In just over a month, the opening round of A-League men’s action kicks off with a rematch of May’s Grand Final, and the weekend is highlighted by veterans Juan Mata and Douglas Costa facing off in the Sydney derby in Parramatta.
All eyes will be back on football, the Australia Cup final having served its role as the Charity Shield curtain raiser, and the other football codes will have wrapped up their seasons with drama, fireworks and the usual sweet, sickly razzamatazz.
The healing process can begin, following a winter of discontent that pegged our beautiful game back four years, and then we can welcome back the A-League Women’s and really go for total sport domination.
Football has had a rough trot. The Olympic Games was meant to be the pinnacle of a number of careers in a star-studded Matildas generation but fell flat on its face in a trio of brittle performances hidden away in the depths of night.
The nailed-on sell-out crowds that accompanied every home game in the lead-up to the games counted for nothing in those sparse stadiums in the south of France as the country’s favourite sporting team bowed out meekly at the group stage.
Is it only a matter of time before the cracks begin to show and this generation of young fans moves on to the next big thing in sport?
The Young Matildas were also bundled out of their moment in the spotlight, as the U20s World Cup turned out to be far stronger than anyone could anticipate, the form that took them to third place in the Asian Cup deserting a strong-looking team on paper.
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Australia’s Olyroos, the U23s men’s team, matched the Young Matildas’ goalless feat at the AFC Championship, staggering out in their group to miss out altogether on the Olympic Games.
The Under 23s Women’s travelled to Europe for a three-game series and were found out, only salvaging some pride in a penalty shoot-out win against Poland.
Now we have our beloved Socceroos sitting fifth in a six-team qualifying group, after an atrocious stumble on the dead-straight road to North America for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Memories of Mitch Duke’s deft header against Tunisia and Mathew Leckie’s solo wonder goal against Denmark are fading as ‘Super Graham Arnold’ struggles to make an impact on even the weakest teams remaining in the Asian qualification pools.
Sydney FC celebrates scoring a goal. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
The much-vaunted but much-doubted National Second Tier continues to leave casual observers scratching their heads at the lack of concrete decisions ahead of its proposed 2025 start. Yes, football in Australia is in need of a pick-me-up; here comes the A-League, our knight in shining armour.
So, we have an uneven number of teams now in the A-League thanks to Auckland’s solo inclusion, Adelaide United is the unlucky team to start the season with a blank weekend.
The season is home and away plus a few more, still unable to present a completely fair and just competition, and still without a relegation trap door for those underperforming clubs.
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The league has lost a huge sum of money thanks to the APL’s insistence on giving us a website that nobody wanted in the first place and the TV deal remains with the shaky Paramount+, the bane of every technophobic football fan in Australia.
The flow of players out of the league has been alarming, and the amount of funds available to lure players into the A-League ecosystem has dwindled to an all-time low.
But it’s not all bad.
Western Sydney Wanderers have shaken off their ‘no one likes us’ tag and appointed a classy coach with a pedigree, and they’ve attracted some star quality to the west with Bozhidar Kraev joining from Wellington Phoenix to join ex-Manchester United and Spain star Mata.
Perth Glory have undergone a major refit of their squad, premiers and champions Central Coast Mariners have started to counter the outflow of quality players by bringing in more Brazilian flair, and Melbourne City have begun replacing their star line-up with a sprinkling of international incoming.
Quite what we’ll get from wannabe powerhouse Auckland FC in their debut season remains a mystery, but we can already see from the Australia Cup that Melbourne Victory will be very strong this season and have recruited well.
As we know from Yoshi’s plea from a previous A-League era, “you gotta have a team” – so who are you following in the 2024/25 season?
Which club is going to attract you to a live football game this season?
For all its shortcomings, for all of the challenges that are continually thrown into its own path, the A-League Men’s competition continues to entertain and amaze.
May there continue to be Peak A-League moments to share, may the numbers through the gate continue to rise and may the Australian sporting public have their heads turned and get behind a top-quality competitive football league as the summer approaches.
A-League to the rescue.