It could likely be the death blow of the APL if that's the course they choose to take. I hold out hope that they see the value in the authenticity that traditional clubs bring, and how that now, more than ever, people are craving something authentic and real to be feel connected to.

Thanks for highlighting Sydney United. I should have included them in my list. Their community engagement this year, from my comfy YouTube account, has looked excellent. I’m excited for what they can deliver in this years championship. Good call on APIA. Hopefully the Wests group are committed...

Something that rebelliousfeminist974 said in the Football Australia thread in General Football was promising: I'm not sure if the 'assumption' is by people in the know who may have more insight than us plebs, or just amongst the uninformed on this forum. The optimist in me wants to believe...

It shows that SMFC is starting to gather enough attention that the APL wants to cash in on that. I feel like this is their early attempt to divide and conquer the building momentum behind SMFC, Preston, Marconi, APIA (and/or it's designed to use SMFC to generate other bids for the WU license as...

I hold out slim hope that they use the buzz of the world cup to make some announcements about the Championship either during or shortly after Australia's campaign ends. Lots of extra interest and eyeballs and it wouldn't take attention away from the Socceroos. But it's Football Australia, so...

I'm really looking forward to tuning Fraser Park... if we ever get an open pyramid they seem like the type of club that would be well placed to succeed in that environment. Good infrastructure and good income streams.

From a very cynical perspective (and big apologies to any Spirit fans on here) I hope Rockdale or Sutherland qualify for the Championship over them. I think Sharks and Rockdale offer more general interest and excitement and will likely pull much better crowds, and have more potential to grow...

Definitely! I was getting worried as the clock ran down that this good crowd rocked up and it'll end up nil all... but what a way to send everyone home buzzing!

There's probably no system the APL would agree to in the current environment, but I think we're much closer to the time when it will be possible. The franchise model is like a shark - it needs to keep moving forward or it drowns. Continued club ownership issues, no interested investors in...

I can only imagine the positive press if we had P/R here and the underdog club from a regional area gets promoted. It's such a unique opportunity the sport has in this country to stand out from the rest... if only we could take advantage of it. As for Kalamata FC, I'm sure they'll be pitted...

From the quarter finals onwards all are single knockout matches and all are played in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. I believe there will be a draw to decide the quarter final matchups with cross-region games possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_AFC_Champions_League_Elite_knockout_stage Note...

Sounds like they do P&R like they do political parties... :LOL:

In terms of timing, if the Championship runs over summer alongside the A-League (30 rounds plus promotion playoffs would be October to May), the NPL's could play over winter and the champions league promotion competition could run over the period that the Championship currently does. This will...

My intent was more about wanting a long-term vision and transparent criteria that about protecting the A-League franchises. In my haste to post I didn't do a good job of making that clear. My intent was to say that there is some protection for the A-League clubs due to the fact we won't get to...

The key difference with Japan's approach - as @Monoethnic Social Club points out - is that they set their 100-year vision and stuck to it. They set clear requirements for associate status into J2, and same for J3. This means clubs are able to see what they have to strive to achieve and begin to...

It's not as specific as that (at least not from my perspective). Any professional league in Australia will revoke a journalists access if they bring to light things that significantly undermine the league's power brokers. The journalists have to weigh up the benefit of publishing something...

In Japan, clubs are given differing licenses depending on which level criteria they meet. A club may have J3 status, but if it wins the league and doesn't have a J2 license, it can't be promoted. The separate license doesn't make it a franchise - it just governs the highest level a team can play...

And the important thing to remember about the $500k is that it was evidence of financial commitment and capacity to finance a H&A national league, in the form of a bank guarantee. A 10 team, 18 round home and away league will cost about $1 million in travelling costs, assuming the two...

I will probably bang on about the JFA and the J-League structure a lot (forgive me if I do), but the reason they started the J2 league was to give semi-professional teams a more attainable level to step up to. Without that, a range of clubs would likely never have joined the J-League structure...

If you don't have the backing of the local clubs, a new franchise is always going to really struggle to get people in the gate day one. Local people playing in the region (or associated with clubs e.g., parents) are the low hanging fruit a new franchise should be getting on board from day one...