Adelaide United assistant Ross Aloisi says ‘no-one abides’ by league’s salary cap rules

An A-League assistant coach has made a bold declaration in regards to teams breaching the salary cap and feels it’s not an even playing field.

Adelaide United assistant coach Ross Aloisi has made an explosive claim about other A-League clubs working within the salary cap. Picture: Mark Brake / Getty Images

Adelaide United assistant coach Ross Aloisi has made an extraordinary claim about A-League clubs, believing “no-one abides” by the competition’s salary cap rules.

Clubs are permitted to make two marquee signings outside the salary cap – set at $2.5 million per club for the 2021/22 season – as well as one designated player who can have a salary between $300,000 and $600,000.

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The salary cap has been a mainstay of the A-League, put in place to ensure an even playing field among the clubs, no matter how deep the pockets of club owners.

But with the marquee signings and designated player rules, clubs are able to show their financial muscle with those signings.

It’s an area Aloisi feels Adelaide simply cannot compete with.

“We are always confident in our football ability, but in saying that, it’s very, very hard to compete with the clubs that spend so much more money than what we do – we’re talking about three, four, five million more than what we can afford,” Aloisi told SEN.

Adelaide United assistant coach Ross Aloisi believes not every A-League club abides by the salary cap. Picture: James Elsby / Getty Images

“I don’t think people realise exactly how the salary cap works.

“I’m not even sure what it is anymore, because no-one abides by it.

“They say it’s $2.5 (million) and there’s a minimum spend … that’s fine, but you’ve got clubs like Sydney FC, Melbourne City, Western United, Western Sydney Wanderers, Melbourne Victory, they spend a lot of money outside the salary cap on foreign players and we just don’t have the money to compete with that.

“Sometimes it’s very hard to compete against those clubs when they’ve spent so much money.

“We’ve got good, young boys coming through, our objective is to make the finals and be successful within the finals.”

The most notable example of an A-League club being sanctioned for a salary cap breach was Perth Glory in 2015.

The West Australian outfit was ruled out of the finals series in the 2014/15 season and was also slapped with a $269,000 fine.

Originally published as Adelaide United assistant Ross Aloisi says ‘no-one abides’ by league’s salary cap rules