Perth Glory

Conjured out of Perth Oval, December 1995

Perth Glory was formally established on 1 December 1995 by a consortium fronted by the Western Australian businessman Nick Tana, and entered the National Soccer League for the 1996–97 season — a club built to give a city 2,000 miles from the nearest rival something of its own. The early returns were quick. Glory topped the table as minor premiers in 1999–2000, then drew the grand final 3–3 with Wollongong Wolves and lost on penalties.

The titles came in the league's final years. Glory beat Sydney Olympic 2–0 in the 2002–03 grand final, then won again in 2003–04, defeating Parramatta Power in the last grand final the NSL ever staged. Two of the club's records still date from that period: Bobby Despotovski's 129 goals and Jamie Harnwell's 256 appearances.

Twenty-two A-League seasons and two grand finals lost on the night

Glory was one of the eight founding clubs when the A-League replaced the NSL in 2005. The 2011–12 campaign ended in a grand final defeat to Brisbane Roar. The better side came later: in 2018–19 Glory won the premiership with 18 wins from 27 matches, ending a trophy drought stretching back 15 years to the NSL days.

The grand final that followed was played at Optus Stadium in front of 56,371 — a record crowd for football in Perth — and Sydney FC won it 4–1 on penalties. That remains the high-water mark of the A-League era for the club, and the reference point every rebuild since has been measured against.

Three owners, and a football department rebuilt under the third

Tana ran the club until 2006. Tony Sage held it from 2007 to 2023, a tenure that ended with the club in administration and the league itself temporarily running it. The Pelligra Group's takeover was announced on 16 February 2024, with Ross Pelligra as chairman.

The football side is now run by Stan Lazaridis as football director, with Anthony Radich as chief executive — a structure that has driven the recruitment and the coaching decisions of the past two windows.

Griffiths, 10th place, and a two-year bet made anyway

David Zdrilic started 2025–26 as head coach and departed on 28 October 2025, with Adam Griffiths — an assistant at the club since July 2025 — taking over. The season did not turn around completely: Glory finished 10th on 31 points from 26 matches, eight won, seven drawn, eleven lost, and missed the finals. The best night was a 3–0 home win over Central Coast Mariners on 10 January 2026; the worst were 0–4 defeats to Melbourne City on 25 October 2025 and Adelaide United on 20 February 2026. Tom Lawrence, Nicholas Pennington and Adam Taggart each finished on five league goals.

The board still extended Griffiths. A two-year deal taking him through to the end of 2027–28 was announced on 13 May 2026. Griffiths framed it as unfinished work: "We have done a lot of the hard work; built the culture, set the standards and created a belief in this group that wasn't here before. Now we go and deliver." Radich said the progress under Griffiths, who got the job "under difficult circumstances early last season", was clear enough to justify it.

A squad remade for the anniversary season

The summer took the club's biggest name. Adam Taggart's departure was announced on 28 August 2026, two days before he signed a one-year contract with Hanoi FC, coached by Harry Kewell. Taggart was 33, in his third spell at Glory, and by the club's own account its all-time leading A-League goalscorer, top scorer outright or jointly in four consecutive seasons and a two-time winner of its Men's MGP Award. Lazaridis said a large personal offer had been tabled and that blocking it "would have been wrong for us as a club". Scott Wootton retired after 16 years in the game to become technical director of the club's senior academy, and goalkeeper Mark Birighitti left by mutual agreement.

The replacements are younger and, in one case, a genuine coup. Calem Nieuwenhof arrived on a season-long loan from Heart of Midlothian on 17 June 2026 — a 25-year-old defensive midfielder who made the PFA A-League Team of the Season with Western Sydney Wanderers in 2022–23 before three years in Scotland, and who said he joined simply to get "back playing consistently". Lucas Scicluna came on a free from Newcastle Jets and Matthew Dench from Brisbane Roar. Winger Matt Ellis and striker Pieter Jacobsz were announced on 17 September 2026, alongside winger Sebastian Kukucka; Arion Sulemani left by mutual consent.

The first competitive outing was short. Glory went out of the Australia Cup in the round of 32 on 21 July 2026, drawing 1–1 with the Queensland side Lions FC and losing 4–2 on penalties. Pre-season was split: a 2–0 win over Adelaide United in Bunbury, with goals from Seb Despotovski and Scicluna, then a 3–1 defeat to the same opponent in Northam in early October, after which Griffiths asked publicly for a more ruthless edge.

The anniversary is being marked on the shirt. The Macron kit launched on 29 September 2026 revives the 2000–01 design — one broad white vertical stripe flanked by orange on purple — with a sublimated black swan, a 30th anniversary mark at the base and "1996-2026" embroidered under the hem. Chicken Treat returns as principal partner on the men's shirt.

Where it stands going into round one

The 2026–27 A-League Men season opens on 16 October 2026: twelve clubs, 26 matches each — a full home-and-away schedule plus four extra rounds — with the top six into a finals series. Newcastle Jets are defending premiers, Auckland FC the reigning champions. Glory start away at Macarthur FC on 17 October and host Adelaide United at HBF Park on 1 November. The run-in is unusually kind: five of the last six fixtures are at home, with five straight home games between 3 April and 7 May 2027.

The women's team is in a comparable position. Under Stephen Peters they finished eighth in 2025–26 on 24 points from 20 matches, scoring 20 and conceding 30, with the American forward Rola Badawiya leading the scoring on five. Fourteen players re-signed on 31 July 2026, among them the captain Izzy Dalton; Lazaridis said the retained group "will really help us to hit the ground running". Home matches are split between the Sam Kerr Football Centre and HBF Park.

HBF Park and the terrace that names the support

The ground on Lord Street was built in 1910 as Perth Oval, converted from an oval to a rectangle in 2004, and upgraded again — for about $32 million — before the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It holds 20,500 in sports configuration, is shared with the Western Force and will take on the NRL's Perth Bears from 2027.

Its defining feature is a standing terrace at the northern end called The Shed, rare in a modern Australian stadium, and the namesake of the club's main supporters' group. Crowds last season sat well below capacity: an average home league attendance of 7,080, peaking at 12,594 against Brisbane Roar on 16 January 2026 and bottoming out at 5,295 against Melbourne Victory on 31 October 2025. Visitor reviews consistently single out the compactness rather than the scale — the closeness to the pitch, and the noise carrying from The Shed when the crowd is decent.