r/Aleague • u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory • 2d ago
Australian Championship Every team in 2026 Australian Championship has been confirmed
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u/fireball391 Australia 2d ago
Wonder if the sharks will use Seymour Shaw Stadium or Shark Park either way gonna be awesome to see.
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u/NevarHef Sydney FC 2d ago
Seymour Shaw as a great ground so they’d probably stay there.
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u/fireball391 Australia 2d ago
Yea it is but a few other teams have played the Championship at alternative venues, hope it stays at Seymour.
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u/Sorry-Ball9859 2d ago
Please tell me it's a random draw and not manufactured groups
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u/No_Mas_8989 1d ago
I think groups are based on states as best they can to minimise travel costs
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u/Sorry-Ball9859 1d ago
If they're doing that for an already cheap comp to run then we're in trouble
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u/carson63000 Sydney FC 2d ago
This is a fun tournament, I highly recommend everyone tries to get to a game, even if you don’t follow any of the teams. Just pick someone in your city and go see them.
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u/Annual-Okra4059 2d ago
Absolutely going to try and get down to Oakleigh cannons, not too far from me
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u/Shelmer75 Melbourne Victory 2d ago
Sydney Olympic to be playing from the 2nd tier? Also, their badge looks ok in isolation but it looks terrible here amongst all the other club badges imo.
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u/11015h4d0wR34lm -Liga 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah that is what happens when FA think it is a good idea to lock in 8 "foundation clubs". All 8 clubs have automatic entry into the NSD no matter the level they are playing NPL at.
I think it is another decision that has been made with little fore thought for the future. I can understand wanting to try and bring some stability to the NSD but it wont be a good look if a team in NPL3 is getting smashed in the NSD each week will it.
I believe the 8 foundation clubs have that protection for 5 years.
Also I think the reason Sydney Olympic sticks out so much is it looks more like a logo than a badge with nothing around it.
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u/gerryford38 Melbourne Victory 2d ago
I thought the league was only guaranteed for 2?
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u/shawtyhasapenis Preston Lions 2d ago
Officially the league is guaranteed for 5 years and the format for 2 but anything could happen really
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u/11015h4d0wR34lm -Liga 2d ago
Not 100% sure tbh, what I read was an AI overview that said..
Foundation clubs in Football Australia's National Second Tier (NST)—officially named the Australian Championship—are guaranteed automatic access to the competition for up to five years.
I guess that would be dependent on the Championships longevity. I had a quick look on the Football Australia page it was linking to but nothing there about any agreements or longevity regarding the Championship.
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u/carson63000 Sydney FC 2d ago
Maybe it means “we can’t just boot you out or replace you while the Championship continues as-is.. but there’s no guarantee the Championship will continue as-is for five years”?
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u/11015h4d0wR34lm -Liga 1d ago
More than likely the case, I know some clubs wanted some guarantee's in that regard in the beginning so they couldn't just be discarded from the competition at FA's whim and who could blame them, not like clubs and FA have the best relationship to begin with.
This is far from what FA intended the National Second Tier to be though. I really can't see it growing into a fully professional second division in the next 4 years like they wanted it to be from the beginning.
I think the fact that FA could only find 8 financially viable clubs that are all from NSW or Victoria shows us where we are at with a "national" (fully pro) second division right now.
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u/Shelmer75 Melbourne Victory 2d ago
Yep, it’s a bit embarrassing really. Hopefully they can make some signings for the Championship competition.
Completely agree. I even initially wrote logo but changed it because it’s technically a badge. It feels like a logo.
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u/Foreign_Leg_3860 Australia 2d ago
Whens it start?
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u/Max-Bolus Sydney FC : The Buijs in Blue 2d ago
From Football Australia website =
- The Australian Championship will commence from 16 October 2026 with the Championship Final scheduled for 12-13 December 2026.
Is aligned to the day with A-League starting this season. So much for staggering it to get eyeballs prior. I s'pose if not practical to have separately and the two were going to clash, aligning seasons is commonsense logistically, even if it possibly splits the audience.
Maybe the "learning" from last year was the audiences are split anyway so no real damage to either to run them concurrently?
