"The country got its version of this phenomenon when it co-hosted the 2023 Women's World Cup and its domestic competition, the A-League Women, basked in the reflected halo's light as it grew to 12 sides, secured a new collective bargaining agreement increasing spending limits and became the first Australian football code to introduce a full home-and-away women's season. There were record crowds and TV ratings."
"Gripped in financial turmoil, United, based in Melbourne's west, had their parent companies placed into liquidation in August after a petition from the Australian Tax Office. That came weeks after the unexpected stripping of their A-League licence by the first instance board of Football Australia which still maintains regulatory oversight of the top flight under the terms of its independence."
A-League Women expanded to 12 teams after co-hosting the 2023 Women's World Cup, secured a new collective bargaining agreement, and staged a full home-and-away season. The competition saw record crowds and TV ratings. Ahead of 2025-26 and Australia hosting the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, the league will contract to a closed competition without promotion or relegation, the first reduction since Central Coast's pre-2010-11 hiatus. Western United's teams entered conditional hibernation after parent companies entered liquidation following an Australian Tax Office petition and licence stripping; appeals remain ongoing. The hibernation decision was announced in early September to allow fixtures before the season's Halloween start.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]