Coming up to its fifth birthday, the A-League is a young, vibrant, growing child that has its fair share of stumbling blocks that is part and parcel of a football leagues’ life journey.
What could this child-league look like when it comes of age in its 21st season?
Looming large for the A-League is the godparent-figure in the AFC.
With the President Mohamed bin Hammam stating his preference for the final career path of the A-League to be a promotion-relegation system, does the FFA have much of an alternative choice?
The simple answer is ‘Yes.’
I believe that a promotion-relegation system may be in place in the far future, but that would be in an Australian football landscape unrecognisable to what we have today – one in which football is the dominant sport of the country, almost at the expense of all others.
In time, there will be more clubs, a greater fan-base, and huge advertising investment in the sport.
With the big carrot for the FFA being those precious ACL spots, and assuming the FFA puts on a brave face and stands up to its adopted parent, this is a possible future I can see the A-League growing into for it’s 21st birthday.
A-League Version 21 – 2026/2027
There are 24 teams in the A-League.
The FFA has the maximum fours spots in the ACL competition.
The pre-season competition has taken on greater significance.
With Australian sporting culture desiring a finals series between the best of the best, there is no first-past-the-post winner for A-League version 21.
The 24 teams are split, by a televised yearly draw, into two conferences each named by a sponsor which pays handsomely into the FFA coffers for the naming rights privilege.
Any team can appear in any conference from year to year.
For the ‘preseason’ competition, which is now called the (another named sponsor) FFA Cup, the two 12-team conferences (A & B) are now split in half (1 & 2), with the two 6-team groups of Conference A playing the two groups from Conference B once, i.e. A1 plays B2 once, and so on.
The top of each of the 4 FFA Cup groups play in the semi-finals, winners of which play in the FFA Cup final – these three games are played early in the A-League season as mid week games.
The FFA Cup winner gets one of the coveted ACL spots.
The A-League season lasts 33 weeks, not including the Finals Series. Each team plays the other teams in its conference three times.
At the end of the season, the two teams that finish as ‘winners’ of their conference, get an ACL spot each.
The Finals Series is played between the top three teams of each conference.
Conference A 3rd plays Conference B 3rd to have the right of playing the winner of A2nd vs B2nd – 2nd and 3rd conference losers are eliminated. A1st vs B1st plays for a direct spot into the A-League Champions Final. Loser 1st plays winner of (Winner 2nd vs Winner 3rd) in the A-League Play-off Final.
The A-League Champions Final is huge, played in any one of the football-only mega stadiums left over from the Australian hosted World Cup of 2022, neither of which is the home ground of the finalists.
It is a celebration of football, both for Australia and the two teams involved.
The game is sold out on the day the tickets go out, with fans of both clubs always wanting more seats.
Corporations from Australia, Asia and the world are scrambling for exposure, paying the FFA (and broadcast holders) through the nose for the privilege, being as the game is broadcast live around the world.
Those crowned the 2027 A-League Champions also fought for the final ACL spot, if they don’t already have one.
All ACL spot winners for 2026/2027 A-League season play in the 2028 ACL competition.
41 weeks of competition games and just over 11 weeks for the off-season.
Plenty of scope for growth which could eventually, if necessary, morph into a tiered league.
Dave
Guest
league isny dying.
MyGeneration
Roar Guru
At least they only fall over when somebody's touching tackling them!
Robbos
Guest
Dave, very true there. I live in Sydney & the league players are the stars & get the most attention. The football players aside from Alosi would not be recognised.
Dave
Guest
I dont hink it matters, If Karmichael Hunt played soccer he'd be the the best known soccer player in the Northern states by a long way. All the media attention in NSW & Queensland would be that he was a Rugby league player.
