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·20 October 2023
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·20 October 2023
The Unite Round was announced on Wednesday this week which will see male and female A-League games descend on Sydney.
The weekend will take place from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th January. It sees all A-League women’s matches in one weekend. Furthermore, it will also be the first time both a Women’s and Men’s league have played a single round of fixtures in the same city.
“Magic Rounds” as they’re more commonly known is when an entire gameweek will be played in a single city over the same weekend. These are now commonplace in sports such as Rugby League and more recently AFL has also adopted the format.
The move is somewhat of a victory for the fans. This was after the outcry at the Australian Professional Leagues.
This saw them sign an agreement with Destination New South Wales to play the 2023,2024 and 2025 Grand Finals in Sydney.
Last season’s ALW Grand Final might’ve been an all-Victorian affair, but Melbourne Victory fell in the semi-finals to eventual champions, Sydney FC who beat Western United 4-0 at CommBank Stadium.
Under the revised plans, Grand Final hosting rights will revert back to the tradition of taking place at the home of the highest-placed qualifying team from the Regular Season.
The games will form Round 12 of the 22-game Regular Season and will take place across 3 locations: Allianz Stadium, CommBank Stadium and Leichhardt Oval.
This is with the exception of Sydney FC v Western United and Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne City who’ll play at their “traditional” homes of Allianz and CommBank respectively.
This will then see the other 4 clashes be played at Leichhardt Oval.
As well as the A-Leagues games, there’ll also be junior tournaments for girls and boys taking place across Sydney.
There will also be a live site where people can watch the Socceroos in the Men’s Asian Cup as the APL hopes to put on a festival of football and recreate some of the World Cup magic.
Friday, January 12 (both games at Leichhardt Oval)
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners
Saturday, January 13 (both games at Leichhardt Oval)
Canberra United v Adelaide United
Brisbane Roar v Newcastle Jets
Sunday, January 14
Western United v Sydney FC (at Allianz Stadium)
Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne City (at CommBank Stadium)