Perth Glory FC undergoes ownership change: Next steps to be determined

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Perth Rectangular Stadium
Image credit: FIFA official website

In a significant development for Perth Glory FC, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) has taken charge of the club’s management by appointing receivers to oversee the sale of its licence.

This move comes after the license was returned by the previous owner, Tony Sage. The advisory firm KordaMentha is now responsible for ensuring the smooth continuation of the club’s men’s, women’s, and academy operations as they prepare for the upcoming 2023–24 season.

During his 15-year ownership tenure, Tony Sage claims to have invested approximately $50 million into the club. However, the past season posed challenges, including the need for upgrades at HBF Park for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and limited compensation for temporary relocations, which added financial pressures.

Consequently, Sage, who had been trying to sell the club for some time, had to take a loan from the APL to cover player and staff payments.

With the APL now actively searching for a new owner, optimism surrounds the prospect of finding one within the next ten weeks.

The APL’s Chief Executive, Danny Townsend, had this to say when speaking to ABC Perth:

“We’ve already got the City Football Group, Manchester City owning the Melbourne City Club, [the] 777 Partners who own a bunch of clubs around the world investing in Melbourne Victory,” he said.

“So, we see the international investor market as being pretty buoyant right now. The enterprise value growth of A-League franchises is all ahead of us – so it will probably be a mixture of local investment and international investment.”

On the government’s involvement, WA Sports Minister David Templeman totally rejected the notion that the government was to blame, also telling ABC Perth Mornings:

“We commissioned an independent report, from Deloitte, to look at what financial support was required by the government to compensate for those challenges,” he stated.

“That report highlighted that the government’s payments of just over a million dollars were appropriate.

“The government’s made the decision that further compensation of Glory was not warranted and in the best interest of the taxpayer, we aren’t in the business of bailing out what is essentially a business.”

Perth Glory fans can find reassurance from the APL that the club is not facing bankruptcy or administration. The focus now firmly rests on securing a new owner, as the club eagerly awaits to begin a new chapter in its history.

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South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

Football NSW announces 2026 First Nations Scholarships as pathway access program enters new phase

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has announced the recipients of its 2026 First Nations Scholarships, with ten emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players from metropolitan and regional NSW receiving support designed to reduce the financial and structural barriers that have historically limited First Nations participation across the football pathway.

The scholarship program, developed and assessed in collaboration with the Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group, targets players across both elite and development environments – recognising that talent identification alone is insufficient without the resources to support progression once players are identified.

Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group Bianca Dufty said the calibre of this year’s recipients reflected the depth of First Nations football talent across the state, and the importance of structured support in converting that talent into long-term participation.

“Their dedication to football and the desire to be role models for younger Aboriginal footballers in their communities is to be celebrated,” Dufty said. “I’m confident we will see some of these talented footballers in the A-League and national teams in the future.”

 

Beyond the pitch and into the pipeline

The 2026 cohort spans both metropolitan clubs and regional associations, an intentional distribution that acknowledges the particular barriers facing First Nations players outside major population centres, where access to development programs, qualified coaching and pathway competitions is more limited and the cost of participation more prohibitive.

The next phase of the program will introduce First Nations coaching scholarships, extending the initiative’s reach beyond playing pathways and into the coaching and administration pipeline – areas where Indigenous representation remains among the lowest in the game.

The structural logic is clear. Scholarships that reduce financial barriers at the entry point of elite pathways matter most when they are part of a sustained ecosystem of support rather than isolated gestures. Football NSW’s collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group provides that continuity, ensuring the program is shaped by the communities it is designed to serve.

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