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NPL 'Champions League' format likely to be initial second division structure

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Roar Guru
9th March, 2022
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Football Australia’s planned National Second Division in collaboration with the Australian Association of Football Clubs is likely to come via a Champions League format.

How this actually looks hasn’t been decided as yet, though it is unlikely to satisfy the AAFC and its member clubs.

The AAFC recently published a report into the feasibility of a NSD, and in it were multiple proposals for how it would look.

The AAFC have made it clear they want 12 clubs initially with a traditional home-and-away format, with 22 games and finals to decide the champion. This proposal would eventually see expansion to 16 clubs via promotion from the state-based NPL competitions.

This plan will see clubs expect to spend up to $1.8 million. Whether this is realistic or not is a different story. The PFA’s white paper on a NSD suggested it would cost clubs $5.4 million to do it properly. The huge discrepancy between the two figures is a cause for concern.

PFA’s figures would factor in employment law requirements for minimum wages as well as costs needed to provide suitable facilities, medical services and appropriate travel requirements.

The report prepared by the AAFC also outlined what they considered to be FA’s Champions League-style plan, which is proposed to have 20 clubs from the top NPL tiers around the country, to play over the course of 11 weeks in a group format.

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FA haven’t publicly confirmed if this is accurate but insiders say this will likely be the initial look of the NSD, though not the final version in the long run.

FA’s initial plan is to have four groups of five clubs, where each team will play one game against other clubs in their group (two home and two away). The AAFC report appears to have a typo on page 20 where it says the first phase will see each club play each other twice, but then the financial figures in the table below only caters for each club playing once.

The top three in each group will progress to the second round, where the 12 teams will be in three groups of four where they will also play each other once.

The third phase will see the top two of each group form two groups of three. The final will then be over two legs with the top team from each group.

Clubs are still expected to compete in their own state-based NPL competitions, with some games switched to mid-week to cater for clubs playing in this NSD Champions League format.

The cost, player fatigue and practicality of NPL clubs competing in such a competition will be a major challenge.

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The cost of this format will range from $896,000 to $1.48 million, depending on how far each club makes it (page 20 of AAFC’s report). This will be on top of the cost of competing in their state-based NPL competition.

Based on the AAFC report, clubs currently spend $500,000-$950,000. This means clubs who compete in this type of NSD could end up having costs totalling nearly $2.5 million.

Essentially clubs that go far into that Champions League-style competition will have a higher cost than they would if they had a straight out 12-team NSD.

Generic football

(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)

The APL, the organisation who control the A-Leagues, has welcomed dialogue between FA, AAFC and the APL regarding the proposals. APL chairman Danny Townsend has been vocal publicly in keeping communication lines open.

The interesting thing is, the issue of promotion and relegation hasn’t been closely examined by any party. Fans of a proposed NSD make the valid point that it will only be worthwhile if there is eventual promotion and relegation.

An insider from one of the clubs who would be favourite to make the NSD made the point, “The NSD is simply the NPL on steroids.”

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For clubs in any second division to eventually be part of any promotion or relegation, they will logically need to compete with A-League clubs.

It is estimated A-League clubs spend around $15-$25 million per annum. How any NSD club would eventually get to that figure is anyone’s guess.

Apart from a handful of NPL clubs – South Melbourne and Preston for example – most rarely get more than a few hundred at games. APIA Leichhardt, a former NSL powerhouse, only have 62 members so far in 2022 according to their Facebook page, and had 125 last season.

Other former NSL clubs like Sydney Olympic, Wollongong Wolves, Marconi and Adelaide City are a shadow of themselves in terms of crowds. They do however attract the odd big crowd for games between themselves.

The 2019 NPL NSW grand final between APIA and Sydney United saw 6426 turn up at CommBank Stadium.

Clubs like Perth SC and Bentleigh have a hardcore group of fans, but whether they have enough to generate the dollars required to compete on a national stage remains to be seen.

South Hobart don’t seem to feel that many football fans want them to be there, with the feeling they are there just to give the proposed NSD a truly national look.

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They had 2600 turn up to an FFA Cup game against Marconi at Blundstone a few years ago. Whether this sort of crowd will turn up regularly is an important issue.

A number of clubs have ‘white knights’ who are going to fund their initial NSD existence, however most agree this is not a sustainable way to exist. Revenue from streaming deals, memberships, matchday and merchandise is the most logical way clubs can survive.

All of this comes down to fans.

Being part of a brand new shiny competition like a NSD will definitely generate more interest, however whether it is enough to bring in thousands of fans willing to watch online or pay more than what they do now to go to an NPL game, is the big question. These fans will determine revenue generated by broadcast deals and gate takings.

The good thing though is that at least there is progress being made. The ‘Champions League’ format proposed by the FA is probably a good way to test the waters, and get things rolling. How well it succeeds will then determine if it is worthwhile going forward.

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