Half of APL’s workforce to be made redundant amid A-League financial concerns

Almost half of the workforce behind the A-Leagues are set to be made redundant amid concerns over the finances and future of the breakaway organisation responsible for running domestic soccer in Australia.

According to multiple sources, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, close to 50 per cent of the 80-odd workers at the Australian Professional Leagues, the body which runs the A-Leagues, have lost or will lose their jobs this week.

Almost half of the workforce behind the A-Leagues are set to be made redundant, sources have told this masthead.Credit: Getty

The move will stabilise the APL in the short term, the sources said, but it raises serious concerns over the direction of the club-run entity, which has operated the A-Leagues since securing their hard-fought independence from Football Australia at the start of 2021.

As part of the “restructure”, sources have indicated that KeepUp, the APL’s digital and content arm which sat at the core of the organisation’s strategy under previous CEO Danny Townsend, will effectively be closed down.

“In the three years since unbundling, APL has implemented a strategy that has seen a period of rapid growth across our business,” an APL spokesperson said in a statement. “With the original three-year strategy coming to an end, a planned full strategic and commercial review has taken place over the last several months.

“The review has identified significant opportunities to create efficiencies through consolidation and this necessitates an organisational restructure that is now underway.

Bill Foley, the owner of the incoming Auckland franchise, with Nick Garcia, the A-Leagues commissioner.Credit: Getty

“APL’s priorities remain the same - to deliver commercial growth and sustainability by creating the most exciting competitions possible for our fans - with strong teams producing great young players across Australia and New Zealand.”

While the rest of Australian soccer is booming, with the grassroots strong and both the Socceroos and Matildas coming off record-breaking performances at their respective World Cups, the A-Leagues are going in the opposite direction, with crowds and general interest continuing to nosedive.

Two clubs, Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets, do not have an owner, with the former being run by receivers KordaMentha and the latter by a cartel of other A-League club owners, who have been footing the bill since late December 2020. As a result, the APL is bleeding cash weekly, sources say, while the Glory is currently unable to sign any players until new ownership is in place, departed midfielder Oliver Bozanic has explained via Instagram.

The A-League Men is due to expand to 14 teams next season but only a new Auckland franchise, to be run by US billionaire and AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley, has been confirmed, with no announcements having been made regarding a planned Canberra team.

Less than 50,000 people in total turned out for the A-Leagues’ Unite Round in Sydney.Credit: Getty

The APL has undergone a significant leadership change in recent months with Townsend leaving to take up a job in Saudi Arabia and chairman Paul Lederer stepping down, while previous commissioner Greg O’Rourke has retired. Former federal minister Stephen Conroy was installed as APL chairman in September, with new commissioner Nick Garcia and James Rushton, the founder and former CEO of streaming platform DAZN, now in charge at executive level.

The job losses, the sources say, are an acknowledgement that the APL’s previous strategy was not working and that a new vision is needed, which could involve greater collaboration with Football Australia. Club owners waged a years-long battle against the administration of Frank Lowy and then his son Steven at what was then known as Football Federation Australia, on the basis that independence would enable the clubs to unlock greater commercial opportunities. Those opportunities are yet to fully materialise.

The writing was on the wall regarding the APL’s perilous financial position when the controversial grand final deal with Destination NSW, largely driven by Townsend, was signed in late 2022. Lederer said at the time that “commercial realities” were behind the wildly unpopular decision, and the backlash from supporters was so fierce that the agreement was scrapped and replaced at short notice with Unite Round, the A-Leagues’ version of the NRL’s Magic Round and AFL’s Gather Round, which was held in Sydney this past weekend. A total of 47,425 people watched the 12 games played across the men’s and women’s competitions.

The A-Leagues are into the third season of a five-year broadcast deal with Network 10 and Paramount+, which expires at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. US private equity firm Silver Lake is a one-third owner of the APL, having paid $140 million for their stake two years ago, and it is unclear to what extent their interests are behind the job losses.

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