“It’s something that has been long overdue,” says Northcote City board member Peter Kotsiris about the FFA Cup.
That’s the consensus of hundreds of clubs around Australia that have lived in the shadow of the A-League.
Never before have football clubs – local, rural and professional – been able to take each other on in a unique competition.
Making due with friendlies, the divide between the A-League and the state clubs has been an issue many clubs have been trying to fix for years.
For the first time, that issue is being addressed in a fun and competitive competition, that might finish with the chance of AFC Champions League qualification for the winner.
That is the main consensus around the country, as more than 600 teams ready themselves to enter the inaugural FFA Cup competition.
Launched this week, the Cup effectively means that lower league clubs will be able to take on the best of the best, and battle with the A-League crop for the title.
At the Round 32 mark in on July 29, 10 A-League teams will enter the competition to go up against the 22 FFA member federation teams that make it through. Queensland will contribute four clubs, New South Wales seven, Northern NSW two, Victoria four, Western Australia two and both the ACT and Tasmania one. Northern Territory will start in 2015.
All Greek sponsored state clubs will be looking for glory, and Victoria’s Bentleigh Green’s is hoping for a spot in the 22.
Coach John Anastasiadis is already getting two teams together, one that will enter the new NPLV in March and one that he will develop for the Cup. The two teams will contain many of the same players, but he’s leaving wiggle room for the FFA Cup final team.
“We’re building a team to do that, we are expecting to be up there like last year so hopefully we’ll be in good stead to be in the final 32,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“The core of the squad’s the same, we’ve lost some significant players, we’ll hopefully pick up some players of the same milk as we’ve had.”
Last year’s Premier League winners, Northcote City is taking one step at a time, and looking towards short term results to ferry them through to the Cup.
“We’ve got to make the semi-finals of our local Victorian State Knockout Cup first,” Northcote City’s Kotsiris says.
“We’ve probably got as good of a chance as everyone else. We’ll wait and see what eventuates, I still think that’s a little while off.”
Preliminary knockout matches have already started and will finish on June 22.
The Federation says the Cup will be a way for grassroots football to get the publicity it deserves.
“The holy grail for Australian football for so many years (has been) the connection of grassroots to professional football – the FFA Cup embodies that, which is why we’re so excited,” FFA CEO David Gallop said.
The AFC qualification for the winner is still a pipe dream, with the FFA admitting it needs to talk to its Asian counterparts first.
