Breakers owner the man behind Auckland A-Leagues bid

Avatar
A-League expansion
Image credit: Kritsana Laroque / Shutterstock.com

New Zealand Breakers minority owner Marc Mitchell is understood to be the man behind a consortium seeking to enter an Auckland team into the A-Leagues.

According to Stuff NZ, multiple sources have indicated the consortium is in the advanced stage of discussions with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), the governing body that runs the A-Leagues. A public announcement is expected to be imminent.

In late July, a company was set up by Mitchell titled ‘Auckland Football Limited’ where he was listed as its sole director. Stuff NZ understands there is set to be no connection between the football club and the New Zealand Breakers Basketball team.

In recent times, a website has been set up for the proposed team under the web address of Auckland.football.

Social media accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms have been set up with similar branding.

All Whites Coach Darren Bazeley recently stated that he thinks proposed new Auckland team will turn out much better than the Knights.

“The Phoenix have done a great job showing how a New Zealand team can perform in the A-Leagues, though they’ve obviously had ups and downs.

“This Auckland franchise has now got a great opportunity to come into a big market that has turned up for football matches, turned up for the Phoenix, turned up for international games. Hopefully now people will get behind an Auckland A-Leagues franchise and turn up to watch the team.

“I’m hearing that the people that are going to be running the club are top people and it’s going to be financially stable, whereas I think the first Auckland franchise, potentially wasn’t financially stable, but it was the beginning of the league and people didn’t really know.

“I think this one will be a lot different, I’m very excited.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

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

Avatar
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

Avatar
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.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend