The 11th Hyundai A-League team will be known as the Melbourne Heart and will use predominantly red and white in their playing strip.
The club confirmed that it had decided to stick with the name it adopted initially as part of the Melbourne Heart Syndicate.
The name was initially supplied by Moorabbin teenager Lee Warren Cafun, as one of four that the club put forward into a public forum.
The club’s logo and playing strip is predominantly red and white, taken from the official Melbourne flag and ‘truly representative of the city’s sporting public’, according to the club.
The final design of the strip is yet to be confirmed, but is likely to be either red and white stripes or similar to Argentine giant River Plate with a red sash on a white background.
The Melbourne Heart FC logo incorporates the clubs initials, M and H, within a subtle, stylised heart.
“Sport is an essential part of our city’s cultural fabric and helps bind our community in a very unique way. It essentially defines what it means to be Victorian, and we believe our name, Melbourne Heart, is representative of that,” Melbourne Heart chief executive officer Scott Munn said.
The Heart’s inaugural head coach, John van ‘t Schip said the naming of the team had given the supporters a sense of investement in the fledgling team.
“The supporters having an opportunity to name their football team is very special. Melbourne Heart was a personal favourite of mine from early on, so I’m pleased that the supporters have gone this way,” he said.
“Now this important step is in place, the club will continue to work hard to attract some great talent to Victoria so that we can build a competitive team and hopefully surprise a little when the A-League starts next season.”
