The A-League will scrap its controversial deal to stage men's and women's Grand Finals in Sydney with immediate effect, replacing it with a "Unite Round" of 24 men's and women's games across Sydney in January.
Announced on Wednesday morning, the renegotiated deal between league operators the Australian Professional Leagues and the New South Wales government will see the league revert to what was the long-standing Australian football tradition of awarding Grand Final hosting rights based on sporting merit for the 2023-24 season, with the A-League Men and A-League Women decider to go to the highest-ranked side that qualifies for this year's decider.
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Replacing it, also for the 2023-24 season, will be the competition's first "Unite Round," wherein every fixture of the men's and women's competitions will be staged across Sydney the weekend of January 12 to 14. Following in the footsteps of the NRL's "Magic Round" and the AFL's "Gather Round," the league is touting their own offering as the first in which a league will stage both men's and women's games as part of the event.
The A-League Men competition will expand to 27 rounds to incorporate the fixtures that will be added by the decision, with the week 12 fixtures that had been scheduled for that weekend to be shifted to various midweek availabilities throughout the season.
It will stage doubleheaders at Parramatta Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadium across the first two days of the round, before combining with the A-League Women for back-to-back fixtures in Parramatta and Moore Park on Jan.14.
Given the short notice of the change, however, the A-League Women, which commenced its season over the weekend, will see its round 12 fixtures absorbed by the new format, with league officials intending to include an extra fixture to incorporate the new round for the 2024-25 season.
That competition's doubleheaders will take place at Leichhardt Oval across the round's opening two days before the Western Sydney Wanderers face Melbourne City in Parramatta and Western United meet Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.
"This is a chance for fans and players from right around Australia to come together, be united and be part of something special right here in Sydney," said John Graham, the NSW Minister for Jobs and Tourism.
"The Unite Round is a win-win for fans, the game and NSW as it will provide more opportunity for all players and fans to be part of an inclusive football celebration in Sydney."
Revealed just eight days after the Socceroos' run to the round of 16 at the World Cup ended, the deal to sell Grand Final hosting rights to Sydney for three seasons was met with initial, visceral protest by A-League supporters, the scale of which the league wasn't prepared for, chief executive Danny Townsend would admit to ESPN.
The announcement was followed by a violent pitch invasion by Melbourne Victory supporters at a Melbourne Derby against Melbourne City, which injured five people, including then-City goalkeeper Tom Glover and referee Alex King, and resulted in significant penalties for Victory.
Protests continued throughout the rest of the season, including a boycott of the first-ever Sydney Derby final in A-League Men history by supporters of Sydney FC, and eventually helped spur the implementation of official fan representative groups throughout the league and added extra impetus to the A-Leagues' search for an independent chair, which it filled last month through former federal Labor senator Stephen Conroy.
In what will now be the only deciders to be staged under the deal, Western United and Melbourne City won the rights to host the 2022-23 Grand Finals in the A-League Women and A-League Men respectively but were forced to travel to Sydney for the games to take on Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners.
While the presence of a NSW side in both deciders ensured large crowds, both Melbourne sides would end up losing those fixtures by a combined score of 10-1.
"We have worked closely with our clubs and fans to ensure that there are suitable constructive mechanisms for the voices of fans to be heard," said Townsend.
"Many of the resulting conversations have included the hosting of the Grand Finals, and the strong sentiments around that, and we thank [Destination NSW] and Premier Minns [NSW Premier Chris Minns] for their partnership in creating a truly inclusive experience for our game."