A-League newcomers Melbourne Heart will play their debut match against Central Coast Mariners as the 2010/11 season opener in August.
The August 5 clash will be the first A-League game at Melbourne’s recently-built AAMI Park.
The Thursday night game will start what Football Federation Australia (FFA) hopes will be a bumper weekend, also featuring a grand final rematch, when reigning champions Sydney FC host Melbourne Victory on the Saturday night.
Wellington Phoenix have the first bye.
The new club’s fans will have to wait until October 2 for the league’s first intra-city derby, when the Heart and Victory clash at AAMI Park.
As with last season’s 10-club competition, each of the upcoming season’s 11 clubs will play each opponent three times.
It means each club will play 30 games – 15 home and 15 away – up from 27 last season, and there will be 30 more matches in total, up from 135 to 165.
Despite the extra matches, the season will still be fitted into a 27-week time frame, meaning there will be 30 midweek games.
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said the fixture was developed to maximise crowd and television audience potential, with more matches in peak periods such as public holidays and the summer holiday season.
The A-League have also scheduled their first double-header, at Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday October 30.
The Mariners will play Perth Glory in an afternoon fixture, before Sydney FC take on Brisbane Roar that evening.
The six-team finals format will stay the same.
But the grand final, held this year on March 20, has been brought forward to the weekend of March 11-13 to limit the potential impact on clubs playing in the Asian Champions League (ACL).
The Victory had to fly to Japan within hours of this year’s grand final loss to Sydney for an ACL fixture.
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