Point is that the A league teams don't seem to value ACL for whatever reason but all other clubs see this as a chance to either re-live some former glory or establish themselves for the first time ever... Lots of them have mad arse "benefactors" who would throw a few mill away on a whim just to see their little suburban club play in ACL... Whatever happens, it will definitely at least be entertaining.

Anyone know if the name is going to be changed from the FFA Cup?? (ie- to Australian Cup or FA Cup etc)

Why the issue with Wellington? I presume you have the same problems with the Welsh teams in the English PL, monaco playing in the French league, or those 3 Canadian teams in the MLS? 
And what about those pesky foreigners who keep playing in the Australian open golf or tennis? No business being there.

Well done FA.  Hopefully they can build on previous years and turn this into a bigger comp.

None of those countries you mention are in seperate confederations but anyway Monaco is a micro state that might as well be in France, Wales is part of the same TV market as England so it makes little difference and the Canadian teams should be moving to the CPL now that they have their own league. I also couldn't care less about Golf or Tennis and don't really think comparing it's even worth comparing club based sport with a league format to individual sports that operate on a tour basis.

With Australian footballs limited resources, every dollar raised by the game is better spent on an Australian team instead of a foreign team.

Nearly all our broadcast money is raised in Australia with TV money driven by ratings for Australian teams. Wellingtons Fox ratings on the other hand are trash and the SKY TV deal doesn't even cover their participation. If they can't be arsed paying for us gifting them with a professional pathway whilst taking on all the risk of running the competitions, then i see no reason for keeping them at the expense of an Australian team.

 Australian teams have a lot more wider benefits for football in their regions as they build academies, train local players, engage local fans and media attention which helps build the overall strength of the game in the community. We get none of those benefits with Wellington, just a professional first team that a few Australians move to and few people care about playing.
    

The French Cup is open to the respective cup winners from French overseas territories.
Although it's a competition within a UEFA nation, teams from North America, Africa and Oceania compete in it as well.

And if one of these teams from North America/Africa/Oceania was to win the French Cup, they would compete in the UEFA Euro league...

Last year's overseas competitors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Coupe_de_France#Overseas_Territories_teams


So there you go. It's not just Australia that has teams from overseas (other confederations in fact) competing in it's domestic cup.

Fantastic news regarding the return of the ffa cup, now for the NPL sides to screw the mums & dads for more money for little Johnny to participate at there club so they can get better players/ coaches and pay them top dollar for there side to make the final and have a chance into ACL, hope it does not happen?

loll carrying on like New Caledonia and French Polynesia are independent countries is a streeeeettttttch. The reality is just these territories are just various degrees of France and with the way the French carry on about their overseas land, they are somewhat obliged to include them in Football.

 We on the other hand have no good reason or obligation to include a team from another country that is completely independent and is in another confederation.

Didn't new Caledonia have a vote for independence from france??

Unless we want to. 

I'm fine with Phoenix in the A-League, but I think it would be a good point of difference if the soon-to-be "Australia Cup" were restricted to Australian teams. And good for the Phoenix too to have competitive matches against other NZ sides if they participated in New Zealand's own cup (which has been going on for something like 100 years).

Sure, they would probably win it nearly every year, but surely the opportunity to go head to head against the likes of Auckland City or Canterbury United would be more enticing to their fans than an away match at Bentleigh Greens or whatever.

Fully support Wellingtons involvement in the Australasia Cup. 

Some on here always bagging Welly, well they are as welcome as Welsh clubs in English Leagues, and are performing well. I say good luck to them!

#nixout

They did.  One more referendum to go.

Difficult for Wellington. Oceania Confederation consider them an Australian team and Asian Confederation consider them an Oceania team. They are not eligible for the Oceania Champions League or the Asian Champions League. It should be one or the other. FIFA have sat on the fence. Ideally it should be the OCL, so that Oceania would have a professional team in the World Club Championship (or at least a team good enough to beat a professional team). Phoenix should be allowed to compete in the FFA Cup up until the time they are accepted into the OCL.

Disagree again. A group stage (as a one off) that drags out for 10-12 weeks would have been ideal when we have an 8-month offseason coming up. 


I would support Canberra as a permanent venue for the final as long as the final was always played on a Saturday to make it easier for everyone to travel. But I would expect the ACT government to pump some money in to make this happen.  

I would also make the permanent date of the final the Saturday after November 16 to always commemmorate November 16, 2005. 


yep. this is pretty important. 

Think the neutral venue is waste. Should have just been drawn like every game before it. The only reason seems to be ‘But England do it like this..’

No mate, its only the A league clubs that will have a long off season, the rest of Australian soccer will be just fine.
The new FA, now that the A-league has been left to fend for itself, is tasked with looking after the whole of the game, not just the 11 professional clubs.
Like I've said before, they can organise a leagues cup or some sort of carnival between themselves to fill the empty days before the following season - They play each other 3-4 times a year anyway, what's another 2-3?

I can’t find where it is quoted by JJ that we are going to do it like this because England do...can you enlighten me.

I just doesn’t make sense here that’s all. That’s e only reason that I can think of. Why else would they do it? 

Because having at the home ground of one of the finalists gives an unfair advantage to whoever is hosting (and unlike the A-League grand final, there is no way of deciding this on merit).

And it's not just England that does this, but Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Japan, etc., etc.

It should be held on the international calendar break in November, which coincidentally enough is usually some time around November 16.

Hopefully the ACT government comes to the table and provides a bit of funding in exchange for long-term hosting rights.

Also back a league cup if aleague teams want more games. A-league teams plus the NPL premiers for 4 groups of 5 achieves that neatly gives everyone two home and two away games minimum.

Yeah but the NPL teams in most states are already playing 26 rounds plus finals, plus Npl national finals plus ffa/state cup, they dont NEED the extra games

We all know that it'll be [Sponsor Name] Cup. If they can find one, that is.

Wasn’t it called “The FFA Cup sponsored by Westfield” before though? 

I can't see FA choosing Canberra as a permanent venue for the final unless the ACT Govt comes to the party with financial support. And so they should as travelling fans will bring in a lot of money.

Okay, so having a team from another country in Australian competitions (A-League, FFA Cup) is terrible and we shouldn't do it because no-one else in the world does it*.


* No-one else in the world does it, provided you ignore;
Berwick Ranges (English, playing in the Scottish leagues)
Cardiff & Swansea (Welsh, playing in the English leagues)
FC Andorra (Andorran, playing in the Spanish leagues)
Lemlands IF (Finnish, playing in the Swedish leagues)
AP Campionese (Italian, playing in the Swiss leagues)
FC Büsingen (German, playing in the Swiss leagues)
7 clubs from Liechtenstein who play in the Swiss leagues, but have a domestic cup.
Monaco in the French leagues
Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal (Canadian, playing in the US)
Teams from New Caledonia, Tahiti, Reunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, etc playing in the French cup. (Oceania, Africa, North America playing in France)
The aforementioned teams in the French cup being eligible to qualify for the UEFA Europa league.

But sure, if you ignore all those examples, Australia is unique in having a team from another country competing domestically.

With the exception of the MLS franchises (who are a joke of a thing anyway) do any of these other clubs have a guarantee of participation in the first division of their "adopted" countries win, lose or draw? Regardless of where they finish on the table? 

That’s a pretty disingenuous comment to make.