• A-League has announced plans to establish expansion clubs.
• This is the first time the men’s league has been expanded.
• APL was separated from Football Australia in 2020.

The A-League, Australia’s men’s football league has announced plans to establish expansion clubs in Canberra and Auckland within the next 18 months.

The Australian Professional Leagues (APL), which runs the A-League Men and Women competitions, announced on Wednesday that it is looking to add two new teams to the men’s league in time for the 2024-25 season, according to a Xinhua report.

It is the first time the men’s league has been expanded since the APL was separated from Football Australia (FA) in 2020.

The APL’s chief executive, Danny Townsend, stated that the new governing body would approach expansion differently than the FA, focusing on existing populations not currently represented by a club to “hit the ground running.”

The potential fan base, expanding the league’s footprint, stadiums, and whether it would cannibalise existing fans were the four criteria used to evaluate markets for expansion, with Canberra and Auckland ticking multiple boxes.

Auckland could become the second A-League club based in New Zealand, while Canberra United, which has existed as a standalone team in the women’s competition since 2008, would add a men’s team.

“Our time in the market in both Canberra and Auckland has actually strengthened our resolve and conviction around those two markets,” Townsend.

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