League Championship, defeating South Melbourne in the Final to lift the NPL Victoria title.

2016 saw the club claim its first Premiers Plate in Victoria's top division, finishing the season with 59 points. Bentleigh also added the Dockerty Cup to its trophy cabinet for the first time as well as reaching the quarter finals of the FFA Cup, eventually going down 2-0 to Melbourne Victory at Kingston Heath.

In 2017, after a fourth-placed league finish, Bentleigh secured its second NPL Championship in three years when it beat Heidelberg United 2-1. Goalkeeper Ryan Scott took out the Jim Rooney Medal, awarded to the best player on the pitch.

Bentleigh became the 6th member federation side in FFA Cup history to knock out an A-League opponent when it beat Wellington Phoenix FC 1–0 at Kingston Heath in August 2018

The Greens finished a point off top spot, but lost 4–3 to Avondale in the semi-final.