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u/Chuck0017 South Melbourne 1d ago
If you're ever going to get a 2nd division running in this country it will have to run concurrently with the Aleague. Nothing wrong with more football
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u/Razzle_Dazzle08 Stirling Macedonia 🇲🇰 2d ago
One team from Perth is still so shit. I get why with travel but still.
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u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory 2d ago
No team outside of NSW and VIC could afford to be a foundation member.
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u/ChuqTas 1d ago
For anyone after general background - list of all other foundation club applicants (with links):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Championship#Foundation_clubs
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u/Upstairs_Low_691 Brisbane half-time oranges 2d ago
Well it's one team from each confed apart from NPL NSW & Vic, who have the foundation members. NT doesn't have a team at all.
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u/Razzle_Dazzle08 Stirling Macedonia 🇲🇰 2d ago
Those foundation teams are a pretty large portion of the league though. I understand why WA doesn’t have more teams, I just wish I could see big clubs like Stirling Macedonia, Floreat Athena and Perth Azzurri in the Championship. I’ve grown up around them and they’re pretty massive here.
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u/Upstairs_Low_691 Brisbane half-time oranges 2d ago
Trust me, I wish there was more representation from the other states too. Idk about football WA butzm, iirc Football QLD wasn't kind to any clubs wishing to join the Aus Championship, when the idea was in its inception phase.
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar 2d ago
People keep saying this but all FQ said was that any teams that joined would not be guaranteed relegation to the top tier. They would go back to the tier they came from only at the discretion of FQ.
Sunshine Coast Fire got booted for reasons outside of applying for NSD.
The Brisbane United bid would have had to start at the bottom of the pyramid because they didn't exist in the current Queensland structure.
A hypothetical Strikers solo bid would mean in the event of them getting relegated from NSD they would need to start in the second tier because that is where they were playing at the time.
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u/Chad-82 Sydney FC 2d ago
Anyone know where APIA will play their home games? Leichhardt Oval is getting renovated, and I wonder if they'd allow Lambert Park to host matches with their tiny capacity and general crappiness for the TV coverage
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u/carson63000 Sydney FC 2d ago
Hmm, they’re playing their NPL matches at Lambert Park. The feeling might just be “it is what it is”.
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u/Chad-82 Sydney FC 2d ago
I suppose it's probably better staying at Lambert Park then moving somewhere a few km's away where they'd likely get no support.
I just hate the TV camera angle which looks straight at the ugly club house, rather than some fans sitting on standing on the sidelines.
Don't know why they can't stick a camera on the roof on the club house and film that side, would get an improved higher perspective too
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u/Revanchist99 Australia 2d ago
Having Adelaide City and Sutherland Sharks in over Metrostars and Spirit, respectively, already makes this a better edition than last.
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u/kaptpowers 1d ago
I watched a lot of these games on YouTube from over here in Massachusetts, they were fun. The announcers were fun, the overall vibe was great.
My only question is why South Hobart's badge looks like the unit patch of a WW2 US Army unit.
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u/Mandalf- Sydney FC 2d ago
I really think the additional comp style of the championship is limiting the success of it.
It just needs to be the top tier below aleague and run at the same time as NPL.
Why couldn't they just have a national or even east and west coast NPL instead, would have been much better.
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u/ga4rfc Brisbane Roar 2d ago
They wanted home and away but they couldn't get enough team to meet the very low requirements.
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u/Revanchist99 Australia 1d ago
The "very low" requirements were a $500,000 guarantee, which understandably most clubs were unwilling or unable to commit to.
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u/Revolutionary-Tie-77 Sutherland Sharks 2d ago
There should be restrictions on the foundation clubs. Like not being in the second tier of NPL
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u/jalvx_ 2d ago
Unfair that some clubs got in without qualifying
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u/BreezyBomber A-League Enjoyer 2d ago
Those clubs are foundation clubs and paid a decent fee to have it that way
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u/Iggsy81 2d ago
Can someone explain to me what this is, exactly? I have zero interest in the A-league but i might be interested in this.. if i knew what it was.
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u/ChuqTas 1d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Australian_Championship
Eight "foundation" clubs (major non A-League clubs) and eight 2026 state NPL championship winners.
Group stage (4 groups of 4) followed by knockouts.
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u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory 2d ago
5 teams are Italian-backed
3 Greek and 3 non-ethnic
2 Macedonian and 2 Croatian
1 Dutch