Hume City has given up home-ground advantage and will play the FFA Cup semi-final against Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium.
Club president Steve Kaya said the club wanted to give as many fans as possible the chance to watch the match on Wednesday, October 28.
“It was tough to give up home advantage but if we’d insisted on playing at home our small capacity means thousands of Hume City fans, neutrals and Melbourne Victory fans would have missed out,” he said.
“Agreeing to play at Etihad Stadium means all fans will get access to a modern, comfortable stadium and nobody has to miss out.”
Hume is the only non-A League side left in the tournament after Heidelberg United lost 5-0 to Melbourne City in the quarter-finals last week.
City will play Perth Glory in the other semi-final, after Glory beat West Sydney Wanderers on penalties.
Being drawn against Victory is the dream match for Hume coach Louie Acevski, who said throughout the nationwide tournament that he would love to meet the reigning A-League champions at some point.
“I always wanted to progress as far as possible and we now get to play the biggest and best football team in the country,” he said.
“Bentleigh Greens got this far last year and it’s a great feeling to be the only NPL side left. “Hopefully, we can create an upset and rewrite the history books.”
Being the lower ranked side, City had the right to host the match at Broadmeadows.
“We would have loved to play at home, but we could only get a crowd of between 2000 and 3000,” Acevski said.
“We could get between 15,000 and 20,000 at Etihad. We want the best venue possible to host the match.”
City and Victory know each other well, as they have played two practice matches recently, the most recent last Thursday.
“In the first game we were up 3-2 with a minute and a half left and they ended up winning 4-3,” Acevski said before the second meeting.
“We are playing them behind closed doors tonight and drawing them in the semi finals doesn’t change our plans. The boys need game time and we will put our best side on the park.”
