Highlights for me are Tigers vs Hume City
Olympic FC vs Floreat Athena
Maitland FC vs Central Coast Mariners
Melbourne Knights vs Adelaide United
Brisbane Strikers vs Wellington Phoenix

The rigged draw is fucking bullshit, seriously these A-league vs A-league games are so dull.

And if Roar win it?

I couldn't agree more with this. It adds nothing and NPL teams can make the quarters (and beyond) on merit which will be much more enjoyable to watch

And please make it so Cooma can play in Cooma and not in Canberra.

Lol Brisbane get the toughest possible opponent.SFC
away.

Central Coast and the Nux get NPL teams again while the Jerks get another A-League draw. FFS 

Not to mention that an early cupset is more likely.

Knocked out A-League teams can have friendlies against each other for preseason if they want.

And no VAR for cup games lol

Ustase sympathisers v lefties.

Yep Knights vs United is mouth watering.

Plastic cups all round. 

 

Haven't played each other for nearly 16 years!

I can't wait until the day the FFA Cup gets a tiny little simple fucking make over, that could happen overnight, where the draw is fair. No favours for anyone at all. First name out of the hat is the host regardless of what division they are in, and every fucking clubs name drawn from the same ball ffs.

If its Knights v Adelaide and Victory vs Newy on the same day, I'll be torn. 

Nice. Knights stadium a short stroll from home for me....I’ll head on down for this clash. Just hope I’m not rostered to work at the time.

Like others have stated, would rather not see A league clubs set up to play each other. Bring on more David and Goliath battles, more chance of a cupset.

Since Round 16 of the 03/04 NSL in December 2003, Adelaide United 2 with goals to Carl Veart and David Terminello vs Knights 1 via Kris Trajanovski.

13k crowd at Hindmarsh.

Except Nix.

Yeah it’s really selfish of the FFA to never give Nix a home match. Hope independent A-League fixes this.

I just remembered it was the Brisbane Strikers wanting to buy the Nix licence late last year, they made up BS that they were in talks. 
Looks like this game will mean something after all. 

doesn't look like their ground has any lights

The Maitland Magpies have drawn A-League team Central Coast Mariners in the FFA Cup round of 32.

As part of hosting an Hyundai A-League club, the Magpies and Mariners game will be telecast on Fox Sports.

The Magpies are hoping to hold the game at the Maitland Sportsground, however have signalled they will need financial support from Maitland City Council with mobile lighting towers need to be brought in to ensure lighting reaches a required 500 lux level for a telecast game.

The cup ties are scheduled to be held from Tuesday, July 23, through to Wednesday, August 7.

Games will be held on Tuesday or Wednesday night during the week period.Magpies coach Mick Bolch said it was tremendous news for the Magpies and he was hopeful that the council would support the club in holding the game at the Maitland Sportsground.

Fellow Northern NSW NPL team Edgeworth Eagles are heading to the top of Australia after being drawn to play state league team Darwin Olympic.

The Newcastle Jets are also on the road taking on their 2017-18 grand final opponent Melbourne Victory.

FOX Sports Australia A League commentator Robbie Slater said it was a great time for Maitland and other NPL teams to face A-League opponents as the A-League teams were still in their preseason.

Speaking ahead of tonight's FFA Cup draw, Maitland FC president Ray Watkins said the Magpies would not be able to host an A-League team at Cooks Square Park.

Watkins said the playing surface at Cooks Square Park, thanks to Maitland City Council and the state government, was now one of the best in the Northern NSW NPL competition and more than up to hosting a game.

However, facilities such as the change rooms, toilets for a large crowd and lighting were not up to scratch at the Magpies' traditional home, especially for an A-League team.

Magpies and Maitland City Council representatives met with Football Federation Australia officials last week about what would be needed to host a FFA Cup tie fixture and the possibility of a Newcastle Jets home game at the Maitland Sportsground.

While the Sportsground fits the bill as far as facilities for fans and a visiting team, its lighting would need to be upgraded to at least 200 lux for a fixture against another state league team, or to 500 lux for a night fixture against a visiting A-League team, a game which would be telecast live across the nation.

"Our preference is for the game to be played in Maitland, but we we are concerned about the cost of hiring the ground and paying for additional lighting if it was at the Maitland Sportsground," Watkins said.

"We would love to play the game at the No.1 Sportsground - it's a fantastic facility.

"However, its floodlighting standards do not meet the requirements of Foxtel broadcasting.

"It would cost as much as $16,000 to bring in mobile lighting towers to bring it up to the broadcast requirements.

And while we want to promote the city in the best possible light, we cannot expose the club to the possibility of a financial loss."

Source - Maitland Mercury

Thats how it is in qualifying. Look in Victoria 2 giants heidelberg and hume drew eachother early on. Completely open. Then you see the main thing and its mickey mouse.

It’s funny. The FFA are saying that this is done to ensure the non HAL clubs remain interested but it’s probably having the opposite effect.

if this draw wasnt more evident that it's rigged then i do not know what is. The FFA do not want to fork out on travel costs and it's as simple as that. 

Bulleen Lions vs Moreland Zebras - VIC
Magpies Crusaders vs Coomera Colts - QLD
St George vs Sydney United - NSW
Mt Druitt Rangers vs Manly United - NSW
Maitland vs CCM - (1 hr Drive) 

such a disappointing draw.

Absolute joke of a draw. FFA are broke.

It does seem strange, but it seems fairly hard to rig a draw to that extent though.

Their reasoning for an engineered draw to help ensure NPL clubs have more of a chance of going deeper was sound in the early years but I think this should now change.