Robbos
Guest
He reports that there is a AFL competition in these countries, but these are very small & mostly comprising of expats having a kick but he goes on about expansion, not in a grand manner but still that the game is growing in these countries, big dream there similar to the dreams of Griffo. As the Karmichael Hunt shows about our great Australian game of Australian Rules football, he is now, when he plays his first game, the best known AFL player in the Northern states by a long way. All the media attention in NSW & Queensland is that he was a Rugby league player. When or if he plays in the AFL, he will be the ex rugby league player & it's this that will create the attention, not the game itself. Same thing happened with the League players that converted to union. But you guys in Melbourne have this dream that this is the national game in Australia. It's the No 1 football code in Australia, no doubt, but it is not a game loved all over Australian as some of you think it may be.
Robbos
Guest
Pip, he dreams.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Robbos Does MC dream of comps in other parts of the world, or does he report what's actually there? People can dream about whatever they want - I used to dream about being a Socceroos striker well into my 20s, the only problem was: 1. I wasn't a natural striker; and 2. I wasn't very good anyway. I would simply caution people about creating an article about such dreams, that have zero basis in reality.
Robbos
Guest
Well if Michael C can dream of expanding AFL to far flung reaches like Sth africia, Denmark, China & the US & I mean more than a couple of expats kicking a Sherrin around. Why can Griffo dream of the game of football taking off in this country. I think his dream has a better chance of coming thru.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
What this article fails to take into account is the growth of Korfball. That alone might be an impediment to football becoming dominant.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
We get this sort of thing on the Roar occasionally, someone starts imagining a league with hundreds of clubs spanning the world, and every Australian concerned about nothing else except this particular league in the imaginings of the writer. The reality is that in just 48 hours, there has been more media and public attention on this Karmichael Hunt business, than the A-League will be able to muster in the next 48 days, in any way, shape or form (on the eve of a season that actually holds a fair bit of interest for fans). Now you might think that's silly, pathetic, outrageous, a travesty, etc, etc - but that's the hard cold reality. Now as for this "dominant" league in your imaginings, I encourage people to tick the correct answer. Griffo's made up league will occur in: 1. 48 months 2. 48 years 3. 480 years
MarkyG
Guest
Wow that was certainly something, Griffo. Nothing wrong with it, just the thought of 'looking' so far into the future makes my head spin. Good read and a great topic to think about :) I don't think the leagues 21st B'day is the important milestone. I see 2022 as the ideal year to study in Australian footy. Here's how I see it in a 'grand scale'. The details are too much to think about when dealing with such a time period. Australia will be hosting the 2022 World Cup. By 2022, we'll have a 16 team A-league. There will be an FFA cup which involves various state teams. We will not have a 'B-League' but the plans will be in place for it to come to fruition in the next few years. By 2022, there will be new rectangular stadiums in both Adelaide and Perth, each able to seat 35,000-40,000. By 2022, the FFA will be a separate body to the A-league, as per AFC requirements. This will allow the A-league room to breath and allow it to grow into it's own beast. This Beast will be averaging around 23,000 crowds, taking into account Australia's numerous regional teams with their smaller crowds and the big city teams, which will be playing out of either purposely built footy stadiums or the largest capacity stadiums in each city. By 2022 the A-league will be the biggest and best football league in Asia, rivaled only by Japan and one of the Middle East leagues. Australia's various climates and environments, the upcoming World Cup and the countries natural charm will make it the hottest league to be in all of Asia and it will be rivaling some of the mid-top leagues in Europe. I've tried to be as realistic as possible here. Football will be Australia's No.1 sport by then, simply due to the fact that it's really our only national team sport, or more specifically, the only national 'football' code. As long as our national teams keep making the WC, and the A-league doesn't collapse, I honestly can not see anything standing in the way of footballs growth.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
We'd have an A2 League in before we had 24 teams, can see us hainvg a 14 team A Leauge Generally we will have s strong and solid presence, don't know what you mean by "dominant" though, we may not be dominant in a single state but I would hope we have a strong aggregate presence by being a strong number 2 in each state through converting some of the grassroots potential into national league interest Not to mention a reasonable FFA Cup comp
