Second designated player slot added for 2022-23 A-League Men’s season

Brisbane Roar

A-League men’s clubs have been boosted by the introduction of a new rule which allows them to sign an extra star for up to $600,000.

The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) have fast-tracked a second ‘designated player’ slot into the salary cap for the 2022-23 Isuzu UTE A-League season, granting clubs the ability to both lure and retain more top-shelf talent to the ALM.

It means clubs can bring in an additional player on up to $600,000 – or shift an existing player into that position to free up a marquee player spot

Last season, some clubs brought heavyweight signings in directly as designated players – including Victory centre back Roderick Miranda and Jets top scorer Beka Mikeltadze – while others moved existing marquees into the role of designated player. Perth Glory for instance were able to sign Daniel Sturridge as a marquee after making Adrian Sardinero a designated player.

The first designated player slot was included in the salary cap last season as part of a five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) struck with the Professional Footballers Association (PFA).

A designated player has an annual salary of between $300,000 and $600,000 – this sits outside the salary cap, along with the maximum of two marquee players per club whose wages also sit outside the cap.

From the 2022-23 campaign onwards, clubs will be allowed two designated players and two marquee players in a squad of 18-23 players (excluding scholarship contracts.

Originally pencilled in for the 2023-24 season, the increase of designated player slots was brought forward one season by the APL to enhance the quality of the competition, either via new signings or the retention of players already shining in the ALM.

A-Leagues commissioner Greg O’Rourke explained why the APL decided to accelerate its plan to implement the additional designated player spot in 2022-23:

“The addition of up to two designated players was something we negotiated with the PFA as part of the five-year CBA back in July last year,” O’Rourke said via KEEPUP.

“Our thought at the time was one immediately for last season and another by year three at the latest, however we feel it is the right time to accelerate this option and have brought the second player into play for next season.

“This allows clubs to target another player outside of the cap that improves the squad quality overall as there are requisite minimum investment levels required to satisfy this allowance and we look forward to many of the clubs taking up the opportunity.”

The serious waves Series Futsal have made and what it means for the sport

Football within Victoria in a broad sense is difficult to unpack from multiple angles. What is clear is the passion displayed by fanatics.

Although not a traditional form of football, it’s cousin futsal has slowly emerged as a popular indoor sport that has abundance of opportunity within Australia’s major futsal organisation, Futsal Oz.

Futsal Oz has been the manifestation of the football extraordinaire Peter Parthimos, who founded the entity in 2006. When discussing with Peter in regards to why he created Futsal Oz, he discussed how he wished to unify people, provide competitive competitions to those who played the sport, all the while providing opportunity to those who want to play on a leisurely level all the way to a professional level.

Despite having a turbulent tenure throughout the global pandemic in 2020. Futsal Oz came out of Covid-19 with a newly furbished Futsal court fit for its most talented players. The court resides in their Thomastown location. Series Futsal is currently the highest level of futsal across the country and features abundance of Australia’s most coveted football players.

Melbourne-owned Sport Recreational Wear manufacturer AKU is a proud partner, with many women’s and men’s series sides opting to use AKU as a kit sponsor. The company also designed and created kits which were featured in the monthly major event in Thomastown, combining the best players across the Series Futsal competition to represent their respective ethnicities. The event was broadcasted on FireTv, a subsidiary to American-Bulgarian Company TrillerTv, who specialise in combat and European Sport streaming. Melbourne born Commentator Michael Schiavello spearheaded the broadcast acting as executive producer.

Each Wednesday and Friday the competitions are streamed live via YouTube and its independently ran application “Wefroth”, allowing its humble yet passionate fanatics to watch each round of Series Futsal unfold.

Through the running of competitions and the opportunities it sets through broadcast, futsal is in a healthy position.

Feyenoord secure record shirt sponsorship deal with MediaMarkt

German electronics retailer MediaMarkt will become the new shirt sponsor of Dutch club Feyenoord for the 2024-25 season in a record multi-year deal.

The two parties have agreed a three-year deal – through to the conclusion of 2026-27 – believed to be worth around €20 million (AU$33.1 million) in total, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.

The company will replace EuroParcs which has been featured on the front of the Eredivisie club shirts since 2021.

MediaMarkt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in ten countries in Europe. The company is one of the largest sellers of electronics in Europe with a total of nearly 2.1 million products sold in 2023.

MediaMarkt’s head office is in Rotterdam and the company became convinced of the collaboration after gaining insight into various data about Feyenoord that suggests large growth is imminent.

It became attractive for the company because Feyenoord has gained a greater reputation not only nationally, but also internationally through long, reasonably successful participations in the Conference League, the Europa League and also the group stages of the Champions League.

As a result of this on-field success, the MediaMarkt partnership would be the Dutch clubs most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal which follows on from a record kit supply deal signed by Feyenoord last year with Castore, a UK sportswear brand.

Feyenoord have been winning off the field as well, recording record net revenue numbers in two of the last four years, including the 2022/2023 season which amounted to €99 mil (AU$164.2 mil), a thirteen percent increase on the previous year.

In domestic shirt sales, they ranked third last season behind PSV and Ajax but are projected to overtake PSV in 2023/24 after their recent league success.

Feyenoord has a tradition of long-term contracts with main sponsors, MediaMarkt will only be the eighth big name on the shirt. More than half a century ago in 1982, the Gouden Gids was the first shirt sponsor.

This deal is proof of Feyenoord’s incredible growth on and off the pitch with their marketing and trophy successes. MediaMarkt hopes to grow further by investing in Feyenoord’s upward trajectory, located right near their main headquarters.

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