Football Federation Australia has announced changes to the structure of the FFA Cup concerning the 10 A-League clubs.
As of the third instalment of the cup, all A-League sides will be in the same pot, meaning any of the 10 teams could find themselves in the suburbs pitted against a member federation club. In the first and previous two editions of the cup, the top four A-League teams faced off against state-level sides while the remaining six clubs played each other.
However, the round of 32 structure will remain the same in that there will be three all A-League matches.
FFA CEO David Gallop predicted the changes would continue to strengthen the cup’s appeal.
“With the addition of the A-League clubs, a total of 701 clubs will have taken part in this year’s FFA Cup, which continues to go from strength to strength and capture the imagination of football fans around the country in just its third year,” Gallop said.
“The competition’s unique selling point is the appeal of watching grassroots clubs playing at suburban grounds against the pros from the A-League.
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“Following the success of the first two years of the competition, member federation clubs are realising the significant benefits that come with making a run deep into the competition as Hume City found out in reaching the FFA Cup semi-finals last year, so these clubs will be as determined as ever to go and put their name up in lights.”
Slot allocation for the tournament will stay as is. New South Wales will receive five slots, Queensland and Victoria four, Northern New South Wales and Western Australia two as well as South Australia, ACT, Tasmania and Northern Territory with one.
Blacktown City claimed an automatic entry into the round of 32 as National Premier League champions.
The 2016 tournament will begin on 26 July and will end with the final on Tuesday 29 November.
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