A-League is a football league which is played by two neighboring countries. Australia and New Zealand are the top teams in the Oceania region. Football or soccer is not a popular sport in that region. That is because there are several sports, such as Cricket, Rugby, Australian Rules football (AFL), and Tennis are prominent Sports in that region. As a result, the game of football doesn’t gain much popularity. Although the Australian men’s football team continuously plays the World Cup, the team isn’t able to secure the top five positions in Australia. The same thing can be said for New Zealand. The Blackcaps football team played several FIFA World Cups and got very good results. For example, in the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the black caps were the only team that remained undefeated in the tournament. They draw with football powerhouses Italy and Paraguay.
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The English Premier League (EPL) gained widespread fame throughout the world by introducing a new form of football league. As a result, the Football Federation of Australia and New Zealand introduced A-LEAGUE in 2005. The primary goal of the League was to boost the popularity of soccer in that region. Initially there weren’t enough teams to play. However, with the help of the Manchester City owners the Football Federation Australia introduced six different teams. The Melbourne Victory and Sydney were the most powerful teams at the time.
Initial challenges of A-LEAGUE
As I already mentioned, soccer is not a popular sport in the country like Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. For this reason, at the beginning of the League, there was only one thousand plus attendance in single A-League matches. At the time, the Football Federation of Australia and New Zealand decided to play together and signed several big players from different parts of the world. As a result, the league became more exciting.
Another big problem was that three national team players were not available to play in that League. This is because they have already received various offers from the English Premier League, La Liga, League One, Bundelinga, and Dutch league. They received a huge amount of money from the owners of the clubs. Even, many Australian players preferred to play in the Indian Super League (ISL) rather than playing in their domestic League.
However, there was another big drawback and that was the lack of stadiums. Australia has a lot of popular sports. Australian rule football and cricket hold the top position. The majority of these stadiums in Australia are for these two Sports. Australian rules football is mainly played in the winter and in the summer people become crazy about test cricket and also the other forms of cricket. As a result, the Football Federation of Australia suffered a lot from the shortage of enough stadiums. Primarily, they were played in the normal stadiums. Then, the city group built new stadiums in Melbourne and Sydney for their teams. The government of Australia also helped a lot to create new stadiums for the rest of the teams.
The increasing acceptance of A-League
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At present, the popularity of A-LEAGUE is growing not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world. The current market value of the league is around €90.85 million. The most valuable team in the league is Sydney FC and the second position is held by the Melbourne Victory. The salaries of the players are also increasing rapidly. The highest-paid player in the League is signed by the Wellington Phoenix. Scott Wotton is the most-earned athlete in the League. His annual salary is around €1.17 million.
The crowds are also becoming more interested in the league. For example, there was a time, when the league witnessed only one thousand crowds per match. During the Australian rules football matches or test cricket matches the stadium remained empty. But the situation has now altered a lot. The current average attendance of an A-LEAGUE match is around 8,087 and the numbers are growing day by day. The clubs are now creating a dedicated fanbase for them.
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A-LEAGUE also received a huge response from the TV audience. According to the report of Sports Industry Australia and VOZ, the per-match TV viewership of A-LEAGUE is around 0.15 million. Although the number is quite low compared to the AFL, NRL, and BBL, the Fame of the league is growing. Seven Sports, Fox Sports, and Optus Sports are keen on securing the broadcast rights of the league. With the assistance of social media, the league also became popular in Asian countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and India. As a result, the ISUZU UTE A-LEAGUE is earning more money compared to other leagues in Australia and New Zealand.
What is the future of A-LEAGUE
In recent years, the league has witnessed a huge growing popularity. Now, 13 different teams fight against each other to lift the league title. Most importantly, foreign investors are now becoming more and more interested in investing in the league. For example, the brother of the Amir of Qatar has already shown his interest in investing in the league. He already owns Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in league one and many teams in the Qatar football league. This city group and the other owners of the English Premier League have also shown their interest in investing. So in the future, the Football Federation of Australia should not be worried about the investment.
However, they are facing several threats from their competitors. For example, AFL is the most popular and powerful Sport in Australia and New Zealand. They will never tolerate any sports taking over them. As a result, Australian Rules football started to promote their games more in the country. The final of the AFL is the most watched Sports in Australia and also the most attended sports matches in the history of Australia. Besides, The Big Bash League and test cricket are gaining huge popularity throughout the country. The recent test matches between India and Australia witnessed record-breaking crowds in the MCG and Sydney Cricket Ground.
Therefore, it will not be an easy task for the A-LEAGUE to overcome those leagues. To be true, it is quite impossible to become the number one sports League or number one national sport in Australia in the future. The AFL, NRL, and cricket have been playing in Australia since its Independence from the British government. A lot of Legends make them more popular throughout the country. One of the most iconic names is sir don Bradman. It will not be an easy task for the Football Federation of Australia and New Zealand to set up a successful League in that region.
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