Poletti 
Canberra United celebrate scoring a goal against Melbourne Victory at the Home of the Matildas during the 2025/26 ALW season. Photo: Wilde Imagery/Round Ball Australia
As Canberra United prepares to host its first A-League Women Finals match since 2017, the questions around the future of the club continue to overshadow what should be a joyous occasion.
The club still does not have an owner and with Capital Football announcing last year that this would be the final season it runs the club following an injection of government support, time is running out as the 2025/26 season nears its conclusion.
Michelle Heyman, who is synonymous with football in Canberra, said ahead of Saturday’s Elimination Final against Melbourne Victory that she hasn’t thought about a win meaning at least one more game at McKellar Park for Canberra, with the team focusing on the challenge Melbourne Victory present.
However, that did not stop the Matildas veteran from delivering a scathing review of the clubs situation, after being asked whether the APL stepping in to run the team would be a good solution to allow more time for a buyer to be found.
“As a group, as a player, we’re not going to be waiting around like we did last year,” Heyman said.
“This is our profession, this is our careers that people are toying with at the moment.
“If we don’t know by the end of our next game, Canberra might not even have players to come back to.
“If the A-Leagues really don’t want us, then I assume players will have to walk because it’s our career path and we’ve got to continue to play football and that would be somewhere else then.”
Following the Matildas game against Argentina in June at GIO Stadium, Heyman said at the time she had had conversations with the new owners, and was happy and confident with what was going on, but that deal never eventuated.
“I don’t even know where [those people] are any more, and that’s the frustrating thing. We’ve had multiple people continue to knock on our door. It’s just that I don’t know the next step that goes towards the APL, so I’m unsure of who gets to go into that room to talk about,” Heyman said.
“I have a lot of people coming up to me wanting it, but yeah, it’s far from that now.”
On the other side of the equation on Saturday is Melbourne Victory, who snuck into Finals on goal difference in sixth place, and their captain Kayla Morrison said that while she loves playing in Canberra and it would be sad if they were no longer in the league, she has no qualms about playing spoiler.
“I know it is a hard field to play at because they have such amazing fans, but for me, whether the fans are for me or for the other team, I just love being in that kind of environment,” Morrison said.
“I think McKellar Park is a really great field. [It has] really nice grass and it’s a really easy field to play on.
“I’ve had a few of my really good friends play in Canberra, and they speak so highly about the team and about the environment, so I think it will be sad if they don’t stay in the league.
“I don’t even think that, to me, makes sense. I think they’ll stay in the league. I think we’ll figure it out, so no, I’ll have no sympathies going over there and playing as hard as I can in the game and hopefully knocking them out of Finals.”
With Saturday potentially being the last ever game Canberra United plays, Heyman made sure to shout out the people around the club who have been crucial to their success over the years, as well as the fans.
“I think all of Canberra knows how frustrating and upsetting it has been for the last couple of years for Canberra United and for themselves, for all of our fans because we are probably the best supported club within the A-Leagues,” Heyman said.
“We always have a great attendance. We’re always putting our best foot forward every way that we can and we’re probably the one club that doesn’t even have staff who are actually hired for Canberra United.
“We have multiple people who just work for us for free to be able to give us everything we need as players so we can be successful.
“What I want to say to our Canberra United fans is a massive thank you for everything that you’ve done. We’ll always put them first and we’ll do everything we can to win for them because without them, there’s no point in playing football.”
Listen to the latest episode of The Dubcast, Round Ball Australia’s Women’s Football podcast on Spotify, Apple, or watch on YouTube, with new episodes weekly.