Meanwhile, the Olyroos have missed out joining the Matildas at the Paris Olympics after two draws and one loss in the group stage at the U-23 Asian Cup.
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The Australian Professional League announced recently that there would not be a Dolan-Warren Medal Awards night this year.
But instead of hosting a swanky soiree, players will be handed the top three awards — player of the season, young player of the season and goal of the season — at halftime in the (A-League Men grand final on May 25).
An identical format will be used at the ALW grand final, which is scheduled for May 5.
Other awards will be announced digitally.
Wow, they’re broke broke.
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Love the easy to check inaccuracies in that article. Typical of 7 online hey? 
Yep, big cuts coming to football budgets next season as the league looks to consolidate and rebuild.
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(posting in a more relevant thread)
Bonza’s parent company 777 Partners has a 19.9% stake of Melbourne Victory. The club is confident that its finances won’t be affected by the airline going into voluntary administration. Victory has confirmed that before Bonza’s collapse it had opted out of the last two seasons of its sponsorship, which began in 2022.
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Meanwhile Everton are teetering on the edge of administration because the same company (777 Partners) are playing silly buggers
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Sydney FC has claimed back-to-back A-League Women championships, defeating Melbourne City 1-0 in this afternoon’s grand final at AAMI Park. It is Sydney’s fifth overall A-League Women title, a new record. Substitute Shea Connors scored the only goal in the 69th minute.
During the halftime break, this season’s A-League Women awards were presented. Wanderers striker Sophie Harding was named the Julie Dolan medallist.
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It marked the first AFC crown in Central Coast’s history, while they are the first Australian side to win a continental trophy in Asia since Western Sydney Wanderers reigned supreme in the 2014 AFC Champions League.
It also marked the end of the AFC Cup, with the competition to be scrapped next season in favour of three new tournaments – the AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions League 2 and AFC Challenge Cup.
The Mariners will compete in the AFC Champions League Elite in the 2024-25 season after clinching A-League premiership last week.
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Former Matildas and Macarthur FC coach Ante Milicic has been appointed the new coach of China’s women’s national football team. His first game in charge will be the friendly against Australia in Adelaide on May 31.
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Impact of DoF van Egmond in bring in Aussie staff.
It was officially confirmed today that Australia would host the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
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Police have charged three A-League footballers from Macarthur FC, including captain Ulises Dávila, with participating in a criminal group.
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Great news with Australia hosting the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup.
And naughty naughty to those few Macarthur players…!
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Basically a rerun of the 2014 World Cup other than it’s the women’s edition.
Brazil has all the infrastructure and a good record of hosting major events
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Socceroo legend Robbie Slater said the future of some clubs would be put at risk by the A-League’s shortfall, which was caused by its broadcast deal with Channel Ten and Paramount Plus.
Another senior club insider said A-League players were being overpaid, with some described as “donkeys” earning $400,000 a year.
Central Coast Mariners owner Richard Peil has told Code Sports that player payments were “not sustainable”.
“AFL and NRL have billion-dollar deals. Ours is substantially less. Our corporate sponsorship dollars are much less. Yet some players are getting $1.2, $1.3 million, which is more than what Nathan Cleary is on,” he said last week.
The league also had to pay $12m a year for broadcast production costs and there were criticisms that coverage of the women’s game was poor.
The A-League’s production company Global Advance went into administration in March, leaving the A-League scrambling to sign a new contract with its previous broadcasters NEP.
The game’s self-inflicted wounds go deeper, with a social media app called KeepUp bleeding at least $30 million before it was closed.
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The scorned ex-lover, we need to stop repeating his ramblings.
Which one?
For the record, the Leagues took on that cost voluntarily. Paramount signed the deal under the impression they would have to make the coverage but were happily surprised when they found out the APL wasn’t expecting them to.
They have to pay the marquees the big bucks to have them play here over somewhere else. The local leagues don’t have any other option (maybe Union) so finances aren’t the deal they are in football.
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Sources from The Code, a News Corp publication who are railing against the deal so they can sign it on the cheap.
The thing is people really thing A league is ever going to rate. It never will. They were lucky to get what they got from 10. They’ve had all their games broadcast on P+, they get weekly free to air exposure. They also get A league team news every night on 10 News first. The promotion is there but no one really cares for it on a regular basis. It will never be on par with NRL and AFL. Robbie slater would be singing a different tune if he wasn’t scorned by 10 when Fox lost the rights. They didn’t want him as part of the line up. It’s just a constant whinge and grievance.
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