Professional Footballers Australia unveil 2021/22 A-League Men’s Report

Avatar
PFA
Image provided by Professional Footballers Australia

Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), the body that represents professional male, female and elite junior soccer players, has officially released its annual A-League Men Report for the 2021/22 season.

The report revealed that the A-Leagues men’s competition has rebounded from the financial impact of COVID-19 due to an increase in investment from clubs, improved player contract stability and a sustained focus on youth development.

These are among the key findings in the PFA’s annual A-League Men Report, which provides an overview of the 2021/22 campaign and assesses the employment framework and workplace conditions for Australia’s professional footballers.

With the 2022/23 season beginning next week, the Report indicates that the A-League Men competition has solid foundations to build and capitalise upon.

The report identifies that the A-League Men leads all rival Asian Football Confederation (AFC) domestic competitions for fielding players aged 21 or under and sits eighth on a list of 60 leagues from around the world. The League’s average age has been the lowest in competition history during the past three seasons, dropping from an average of 27 to 25. Across the season, 42% of match minutes available were occupied by players under 25.

In addition, the A-League Men is the most competitively balanced league in the Asian Football Confederation. The A-League Men has the closest level of quality among its 12 teams and the tightest points spread recorded in the past decade, delivering more competitive tension within matches and across the season than any other top Asian league.

Clubs invested $52m in A-League Men player payments in the 2021/22 season, demonstrating a rebound in investment following the financial impact of COVID-19 on clubs, up from $38.1m (2020/21).

Moreover, the percentage of players coming off contract at the start of the 2021/22 season was the lowest recorded in eight seasons, decreasing from 68% last season to 48%. The current contract length of Australian players in the A-League Men is among the highest in comparator leagues from Africa, South America, North America and Asia, and the highest in the AFC region.

PFA Co-Chief Executive Beau Busch explained the report underlined the positive impact of the five-year CBA and underlined the resilience of a competition that was severely impacted by COVID-19.

“The objective of agreeing to a five-year CBA was to provide both a genuine partnership between the players and the clubs and crucially to provide the professional game with a stable platform to rebuild the industry,” Busch said in a statement.

“Encouragingly, we continue to see a range of positive trends in relation to increased investment in players, the emergence of a host of talented players and improved contractual stability.

“Whilst these are welcomed signs, there remains much to do to establish the professional game in this country and this report provides the evidential basis to assess our progress as a football nation and benchmark ourselves against our international rivals.”

Click here to download and view the Report.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

Avatar
Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

Avatar
Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend