Following the Western Sydney Wanderers FC qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup 2014 in December, Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today announced updates to the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 Season Draw.
The Western Sydney Wanderers FC round 10 match against Melbourne City FC will now be played on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta (kick-off 7:30pm AEDT), whilst their round 11 match against Brisbane Roar will be now played on Wednesday, March 25 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (kick-off 7:00pm AEST, 8:00pm AEDT).
As a result of Brisbane Roar FC’s home match against the Western Sydney Wanderers FC being moved, the round 11 match between the Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United will now be played on Friday, December 19 at Hunter Stadium (kick-off 7:40pm AEDT).
In addition, the dates and kick-off times for the round 21 fixtures between Melbourne City FC & Newcastle Jets and Sydney FC & Brisbane Roar FC have also been switched due to the unavailability of Allianz Stadium on Saturday, March 14, 2015.
Speaking in relation to the fixture updates, Head of Hyundai A-League Damien de Bohun congratulated the Western Sydney Wanderers FC on their outstanding achievements and also highlighted the issues related to changing the schedule of matches.
“Firstly, the Western Sydney Wanderers achievement of becoming the first Australian club to win the AFC Champions League is fantastic for their members and fans, as well as the entire football family,” he said.
“Secondly, with the Wanderers participation in both the 2014 AFC Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup, Australia hosting the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in January, the scheduling of the 2015 AFC Champions League and venue availability, we were left with an extremely difficult task to reschedule their matches within the time frame available.
“We have planned meticulously and made allowances in our initial scheduling for the Western Sydney Wanderers qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, with three of their four rescheduled matches being Wanderers home matches. Ultimately, though, there are only so many weeks in each season and one of the challenges of being as successful as the Wanderers have in their short history is a hectic and demanding schedule.
“We understand that with these fixture changes, the time between certain matches for particular Clubs is less than we normally aim to provide, however we had no other option under these exceptional circumstances.
“In regards to the round 21 fixture changes, originally FFA had written confirmation that Allianz Stadium was available on Saturday 14 March 2015, but we were subsequently advised that the venue was not available due to other contractual obligations.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the clubs and venues involved for their cooperation in resolving these fixture changes, ostensibly on the back of the extraordinary success of the Western Sydney Wanderers,” concluded de Bohun.
For the complete Hyundai A-League 2014/15 Season Draw, please visit www.a-league.com.au.
