The A-League Expansion Thread

APIA posted their name change on Facebook. Other clubs will probably follow to minimize issues with the FFA and the State Federation (e.g. Can still play in the NPL's) and to create a broader club.

 

It looks interesting and I hope they will succeed in what they want, pro/rel is core of football, you have to be awarded for being the worst in the league - but their wish to get the Championship winner to qualify to Champions League is crazy.

 

Agree on Perth. Don't think they are ready for a 2nd team.

Also agree about having Wollongong over a South Sydney team.

As for NZ teams, I think its a reality that the A-League will always have one not because they need it to have a successful A-League but more because NZ can't support its own first division. With that said though I only see a need for one NZ team

 

Why so by the way? NZ is big enough and rich enough; its population is roughly the size of Slovakia or Ireland with twice the medium income. Granted, it probably won't be the strongest league of them all, but it doesn't have to be.

There are 7 urban areas with 100k+ population, and 1.5M-sized Auckland is definitely capable of supporting more than one team—so an eight-team league should theoretically be viable. Perhaps Wellington and Christchurch might host multiple clubs too.

 

You can't just look at population and income and draw a conclusion like this.. You also have to look at the popularity of the sport and the competition for sports dollars. There is certainly a chicken or the egg component to this, but the sports market is already pretty crowded in New Zealand with rugby union and cricket sucking up a large portion of the available sports dollars.

 

Oh, there is also cricket. I somehow thought that NZ has is rugby so there is just one sport to compete with. Two sports make it much harder.

Thanks for the info! Did not intend to draw any conclusions, was just genuinely curious about the state of the sport in the country I know virtually nothing about.

 

Don't get me wrong, Rugby Union is the lion share of the sports market. Its popularity in New Zealand is on par with soccer/football in other countries. There are 5 Super Rugby clubs (a 15 club league with teams across the Southern Hemisphere, 14 Mitre 10 Cup clubs (an 11 week professional national competition), 12 Heartland Champion ship clubs (an 8 week amateur national competition), and hundreds of pub league clubs. Even if we were to discount all of the other sports, Rugby Union's impact on the New Zealand sports market would be similar to soccer/football's impact in footballing countries.

 

Just so you all know, there is a top flight in NZ. It's called the IPSP Handa Premiership and has 10 teams. Auckland City are the most successful club with several Premiership titles, OFC Champions League titles and FIFA CWC appearances.

 

Yes.. And their top flight league draws hundreds..

Also, winning the OFC CL isn't that hard and is expected for NZ teams. Since Australia left the OFC, a New Zealand club has won the OFC CL 11 of 12 opportunities.

 

Whether it draws hundreds or millions is irrelevant to the point. They do have a top flight.

 

The quality of that top league certainly does matter. Particularly if that league is struggling and if the argument is being made that a city of 1.5 million isn't deserving of a second shot at an A-League club simply because it is in New Zealand, while an Australian city with 1/5th that population, like Wollongong, is a slam dunk.

 

Is the league struggling though? I think their competition expanded from 8 to 10 teams only a year or two ago. They have the same amount of teams us the A-league.

I have no issue with expansion in NZ. I think its a good idea to have a rivalry there. But I also think the priority needs to be to expand in Australia. North Qld, Gold Coast, Wollongong, Sutherland, Geelong, Tasmania, NT and South Melbourne just to name a few. OR just introduce promotion and relegation and the NZ competition could be part of the NPL system.

 

Isn't the NZ top flight semi-pro though?

 

Yes it is.

 

That was my point. While I may have misspoke and said they don't have a top flight my real point was they don't have a professional top flight.

 

I'm going a bit off track now but I've been thinking about how promotion and relegation could work in Australia. I discussed this on FourFourTwo Aus and I've based my model on my understanding of the Portuguese pyramid because there are financial similarities between the two countries in terms of football. Every town, in a country of only 11 million people, basically has a team.

Tier 1: A-League with 16 teams

• 2 relegated
• fully professional
• set criteria for staff, facilities, etc

Tier 2: B-League with 16 teams

• 2 promoted/3 relegated
• professional/semi professional depending on the size of the club
• set criteria for staff, facilities, etc

Tier 3: NPL

• 9-10 conferences with 12-14 teams based on state federations: QLD, NNSW, NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS, SA, WA, NT and possibly the NZ Championship
• 3 promoted via playoff/2 relegated from each state
• Winners of each conference would be randomly drawn against each other at the end of the season in a playoff (home/away) for promotion - if there are 9 conferences, there would be 3 games
• professional/semi professional/amateur
• set criteria for staff, facilities, etc

Tier 4 and below: NPL 2-below

• 2 promoted/2 relegated in every conference
• semi professional/amateur
• set criteria for staff, facilities, etc

 

Its not your problem but it does help with numbers for the A-League.

 

This is all true but its hypothetical as of now and until then an NZ team helps out the A-League but obviously helps the NZ national team more.