Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 1995, Perth Glory is one of three A-League clubs to survive from the now-defunct National Soccer League (NSL), playing their debut match in this competition in October 1996 for the 1996–97 season. Perth established itself as a major side within Australian soccer in the final seasons of this league, with managers Bernd Stange and Mich d'Avray leading the club to three league Premierships and two Championships from four grand final appearances within a five-season period. Since entering the A-League as one of the eight original teams in 2004, the club has won a further Premiership and appeared in two more grand finals under the management of Tony Popovic and Ian Ferguson. The club has also appeared in the AFC Champions League once and appeared in two Australia Cup finals and two A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup finals. The club plays its home matches at Perth Oval, currently known as HBF Park for sponsorship purposes, a 20,500-seat stadium on Lord Street in Perth's city centre. Perth has used this stadium as their home ground since their inception. Perth's main supporters' group is known as the "Glory Shed Supporters Club", named after "The Shed", a terrace at the club's home ground. The club has rivalries with Wellington Phoenix, Gold Coast United, and the Melbourne Knights. The club's all-time leading goalscorer is Bobby Despotovski, with 129 goals to his name in all competitions. Jamie Harnwell holds the record for most matches played, with 256 appearances for the Glory. History Background (1977–95) Perth first showed interest in joining the National Soccer League (NSL) prior to its inaugural year in 1977, but a series of logistical and financial problems meant that the league was reluctant to include a Western Australian team. While the state representative side continued to perform well in national and international cup competitions, WA continued to be unrepresented at a senior club level until 1994, when a group of businessmen led by Joe Claudio formed the Perth Kangaroos IFC. The club competed in the 1994 Singapore Premier League along with the Darwin Cubs: at the time, there were visions of establishing an Asia-Pacific Super League which could become a sporting and financial empire in the east. The Kangaroos finished the