Heidelberg United FC launch new initiative honouring corporate partners

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Heidelberg United is honoring their business and corporate partners with H.U.B (Heidelberg United in Business).

Heidelberg United is honouring their business and corporate partners with HUB (Heidelberg United in Business) – creating networking opportunities at events and highlighting their contribution to the club, with larger events planned for the coming months.

The venture aims to celebrate their partners and create opportunities to connect through a mutual love of football. The Victorian National Premier League team honoured the support their corporate and business partners have given the club throughout the years in a launch event that is planned to be the first of many.

The launch of HUB at Heidi’s Café saw a keynote speech from former club great and Melbourne Victory technical director Gary Cole. The launch was attended by over 80 guests, made up of club members and representatives from the club’s partners. Also in attendance were high-profile guests including State Legislative Councillor Lee Tarlamis OAM, and ex-Collingwood premiership-winning AFL player Ben Johnson.

Heidelberg United president Steve Tsalikidis oversaw the implementation of HUB, and says that the launch has been a success for both the club and its corporate partners.

“The concept was created because we want the ability of our partners to network and create opportunities, and also to say thank you to them because without them we couldn’t continue to do what we do,” he said.

Tsalikidis believes clubs within Australia need to engage more with their partners in the future to expand their support.

“One thing clubs need to get better at, generally speaking, is having engagement and respect with our partners. There is an obligation to invest back into the community, and that is what we are doing through Heidelberg United in Business,” he said.

Tsalikidis elaborated that the first event was a success for the club and its sponsors, with future events being open to the public and other prospective sponsors.

“I’m hearing already that they’ve started working together. The next event will be a proper business-to-business event at the Olympic hotel, where people can buy tickets to the event,” he said.

Future HUB events are planned to continue to strengthen the ties between Heidelberg United Football Club and their affiliated partners, while also allowing for their contribution to the team’s success to be promoted to the wider footballing community.

Heidelberg United is assessing how to develop and refine the “HUB” concept to further engage the corporate sector as an integral partner to the club both on and off the field.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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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.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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