Football Australia and the newly formed Australian Professional Leagues today announced they've agreed to 'unbundle' the A-League, W-League and Y-League – the professional leagues – from FA.
The unbundling of the professional codes from Football Australia are said to put the Australian football structure in line with global leagues in football.
"The unbundling of the Professional Leagues from Football Australia is a key milestone in the ongoing transformation of Australian football and fulfils our commitment outlined in Principle VIII of our XI Principles," FA CEO James Johnson said via a press release this afternoon.
"It represents the culmination of a process, which ramped up following the completion of the A-League 2019/20 season, that ebbed and flowed over the course of what has been a difficult 2020.
"The new model respects the fundamental aspects of the global football pyramid and highlights the importance of strong governance principles as Football Australia retains its regulatory functions in respect of the A-League, Westfield W-League and Y-League and the APL takes control over the operational and commercial direction of the Leagues, in turn triggering the ability for significant new investment in the quality and marketing of the Leagues. Each constituent now has defined roles and responsibilities and the ability to make the right contribution to the growth of the professional game.
"We have been able to create a unique model which draws upon global best practice whilst allowing for local specificities.
"Significantly, the model establishes a framework for a strong partnership between Football Australia and the APL which recognises the value of a thriving domestic professional league to the ongoing growth of the game in Australia."
This agreement, approved by FA's board and the board of each club, is in line with the in-principle agreement reached in 2019, and endorsed by the New Leagues Working Group, the body mandated by the Congress of Football Australia to make recommendations for a new model for the professional leagues.
The new model for the professional leagues will be implemented throughout the course of the 2020-21 A-League and W-League seasons.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.