A-Leagues bosses are eyeing an October start for next season as they attempt to manoeuvre around the Socceroos’ Asian Cup tilt while capitalising on impetus from the Women’s World Cup.
The A-League Men season closed with Central Coast beating Melbourne City 6-1 in Saturday night’s grand final, with the league to soon switch focus to next season.
“At this stage we’re still looking around an early-to-mid-October start,” Australian Professional Leagues chief executive Danny Townsend told AAP.
“We’re still working with the FA on the domestic match calendar.
“Obviously, we’ve got the men’s Asian Cup in January, which is something that we need to think about how we work with the FA on ensuring that we navigate that together in the most effective way.
“We also want to obviously capitalise on the Women’s World Cup (in July).
“So having the women’s competition start as close as we can to that Women’s World Cup is something we’re mindful of to try and take advantage of the momentum that is no doubt going to come from the women’s game.”
Several ALM stars are likely to join the Socceroos in Qatar in January.
The leagues had international breaks this season but Townsend indicated stopping for the Asian Cup wasn’t the APL’s preference.
“This is something we’re in discussions with the FA about,” Townsend said.
“It’s pretty important time for our competition – January is the peak of the school holiday season where families get out and support the A-League.
“The Socceroos matches are on – I think the earliest match is on at 10.30 at night so we want to make sure we don’t steal the thunder of the Socceroos.
“We want to make sure the football community is focused on supporting them during that time but equally, giving more football at that time of year’s not a bad thing.
“We saw from the World Cup that pausing for the World Cup was somewhat challenging for our league, it lost a bit of momentum on the back of that.”
Marquee player Nani flopped at Melbourne Victory but Townsend indicated the APL would still attempt to attract high-profile players.
“The marquee strategy’s not a switch you flick,” he said.
“It’s a 24/7, 365 days a year conversation.
“That’s an ongoing process and it’s a different process for the men and the women.”
The APL hope to bring more Matildas home after the World Cup while Townsend pointed to Brandon Borrello and Jamie Maclaren as Socceroos thriving in Australia.
“We’ve got great examples of Socceroos and Matildas that are looking back at the A-League and going ‘maybe that’s a place I need to be to be playing my football’,” he said.
“That’s something we’re proud of and will capitalise on.”
Australian Associated Press