FFA Cup to be next casualty

This year’s FFA Cup looms as the latest casualty of the coronavirus crisis.

Adelaide United after winning last year’s FFA Cup final. Picture Sarah Reed

This year’s FFA Cup looms as the latest casualty of the coronavirus crisis. A FFA source told The Australian it was highly likely the 2020 cup would be called off due to the uncertainty over the completion of the A-League, NPL and lower level competitions throughout Australia.

Only last month FFA chief executive James Johnson said the cup was a “priority” as it “connects different levels of football”.

A-League clubs had been due to enter the cup’s round of 32 stage in late July, but with July-August now being the mooted period for the 2019-20 A-League season to be completed, that has become the priority.

The cup preliminary rounds are also at various stages in the states and territories, and with the NPL and lower-tier competitions set to resume at different times, if at all, it makes it difficult to slot in Cup matches around them.

In Queensland, the cup’s preliminary round three is yet to be completed.

Six preliminary rounds must be played before the round of 32.

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Last year, NPL Queensland club the Brisbane Strikers reached the cup semi-finals before being knocked out in a 5-1 loss to Melbourne City at Perry Park. City were later beaten 4-0 in the final by Adelaide United, who secured back-to-back cup triumphs. A-League players are frustrated by the lack of clarity about their stalled season, Adelaide United’s football director Bruce Djite said.

While other major codes such as the NRL and AFL have announced season resumption timetables, the return of the A-League remains unknown.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) wants the season, which was put on hold in March amid the coronavirus pandemic, to resume and finish in August. But players are becoming agitated that no firm time frame for a return to training or the season restart has been detailed.

“The FFA are no doubt doing their best and there’s no reason for them to keep us in the dark any more than they need to,” Djite said.

“But the feedback from the players is of frustration when the Bundesliga is back, the Premier League are going back to training, all before us. I would argue that the coronavirus is much worse in Europe than it is in Australia.”

A-League players were seeking some certainty after the AFL and NRL detailed aspects of their respective restarts.

“I speak to players as often as possible and the constant is ‘hold on a second, what makes us so much more complicated when we have only got a few more games to play?’,” Djite said.

“AFL have got their stuff sorted. NRL have got their stuff sorted. Foxtel has paid the (latest A-League broadcasting rights) money now — we still haven’t got our stuff sorted. Obviously the players want to get back to play as soon as possible … They’re not saying they want to play tomorrow but they just want to know what the schedule is.

“Maybe legally we’re still not guaranteed Fox Sports for the next three years.

“There’s a lot of things that probably myself, the clubs and the players don’t know about that are happening in the background.”

Compounding the agitation is the expiry of many player contracts at the end of May.

“Besides the financials and the timings and everything, it’s also about just a matter of principle,” Djite said.

“Players are out of contract on 31 May; getting extended to the end of August, yes, no? … The one real positive is that the FFA and the PFA (Professional Footballers Australia) are in talks and have been having talks for some time.”

The Courier-Mail, AAP