AusLeisure

Australian Professional Leagues has today revealed that as part of its plan to grow the men’s competition to 14 teams that Canberra and Auckland will be’ preferred markets for their next round of expansion for the A-League 2024/25 season.

Consortiums behind the two prospective teams beat out 11 other contenders including north Queensland, Gold Coast and Wollongong to join the league and are now on track to join the competition in little more than 18 months, pending the finalisation of licence applications in June.

The A-League expansion follows 32 teams having this year bid to join a national second-tier competition that will potentially start in March next year.

The four key criteria the markets were judged on included potential fan-base and if it would cannibalise existing fans, stadia and expanding the A-Leagues’ footprint.

Canberra’s bid will again be led by Michael Caggiano, who’s remained in discussion with the governing bodies after Football Australia rejected his bid in 2018 in favour of Macarthur Rams and Melbourne’s Western United.

Advising that Canberra and Auckland teams joining the competition were not a formality, but they now had the chance to “show us how” they can make it work, Australian Professional Leagues Chief Executive, Danny Townsend explained that the ACT needed to prove it had the “component parts” of a successful football club to be formally awarded a licence.

Townsend stated “the stadium, training facilities, engagement with the local community … corporate support from the ACT, government support … those rocks … need to be in the jar and we need to have a collective group of people to invest in that jar

“The market is ready, the football community wants a team, the women’s team is there already that we want to enhance and invest in. There’s no reason why it wouldn’t [be a formality], but I wouldn’t say it’s a fait accompli.”

Canberra last had a team in the national men’s top-tier in 2001, while the Auckland-based Football Kingz folded in 2004.

It is not Auckland’s first A-League experience, having hosted the New Zealand Knights for the competition’s first two seasons before they had their licence revoked in 2007.

Townsend said the Knights’ failure, due to poor crowds and on-field performance, didn’t stop his confidence in taking a “better path”.

He added “Auckland is the biggest metro city in Australia and New Zealand without a team,” he said. “We’re not overly concerned about history and why things worked or didn’t. Obviously we look at why the Knights didn’t work and you learn from that.”

Gaggiano said expanding through the APL process rather than via Football Australia was “totally different”, adding a Canberra-based team was a matter of “not if, but when and with whom”.

Gaggiano noted “I’ve been working with the APL, they are genuinely engaged, interested and working with us on bringing football investment to Canberra.

“This is about the best investor, not any investor. The best investor for this region that’s going to contribute to football and to help football grow and be more valuable as a whole.

“It’s not about who can drop the most money, it’s about what’s best for the game and best for the leagues.”

Image: GIO Stadium is a likely home venue for Canberra's new A-League licence.

Related Articles

10th March 2023 - Food prices fall for games at Canberra’s GIO Stadium

24th February 2023 - Football Australia launches Game Changer initiative to support community clubs

8th February 2023 - A-League to introduce Pride Celebration round to coincide with Mardi Gras and 2023 Sydney World Pride

1st February 2023 - Australian Professional Leagues names A-Leagues Chief Operating Officer

30th January 2023 - More media scrutiny of Melbourne’s AAMI Park after A-League player injury

10th January 2023 - Football Australia announces record financial and sporting sanctions against Melbourne Victory

30th December 2022 - 32 people charged over Melbourne A-League pitch invasion

12th December 2022 - Australian Professional Leagues partners with Destination NSW to create a festival of football

1st November 2022 - A-League’s Mariners confirm new partnership with Central Coast Stadium

28th October 2022 - A-League Pride Cup at AAMI Park receives funding boost

6th October 2022 - New Eastern Stand at Adelaide’s Coopers Stadium set for 2022/23 A-League season

25th September 2022 - A-League’s Perth Glory confirm temporary home ground relocation

5th August 2022 - Eden Park takes a lead on handling vaping in crowds

29th June 2022 - A-League Women announces extended season and expansion to 12 teams

25th June 2022 - Auckland Council rejects Eden Park Trust’s application for new grant funding

1st June 2022 - A-League champions Western United to deliver on promised stadium?

17th May 2022 - A-League partnership with Komo Digital drives fan engagement

24th December 2021 - Danny Townsend named Chief Executive of Australian Professional Leagues

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.