As the regular seasons of National Premier League (NPL) competitions reach their conclusion, the launch of Australia's first-ever national second-tier competition is a month away. But with many questions still unanswered, and perhaps a few needing a refresher, ESPN has put together an updated guide to Australia's newest footballing competition.
What is the Australian Championship?
The Australian Championship is a new national second-tier competition for men's football, sitting below the A-League Men and made up of eight "foundation" sides and eight annual qualifiers drawn from the state-based NPLs around the country. It's envisioned as helping to close the gap between Australia's professional and semi-professional ranks by giving players, particularly young Australians, improved levels of competition and giving clubs an aspirational reason to improve their facilities, staffing, governance, and finances.
When does the Australian Championship kick off?
The first iteration of the Australian Championship will commence on Friday, Oct. 10, when four-time national champions South Melbourne host two-time Australian champions Sydney Olympic at Lakeside Stadium.
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How long will the Australian Championship be, and what is the format?
In its first edition, 16 qualified teams will be divided into four groups of four who will play home-and-away fixtures across six weeks. Initially, Football Australia planned to stage a standalone, home-and-away competition, which was the preferred option of the participating clubs. However, after being unable to find sufficient entrants that met its financial criteria -- six further clubs in addition to the eight foundation sides did meet the sporting criteria -- it has been pared back to a "Champions League"-style setup the federation believes will provide a stable base to build on.
The top two finishers in each group will move into a single-leg finals series, with the highest-seeded foundation sides to be given hosting rights for the quarterfinals. Hosting rights for the semifinal and final have been retained by Football Australia, with the decider to be played on Saturday, Dec. 6.
Which clubs have qualified for the Australian Championship?
Football Australia unveiled eight "foundation" clubs for the Australian Championship back in November of 2023, who will retain their place in the Championship alongside their NPL and, in the case of South Melbourne, Oceania Pro League commitments. Speaking to ESPN, Football Australia's general manager for the Championship, Nathan Godfrey, emphasised these clubs had undergone extensive financial and governance due diligence to demonstrate their ability to provide the backbone of the new competition.
Wests APIA (NSW), Leichardt Oval
Avondale FC (VIC), Avenger Park
Marconi Stallions FC (NSW), Marconi Stadium
Preston Lions FC (VIC), Genis Steel Stadium
South Melbourne FC (VIC), Lakeside Stadium
Sydney Olympic FC (NSW), Jubilee Stadium
Sydney United 58 FC (NSW), Sydney United Sports Centre
Wollongong Wolves FC (NSW), Collegians Sports & Performance Centre
This cohort will be joined by teams that ended the regular season of their local NPL competitions atop the ladder, with the lone exception being Victoria, who will send second-placed finisher and Australia Cup finalist Heidelberg after Avondale were crowned premiers.
Metrostars (SA), T.K. Shutter Reserve
Broadmeadow Magic (NNSW), Magic Park
Bayswater City (WA), Frank Drago Reserve
North West Sydney Spirit (NSW), Christie Park
Canberra Croatia (ACT), Deakin Stadium
Heidelberg United (VIC), Olympic Village
Moreton City Excelsior (QLD), Perry Park
South Hobart (TAS), South Hobart Oval
What is Football Australia's vision for this first year of the Australian Championship?
"We internally talk about the Australian Championship being a startup," Godfrey said. "That carries some increased risk, but it also means we can be agile in terms of our approach to kind of some of the key elements of building a league, such as broadcast, fixturing, travel, etc.
"We'd like to think that the brand is a disruptive brand. It's certainly designed to be complementary to the A-League -- we're not competing with the A-League. I think there's an understanding that there's a grassroots vibe to the Australian Championship, one that we think a lot of fans will be excited about.
"In terms of what the success factors are at the end of the year, when we look back on the inaugural season, there are probably four. One would be, obviously, matchday attendance, and looking at how our clubs perform ... we want to see how they deliver that matchday experience for fans.
"The second one for us is viewership, the broadcast product itself, in terms of the reach. The third was the sporting impact, so match minutes for underage players, but also player movement in terms of players being elevated to a A-League or overseas contracts, etc.
"And the fourth one's probably related to brand awareness and brand reach. Obviously, we can measure that as well."
Who will broadcast the Australian Championship?
For now, the Australian Championship hasn't publicly announced its broadcaster. Godfrey, however, confirmed to ESPN that "we have agreed terms, and an announcement of the broadcast partnership is imminent" and that the competition would not be placed behind a paywall.
"That's a really big one, and that's something that we're really proud of and really excited to share with our fans," he continued.
"In terms of us embarking on this broadcast partnership search, we probably had a couple of key objectives. One was audience reach. We wanted to make sure that as many football fans as possible had access to the Australian Championship. The other component was the marketing support that a broadcast partner can provide us. We're a startup brand, it's a startup competition, and we need that marketing support to ensure that it's successful."
While Godfrey couldn't be drawn on further details, ESPN has also been told by multiple individuals at Championship clubs that there will be a free-to-air component of the deal.
Are there subsidies for Championship clubs?
