In August 2018, the Western Melbourne Group was part of the eight teams that the FFA had accepted in the official bidding phase, as part of the new expansion process. Four months later, the bid's success was announced, along with the bid from Macarthur FC. Western Melbourne will play its home games at Kardinia Park in Geelong for its first two seasons, while it builds its stadium and training centre in Tarneit, with completion expected in 2021.< On 11 January 2019, Western Melbourne Group announced John Anastasiadis as senior assistant coach for the club's debut season. On 24 January 2019, the consortium announced that John Hutchinson would also join the club as an assistant coach. On 31 January 2019, Western Melbourne made its first player and marquee signing Panagiotis Kone ahead of its inaugural season. On 12 February 2019, Socceroos defender Josh Risdon became Western Melbourne's first Australian signing. On 13 February 2019, it was announced that the club would be called Western United Football Club after a public vote was held through the Herald Sun newspaper. The club's colours and identity were set to confirm the club's name and colours as it was announced as their inaugural name as "Western United Football Club" also wearing a green and black strip on their kits. In mid-May, Western United announced partnership with sports brand Kappa. Two months later, the club unveiled their inaugural jerseys for their first season in the A-League, featuring green and black stripes. On 2 June 2019 the Director of Football for Western United, Steve Horvat presented Geelong representative players with their kits for the 2019 Country Championships. Horvat additionally announced the club would set up a Geelong based academy by 2021.
Colours and identity
On 13 February 2019, the club revealed that its primary colours will be green and black. On 8 May 2019, the club announced its official crest. The club's website at the time of the announcement commented that the design was influenced by the pitch of roofs in the suburbs and the West Gate Bridge, with the signature green colour representing growth, harmony and freshness. On 18 June 2019, through consulting with Kappa and fans, the club officially unveiled its inaugural home and alternative kits for the 2019–20 A-League season. The home kit consists of green and black vertical stripes where the Western United logo is encased in a faint crest. The alternative kit takes a different approach with a geometric design with varying sized green and black triangles connecting each other through their points. The club's logo is also contained at the bottom of the kit. This design is said to reflect on the club's modern approach in the club's branding.
Sponsors
On 20 May 2019, Western United announced a partnership with Italian sports brand Kappa, which will be the club’s inaugural official apparel partner. Western United announced Probuild as its inaugural sponsor on 3 July 2019 where its logo will be present on the front of its playing kits as well as other apparel.
Ownership
It was revealed in February 2019 that Birmingham Sports Holdings had initially funded the bid's license fee. They later pulled out of the project due to a downturn in the Australian housing market, that devalued the intended housing developments to be built in the same area as the proposed new stadium in Tarneit.
The club has proposed to build a 15,000 seated stadium in Tarneit, Victoria. The stadium would be the first major venue in the country to be exclusively owned and operated by an A-League club. On 6 December 2019, Western United announced that site investigations had been completed and that construction is expected to commence in mid-2020.
Statistics and records
, Filip KurtoConnor Pain holds the record for Western United appearances, having played 21 first-team matches. Strikers Besart Berisha and Alessandro Diamanti comes second, having played 20 times. Besart Berisha is the club's top goalscorer with 15 goals in all competitions. Western United's record home attendance is 10,128, for an A-League match against Melbourne Victory on 8 December 2019 at GMHBA Stadium.
Mark Rudan