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Loved the article and I thought your views about the feasibility of a second division were spot on. It would only be viable if Football dominated the landscape and I don’t see that happening to the extent required anytime in the next 30 years if ever. After 30 years I refuse to make guesses because we will all be living on mars by then ;) I think 16 teams is probably the ceiling though, that should cover just about everywhere that’s viable and then if there’s still growth left in the game it would be increasing the size of stadiums rather than bringing in new teams because the game is competing globally for talent and further than that would be too diluted in my opinion. If we keep improving our league (crowds, playing ability and marketability) we can probably get 3 spots in the ACL anyway. No need to kill ourselves bringing in a second division for 1 ACL spot. The 4 spot is a huge ruse, with promotion and relegation would we even be able to get the last spot? They aren’t just created they come at the expense of China, Korea or the 2 playoff spots (which are servicing 4 countries). We have to out lobby those countries (I didn’t even bother mention Japan who are just miles in front of us). i think they will keep saying the lack of a second division is what is stopping us getting more spots, but once that barrier is removed a new barrier will emerge. I think it's just easier to worry about making the A league the best comp we can and then getting more spots by winning the ACL enough times that they are emabrrased into giving us more spots :)
Griffo
Roar Guru
Thanks albe. I like your idea of connecting with the grassroots in a cup structure. Whether there is an 'A2' league (or B-League) down the track or not, it seems to me that the FFA will apply their A-League club template to any new club as a baseline for adding new teams to the professional league, rather than promoting the top amateur clubs up into a higher budget existence. I could be wrong there, but there does need to be at some point a connection to the semi-pro/amateur state leagues, and a cup-style competition with state premier league winners may do the trick. I wasn't thinking of the NRL/AFL finals structure, but maybe I was subconsciously ;-). Certainly the finals series is a good filler to stretch out the season until more teams are added, and is good at generating more PR and advertising dollar now until the league is established and better advertising contracts negotiated.
melbvictory87
Guest
i dont think they need to aim to become the dominant sport in this country as that will always be afl. but at least knock of that dull and repetitive rubbish of running and falling over for 80 minutes that they play in sydney. but then again league is dieing anyway
cab711
Roar Rookie
Wow 24 teams. There are currently a squad of 22 men and 14 youth. Thats a total of 36 per team. Thats a total of 864 players! Where are all these players going to come from? Theres around 20 players per year from the AIS. State leagues, pfft. Lets not forget coaching staff, management, investors, grounds...phew.
thinker
Guest
conan: its time to look in to the future andy: the future conan? conan: yes, the future andy all they way into the year 3000 in the year 3 thousaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnd, in the year 3 thousaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnd
albe
Guest
love the ideas but its a very convoluted structure in your crystal ball. Simple is good... i'd like to see an 'A2 league' here which would be a stepping stone for smaller regional areas around the country to get into the top flight. The big advantage football has is that its the main real national sport we have. Lots of areas would love a crack at promotion on the pitch. Particularly places like Tassie that get continually overlooked by the AFL. Plus an FFA Cup in a pure knockout structure. It could include the A-league teams (12) plus 8 or so A2 clubs, as well as league winners from around the country's amateur structure. The pro teams could be entered in the third or fourth round. It'd be a great way to connect with the grassroots and promote some real fairytale stories. "With Australian sporting culture desiring a finals series between the best of the best, there is no first-past-the-post winner for A-League version 21." i think this is WAY off the mark. People who follow football here (particularly of leagues overseas) understand the significance of the league premiership. Over time, i think the finals series will be made redundant by an FFA Cup Final that would be the perfect season-ender. The FFA already awards a premiership title along with the grand final, which is really the equivalent of a cup. The AFL and NRL are hardly benchmarks when it comes to the structure of a competition. We have more to learn from successful football comps around the world, than we do from the eggball codes here.