Australia
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Australia is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. Australia has a population of 23.03 million people and Canberra is the federal capital.
The history of football in Australia started in the late 19th century and the first recorded game played under Association Football rules took place at the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum located in Wacol, Queensland, on the 7 August 1875. The oldest existing club is Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883, which still competes in the Illawarra regional league. Almost 600,000 people currently play soccer at a club or organisational level, and over 300,000 play the sport recreationally at a non-organised level. The Football Federation Australia is the governing body of football in Australia and is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The FFA oversees oversees Australia's national soccer teams, national coaching programmes, coordination with the various state and territory governing bodies, and the national club competition. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association (ASA), which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003. The organisation was founded in 1911 as the Commonwealth Football Association and later became the Australian Soccer Association. It was first affilated to FIFA in 1956 but was suspended in 1960. In 1961 the Australian Soccer Federation was formed and Australia's membership of FIFA was reinstated in 1963. Australia formed the Oceania Football Federation with New Zealand in 1966 but left to join the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. The league system in Australia since 1977 has involved a one divisional league controlled by the national body and many leagues run within each state. There is no promotion or relegation between the two. The National Soccer League (NSL) was established in 1977 and was the first national soccer competition in Australia, with teams in five states or territories. It was disbanded in 2004 and replaced by the A-League which has a much higher profile. There are nine clubs from Australia and one from New Zealand in the A-League. Only four of these clubs, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar (as Queensland Roar), Newcastle Jets, and Perth Glory, existed before the A-League was formed. Clubs within the league hold franchises and licenses can be revoked and bids can be made for membership. |
The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from early October to March of the following year. The competition consists of 27 matches over 25 weeks, with each team playing every other team three times. Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar have each won the A-League championship on two occasions while Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners have won it once. There is now a second tier with the formation of the National Premier Leagues (NPL) underpinning the A-League. The new competition is overseen by the FFA in partnership with its state-based member federations. The inaugural season of the NPL began in March 2013 and includes teams from Football Queensland, Football NSW, Football Federation South Australia, Football Federation Tasmania, and Capital Football. In 2014 clubs from Football West, Football Federation Victoria and Northern New South Wales Football due to join and Football Federation Northern Territory is expected to "adopt a partial model" at some time in the future. The champions of each conference involved will enter a Play-off Tournament at the end of season, with the winners being the NPL Champions. Promotion and relegation movements may be possible from the NPL to a third-tier league in the same state but there is no system of promotion to the A-League. Details of the 8 Australian states and territories are provided below:
There is currently no national FA Cup style knock out competition however each state, except Victoria and Queensland (who have regional cups), has its own cup competitions run by the state and territory federations. It should be noted that the Australian Cup is a defunct football competition that was organised by the Australian Soccer Federation. It was held between 1962 and 1968 and was the first nationwide club tournament held in Australia. |
A- League table & results
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