Australia Cup playoffs back to Darwin but during A-League finals

Football Australia (FA) have announced a change to the domestic calendar, with the Darwin based A-League playoffs to enter the Australia Cup Round of 32 being shifted from July to May, to provide midweek fixtures during the A-League Men’s finals series.

Despite being what is the largest cup football competition in the country, the early rounds of the Australia Cup are usually considered as pre-season outings by A-League clubs, simply because they are played to progress through the winter season, as observed by state federations.

This was stretched to the extreme, when the bottom four A-League sides were asked to meet a lengthy three months out from the start of a new league campaign.

The result was most sides wouldn’t play anywhere close to full strength lineups, to questionable points of fitness and quality.

Hopefully the change in fixturing should resemble something akin to relegation playoffs in other leagues around the world, teams that have been down on their luck, but still have something to prove against similarly weighted opposition.

The two games will be played on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 May, in between the elimination finals and first leg of the semi-finals.

Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar are locked in, unable to climb outside of the bottom two in the remaining rounds of the A-League season.

They are likely to come up against Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners, although those two sides will hold out hope that they’ll be able to usurp the Newcastle Jets in the finals weeks of the regular season.

It is also confirmed that Darwin will again host the playoff round for the third year in a row.

Broadcasting details are yet to be confirmed, but will be communicated in the coming weeks.