Why A-League teams need purpose-built stadiums

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The aim for every football club within Australia should be to play on a ground that is both made for football and of a suitable size – and for some, eventually own them. While this is already starting to happen, there are still A-League teams that are playing in stadiums far too big for their supporter base. Fortunately, we are seeing less huge oval stadiums like Adelaide Oval and Marvel Stadium being used by clubs. However, there is still some way to go until every A-League team has a suitable home.

Hindmarsh Stadium

One of the best stadiums in the country to watch football is Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium. It is the perfect size for a club like Adelaide United, and the atmosphere during big games when it’s packed out is second to none. The only addition needed is a roof covering more than just the Eastern grandstand.

Currently, AAMI Park is the premier football stadium in Australia. This is because it is a great size for Melbourne Victory (especially with bumper crowds), and it was designed with football in mind. For the other Victorian teams, it is simply too large for their home games scheduled at AAMI Park next season – Western United and Melbourne City.

Artwork for Western United’s stadium in Tarneit

With talks of a 15,000 boutique stadium being built in Dandenong to host Melbourne City games, it could be a game-changer for the club. The atmosphere at these matches would be greatly lifted, which would help them win new fervent supporters.

If Western United manages to get their stadium built, it will instantly make them the most important club in the A-League. Owning their own stadium was the entire cornerstone of their bid and while the delays to putting shovels in the ground are worrying, if they can fulfil their promise they will become the first A-League team to have complete control over their infrastructure. With at least two more seasons playing games at AAMI Park, Western United have to work hard to win supporters over without a geographical distinction from the other Melbourne-based teams.

Another club with a great stadium is the Central Coast Mariners. If their bid to take over the administration and running of Gosford Stadium is successful, then it will help ensure the viability and sustainability of the club. While it is on the larger side for the Mariners’ supporter base, it is one of the most scenic stadiums in the world, with its iconic palm trees and ocean view.

The picturesque view at Central Coast Stadium

Their F3 rivals Newcastle Jets find themselves in a similar situation, with a great rectangular stadium to call home. If the clubs were successful like in the early years of the A-League, their stadiums would be a lot less empty and the atmosphere would shine through.

The difference between seeing 10,000 people at the Sydney Football Stadium, compared to seeing the same size crowd at Kogarah oval is night and day. If Kogarah was better positioned within Sydney FC’s catchment area and had a roof and a rectangular setup, it would be perfect. While the upgraded SFS is in the works, they have found a good temporary home that is suitably sized. Western Sydney Wanderers wouldn’t be the club they are today without Parramatta Stadium, which truly feels like hallowed turf for the club now.

While Brisbane Roar’s move to Dolphin stadium takes them outside the city, the difference in atmosphere when compared to the cavernous 55,000-seat Suncorp Stadium makes it well worth it. If Brisbane had a stadium in the city that’s similar size to Perth Glory’s it would take them to the next level. Instead, they travel outside of Brisbane for a stadium that’s better suited to their needs.

Westpac Stadium is too large and poorly suited for Wellington Phoenix

Wellington Phoenix would be much better served in a rectangular stadium about half the size of the cake tin. Surprisingly, there is no suitable venue despite New Zealand’s love of rugby, and at 34,000 capacity it is far bigger than needed for a club of Wellington’s size.

While the A-League is finding more suitable grounds to host their games, the next step is owning infrastructure. While for many this is a pipe-dream, it is how so many clubs around the world have become institutions that have lasted for decades. It ensures financial stability and it has to be the aim for the clubs going forward. To achieve this, football needs to collectively lobby government to supply the money for stadiums A-League teams desperately need.

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Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Record Pathway Breakthrough: Football NSW Report Highlights Power of Access and Equity

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Football NSW has released its 2025 Player Development Report, documenting a year of significant growth across its Talented Player Pathway programs for girls, boys and regional players, and offering the clearest picture yet of how the state’s talent identification infrastructure is reshaping who gets access to elite football development in Australia.

The report distinguishes between three streams: girls, boys and regional, where each operate under the umbrella of the Talented Player Pathway, which encompasses Football NSW’s Youth Leagues, Talent Support Program and state teams. Across all three, the numbers point to a system that is identifying more players, reaching further into the community, and producing more national team representatives than at any previous point in the program’s history.

A Girls Pathway Coming of Age

The girls program recorded some of its most significant outcomes to date in 2025, headlined by the inaugural Future Sapphires Program, a dedicated development environment for 2009, 2010 and 2011-born players that ran 140 training sessions, 16 high-level matches against boys teams, and identified 20 players for national team involvement across its first year alone.

The Talent Support Program conducted 494 player assessments across 119 club visits, with 117 additional games provided for TSP players throughout the season. At the Emerging Matildas Championships, Football NSW fielded three state teams, with the Under-15s Sky team claiming the championship, the Under-16s finishing as runners-up, and the Under-15s Navy placing third.

The pathway-to-national-team conversion rate was striking. Of the 23-player squad selected to represent the Junior Matildas at the AFC Under-17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers, 13 were from Football NSW, a 56.5 percent representation rate from a single state federation.

“This report does not simply provide data and numbers,” said Girls Player Development Manager Nadine Shiels. “It highlights our progress and validates the standards we set.”

The equity implications of that pipeline are significant. Elite female footballers in Australia, have historically faced a narrower and less resourced development corridor than their male counterparts. Programs like the Future Sapphires and the TSP are structural interventions in that imbalance, reshaping access mechanisms that determine which players get seen and which do not.

Boys Program Deepens its Reach

The boys Talent Support Program underwent deliberate restructuring in 2025, reducing squad sizes from approximately 90 players and five teams to 54 players and three teams per age group, while extending match duration from 50 to 70 minutes. The intent was to raise the standard of the best-versus-best environment rather than simply widen it.

The results support that confidence. To date, 155 players who have participated in the boys TSP have transitioned to A-League academies, with approximately 35 progressing to A-League Men’s competition and a further 30 representing Australia at junior national level across the Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 squads.

The 2025 season added four Talent Development Scheme matches for players born between 2007 and 2009, delivered in collaboration with Football Australia and targeting potential Junior Socceroos and Young Socceroos selection. The program also hosted the inaugural A-Leagues/TSP Tournament at Valentine Sports Park in December, featuring Melbourne City, Melbourne Victory, Western Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC, Macarthur Bulls Academy and a TSP Select team.

“Our purpose is clear- not only to identify talent, but to prepare it,” said Boys Player Development Manager Philip Myall.

The Regional Question

Perhaps the most structurally significant section of the report concerns regional development- the stream that most directly addresses the geographic equity gap in Australian football’s talent pipeline.

Talent identification in Australia has historically concentrated in metropolitan areas, where NPL clubs, A-League academies and state federation programs are most densely located. Players in regional and rural NSW face a structural disadvantage that has nothing to do with ability and everything to do with geography. Fewer club visits, reduced access to high-performance environments, and reduced visibility to the coaches and scouts who determine national team selection saliently reflect a systemic barrier.

The 2025 regional TSP involved 241 players across 57 training sessions, 18 hub matches and 58 additional tournament games, with Football NSW coaches present at local association fixtures and regional tournaments including the Bathurst Cup and Country Cup. Regional players were also integrated into Elite Game Days at Valentine Sports Park, directly competing against metropolitan TSP cohorts and A-League academy players.

“The program has continued to enable identified players to progress and be part of the greater football elite player pathway,” said Regional Development Manager Andrew Fearnley, “with opportunity to progress and be identified into national youth teams.”

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