Soccer’s new national second tier competition has a name – the Australian Championship – but as yet there is no road map towards promotion and relegation with the A-League Men.
Launched by Football Australia on Wednesday, the competition kicks off on October 10 and will “complement” and sit between the ALM and the National Premier Leagues.
As previously flagged, the competition is no longer the pitched full home-and-away format, but will instead feature four groups of four teams.
Victorian clubs Preston, South Melbourne and Avondale are joined by NSW counterparts Marconi, Sydney United 58, Sydney Olympic, APIA Leichhardt and Wollongong as eight foundation clubs.
The other eight clubs are made up of premiers from the respective NPL competitions around the country, with each group to have two foundation clubs and two premiers.
The groups will play a home-and-away format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for finals, and the grand final taking place on the weekend of December 6-7.
The Australian Championship is clearly connected to the NPL competition, while extending it to a full home-and-away format will depend on its success.
But there is no definitive timeline of completing the football pyramid through promotion and relegation to the ALM.
Australian Professional Leagues chief executive James Johnson said how competition evolved in the future would also depend on the success of the first season.
“In terms of the connectivity, right now, the focus has been on getting the second tier up and running and moving it from a conversation to something that is tangible, which we’re doing at the moment,” he said.
“We have deliberately connected it to the NPL and that’s the first step.
“In terms of how that connection works with the APL, that’s something we don’t want to be prescriptive about at the moment, simply because we want the second tier to work.”
Caroline Springs George Cross said in November it still wanted in this year’s competition. It was one of six clubs that Football Australia said was unable to meet the mandatory financial requirements.
Georgies president Mark Sultana told Star Weekly at the time they were still working with Football Australia in regards to the financial component and were confident they would meet the needed requirements.
Melbourne Knights president Simon Pincic announced at its season launch it wants to be part of the competition in 2026.
