Phoenix Croatians

The Croatia Phoenix Soccer Club was established in 1977. Ante Vrankovic, Douglas Moric, the late Franjo Perica and Drago Gelo along with others served as founding fathers of the club. The mission of “Croatia Phoenix” was to unite Croatians living in the Phoenix Metro area and to compete in the cities men’s amateur soccer leagues all while promoting their Croatian Heritage.

Throughout the 1970’s, 80’s, and early 90’s the team was competitive and achieved success by winning many city championships and tournaments. “Croatia” became known as one of the strongest soccer clubs in the state; however generation gaps and war in Croatia led to many of the team players and board members returning back to the homeland. This caused the club to fold in the late 1990’s.

In the summer of 2005, Mijo Perica, Stjepan (Pepo) Alaupovic, and Ante Slavic reestablished the club. The name was changed to Croatia Arizona to encourage Croatians from all of Arizona to support the team. With the support of Mladi Hrvati (Croatian Youth Origination) and sponsors the team began play in July 2005. The original roster consisted of 12 Croatian Players including Mijo Perica, Stjepan Alaupovic, Denis Belusic, Tony Cvinjanovic, Ivan Tomljenovic, Alen Cvetovac, Ilija Cosic, Miso Pendic, Josip Kovacevic, Johnny Marusic, Tony Zupic, Jeff Shriner, and Seth George.

The goal of the new team was to honor the original club and its members by continuing to achieve success as past “Croatia” teams did all while supporting the Phoenix Croatian Community.