Change of opponents for Melbourne City and Sydney FC due to lack of staff at AAMI Park

Melbourne City and Sydney FC have new A-League opponents for this weekend after a staff shortage at AAMI Park led to their match being postponed.

Harry Van Der Saag and his Sydney FC teammates will now meet Perth Glory this weekend, following the postponement of their match against Sydney FC. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

A lack of healthy and available staff at AAMI Park has led to the postponement of Saturday’s A-League clash between Melbourne City and Sydney FC.

With the Australian Open tennis tournament currently on at Melbourne Park, venue staff are stretched to the limit, with Covid-19 taking its toll.

“The issues faced with Covid-19 illnesses have placed an incredible strain on the league, as well as a number of clubs hosting matches,” Australian Professional Leagues CEO and Sydney FC CEO Danny Townsend said.

“The sickness in Melbourne has come at the worst possible time for venues, with the A-League fixtures scheduled alongside the Australian Open, in one of the busiest weekends of the year.”

Sydney FC players will remain on home soil this weekend following a fixture change. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

Despite the postponement, City and Sydney will still play this weekend, but against different opponents.

Sydney will meet Perth Glory on Saturday night at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, while City travels to Gosford to take on the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.

The women’s A-League match between City and Sydney that had been scheduled for AAMI Park on Saturday has been moved to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

“We’ve been working with the APL commissioner (Greg O’Rourke) and the operations team to solve those issues and to come up with the best possible outcome to ensure games can go ahead,” Townsend said.

O’Rourke said: “While there may be more hurdles over the coming weeks and months, we are grateful to our staff and clubs for continuing to see the vision we have for keeping the season on track despite these challenging times.

“We will continue to work with all clubs and relevant state governments to confirm a new schedule for all postponed matches as soon as possible.”

Sydney FC and the Mariners meet on Tuesday night in an FFA Cup semi-final at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

“We’re ready to go and cup football’s cup football,” Mariners coach Nick Montgomery said. “It’s a semi-final, it’s a massive opportunity to get to a cup final, so we’ll be going there full of confidence and going there to get a result.”

Originally published as Change of opponents for Melbourne City and Sydney FC due to lack of staff at AAMI Park