Sydney has cemented its position as the nation’s home of football, securing the Men’s and Women’s A-Leagues Grand Finals from 2023 – 2025.
The NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW has partnered with Australian Professional Leagues (APL) to bring its showpiece events to the Harbour City, including a new grand final week festival of football to create an unprecedented event destination experience for football fans.
Minister for Sport Alister Henskens said the addition of the A-Leagues Grand Final to Sydney’s annual sporting events calendar is a huge coup for NSW.
“With the FIFA Women’s World Cup coming and on the back of the Socceroos historic World Cup in Qatar, football in Australia is going from strength to strength,” Mr Henskens said.
“NSW is home to the most clubs in the both A-Leagues competitions, with the greatest supporter base, most passionate fans, the highest level of football participation and the best football venues.”
“This new week-long event will provide football and sports fans with an experience unique to all other codes and cement the A-Leagues Grand Finals amongst the very best fixtures on our national sporting calendar.”
Minister for Tourism Ben Franklin said securing the event would deliver significant economic benefits for NSW.
“As the nation’s home of football I am delighted to be partnering with the APL to bring the Men’s and Women’s A-Leagues Grand Finals to Sydney,” Mr Franklin said.
“Sydney is renowned for hosting world-class sporting events and we are going to create a new tradition for football fans, making the A-Leagues Grand Finals a week-long extravaganza that showcases football and the best of the Harbour City.
“Tens of thousands of football fans are expected to flock to Sydney for the A-Leagues Grand Finals and are forecast to inject $26 million of visitor expenditure into NSW.”
“This is another incredible addition to the already impressive calendar of world-class major events we are building for Sydney, which is a key pillar of our goal to make NSW the major events capital and premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific.”
Danny Townsend, CEO of the APL, said: “The FIFA World Cup 2023 showed that we are a country of football fans and whet the region’s appetite for the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year. But fans don’t want to wait for four years in-between competitions to see our best sporting talent perform.
“Football fans now get the best of both worlds – they can now look forward to a showpiece Grand Final event in a set location, as well as watching A-Leagues and national team stars week-in-week-out at their local A-Leagues team.
“This is a unique opportunity to build a tradition for football fans. When you think about a cup final in England, you think about the trip to Wembley, and we want fans in Australia to look forward to the A-Leagues finals in the same way.
“We have already broken the previous record for attendance this season in the Liberty A-League Women and have a clear objective to make history again with Grand Final attendance in the year that we host the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
Venues for the 2023 Men’s and Women’s A-Leagues Grand Finals will be announced in the coming months.