As they do for the Australia Cup, Football Australia will help to subsidise the travel of teams competing in the first year of the Championship (teams will take buses or drive themselves for intra-state trips) as well as provide one night's accommodation (two for games involving Bayswater City) on interstate away days. The license fee for competing in the competition will be waived for its first year.
What do you get for winning the Australian Championship?
Beyond pride and a spiffy new trophy, the winner of the Australian Championship will receive $100,000 in prize money, which is $100,000 more than the champions of the A-League Men. With a transfer window opening soon after the competition's conclusion, players will also be well placed to leap to the A-League Men or overseas if they impress.
Further, with Football Australia controlling the country's allocations for continental football, there have also been discussions as to how the Championship could be incorporated into the federation's calculations should a further slot in Asia become available.
Will the Australian Championship add any more foundation sides?
In July, Football Australia announced that it had completed a third request for proposal (RFP) process seeking to add further permanent members to the Championship, but that it "did not receive any fully compliant bid proposals." Godfrey said that there were no immediate plans to launch a fourth process, with focus shifting towards monitoring how Championship participants, both foundation sides and qualifiers, met the demands of the new competition.
"We've got a very clear picture of the football ecosystem in Australia. And ultimately, now it's up to the clubs in terms of what they deliver, both on and off the field," Godfrey told ESPN.
"We're monitoring those [unsuccessful clubs from the RFP process], but we're also monitoring all the other clubs that qualify for the Australian Championship through sporting merit. There are eight clubs from eight different member federations that will be playing in this year's inaugural competition. And we'll be monitoring their performance as well.
"Because the competition format is kind of hybrid, with eight foundation clubs and eight member federation premiers, we have that opportunity over the next few years, to assess a greater breadth of clubs and to test their readiness."
When/if the competition does add further permanent members, however, they won't be called foundation sides -- Godfrey confirmed that that title will be reserved for the eight initial participants.
Will the Australian Championship ever transition to a home-and-away format?
While a Champions League format will likely serve as the Championships' model for the "foreseeable future," a traditional, standalone league format has long been the clear preference of the vast majority of stakeholders.
"We have a roadmap," Godfrey said when asked about home-and-away. "It's certainly going to be determined by data, and particularly the data in year one. Those four performance indicators that we're going to look at at the end of the season will determine the roadmap, the speed of that roadmap, and how quickly we get through that.
"Our focus at the moment is ensuring that we deliver a sustainable competition model, and we think we're achieving that. We understand that the [Champions League] format has a proven track record internationally. It's easy for fans to understand. It's short and sharp. It ticks all the boxes for us, and it's a really important step forward towards a home and away standalone league in the long term."
A home-and-away model also represents a necessary step before the competition can look to properly connect the tiers of Australian football through promotion and relegation, first by linking it with the NPL competitions below and, hopefully, with the A-League Men.
This, Godfrey acknowledged, was a long-term goal, but for now was secondary to focusing on building sustainability and, citing Japan's J2 League, growing the Championship through expansion.
Is the Australian Championship here to stay?
Given how long it has taken for a national second division to launch -- former Football Australia chair Chris Nikou voiced his hope that a competition would be running within two years back in 2001 -- a level of cynicism has taken root amongst many sections of the Australian footballing community about the long-term prognosis for the competition.
This has only been heightened amongst those on the ground by the absence of a home-and-away model, accusations of member federation intransigence and obstruction towards aspirant clubs, the exit of James Johnson as Football Australia CEO, and the federation reporting a record $8.5 million loss last financial year. This all came to a head in July, when a wave of speculation hit that Football Australia had already decided to bin the competition after the 2026 season.
"We're on record as stating that we're playing in this format for the foreseeable future," Godfrey said when pressed on this two-year speculation. "When we talk about two years, we're talking about the fact that we have a club participation agreement in place with the foundation clubs that expires at the end of December 2026. But like any commercial agreement, they're perpetual, and they roll over. There's no intention there [to shut down after two years].
"Certainly, our broadcast partner has made a two-year commitment, and there's an option to extend. So it's no different to any other professional competition in the world where there are contracts that have an end date, but they tend to roll over or terms are renegotiated. The Australian Championship, we're investing significantly in this brand, we have a roadmap in place, and we're fully committed to this long-term."
What does the Australian Championship look like in 10 years?
With a second tier competition a genuinely historic and, thusly, legacy-defining reform for Football Australia, it follows that it would have a vision for what the competition will look like in a decade's time.
For Godfrey, this centred around the competition delivering on five key components, all centred around the growth and development of participatory clubs and their infrastructure.
First were sporting factors: "clubs developing and selling players overseas." Then there was commercial: "a year-on-year growth across clubs' matchday attendance, broadcast reach, sponsorship revenue and brand awareness." Personnel followed: "a transition to dedicated part-time and full-time staff and less reliance on volunteers."
Fourth was governance: "high-performing boards underpinned by a skills and competency matrix, featuring gender equity and a stable investor base." Lastly came infrastructure: "more quality boutique 'grassroots' stadiums across Australia that are capable of hosting men's and women's professional fixtures."