What is the Australia Cup?
The Australia Cup is a national knockout tournament run by Football Australia in conjunction with every State and Territory Member Federation in the country.
The competition commences with the Preliminary Rounds before moving into the Final Rounds (from the Round of 32 onwards), the stage when the A-League Men clubs join the fray.
Each and every cup tie must be decided on the day, with extra time and penalties to decide results if matches are drawn after 90 minutes.
Number of competing clubs
- 2016: 701
- 2017: 732
- 2018: 772
- 2019: 737
- 2020: N/A
- 2021: 742
- 2022: 742
- 2023: 775
Each state and territory is allocated a number of slots in the Round of 32, based on the number of registered players and number of each Member Federation’s entrants in the Preliminary Rounds. Each state and territory decides the qualification route.
The Australia Cup became a truly national competition in 2015 when the Northern Territory started to participate in the Preliminary Rounds (pre Round of 32) and were granted a slot in the Round of 32.
The decision in regard to determining the number of slots each Member Federation receives is made after a review of the previous year and feedback received from the Australia Cup Advisory Committee which is comprised of representatives from the Member Federations, A-League Men clubs, the Professional Footballers Association and Football Australia.
From 2015 to 2019 the competition also saw the start of an automatic Round of 32 slot being allocated to the reigning National Premier Leagues Champions of Australia.
Due to the NPL Final Series not taking place in 2022, Football Australia has retained the allocation of this slot and in 2023 will be awarded to Football Victoria. The allocation of this slot will be reviewed and awarded each year.
In 2023, the ten A-League clubs will be determined by:
- Top 8 qualifying directly into the Final Rounds
- Bottom four playing off for final two spots (9th v 12th and 10th v 11th)
The final allocation for the Round of 32 in 2023 comprises:
- Football Victoria - 5* clubs
- Football NSW - 4 clubs
- Football Queensland - 4 clubs
- Football West - 2 clubs
- Northern NSW Football - 2 clubs
- Capital Football - 1 club
- Football South Australia - 2 clubs
- Football Tasmania - 1 club
- Football Northern Territory - 1 club
- A-League Men - 10 clubs
*Fifth slot awarded to Football Victoria for 2023 only
From 2014-2020, the FFA Cup was broadcast on Fox Sports.
From 2021 the FFA Cup was broadcast by Network 10 and in 2023 will continue on Network 10 under the new competition name, Australia Cup. How to watch the Australia Cup.
The Australia Cup 2023 Preliminary Rounds will commence as per below.
Please visit the respective Member Federation website for Preliminary Round fixtures and results.
Football NSW
11 March, 2023
Football Northern NSW
19 February, 2023
Football Victoria
12 February, 2023
Football Queensland
10 February, 2023
Football South Australia
10 February, 2023
Football West
12 February, 2023
Football Tasmania
7 April, 2023
Capital Football
26 February, 2023
Football Northern Territory
4 April, 2023
The dates will be confirmed at a later date.
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter Finals
Semi Finals
Cup Final
The draw will be entirely open throughout the Final Rounds.
There is no longer a fixed path of any member federation team.
As a club licensed by Football Australia to participate in the A-League Men, Wellington Phoenix should be afforded the same opportunity as other A-League men clubs to play in the Australia Cup. As a professional club, Wellington Phoenix is not able to play in New Zealand Football's Chatham Cup.
In accordance with FIFA Regulations, Wellington Phoenix's participation in the Australia Cup has been approved by FIFA, the AFC, the OFC and New Zealand Football.
Wellington Phoenix will play all Australia Cup matches in Australia and always deemed the away team.
Football Australia will cover reasonable flights, ground transport and accommodation for a travelling party of 23 for each travelling Away club and provides a nominated amount as a meal allowance.
The home club will incur applicable venue hosting costs and receive all associated ticket revenue, excluding the Australia Cup Final which will be run by Football Australia.
Where matches involve Member Federation clubs only, the first drawn club will be given hosting rights.
Where matches involve a Member Federation club and a A-League Men club, the Member Federation club will be given the right to host.
Where both clubs involved are A-League Men clubs, the first drawn club will have hosting rights other then Wellington Phoenix.
Football Australia wants to embrace the unique atmosphere of cup competitions and play as many Australia Cup matches at suburban grounds as possible.
However, each venue will need to meet appropriate Minimum Venue and Security Standards that will be in place for the Australia Cup.
Due to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 being played in Australia and New Zealand, the Round of 32 match schedule will be determined at a later date. Football Australia has confirmed that no national level matches (which include the Australia Cup) will be played on the same day as any FWWC match.
After the conclusion of the FWWC the Australia Cup will endeavour to schedule matches on a Wednesday night. To provide consistency for the viewer and fan to identify with Wednesday nights as the nights to watch the Australia Cup.
In a successful initiative, weekends will be used to help maximise and enhance spectator, broadcast and commercial opportunities associated with the Final Rounds.
As in 2022, the Australia Final 2023 will be played in the prime time Saturday night slot on Network 10.
For player welfare reasons, matches may be rescheduled depending on the league fixtures of the participating clubs.
A decision on the Australia Cup Final 2023 venue will be revealed in due course.
