Melbourne City names Alpha Gear as Official Equipment Partner

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Image credit: Melbourne City website

Melbourne City FC confirm ALPHA Gear as the Club’s Official Football Sports Equipment Partner, renowned Australia’s customised small sided-goals.

ALPHA Gear produces high quality full-sized and small sided goals, footballs and off field apparel amongst other products and has been supplying training equipment to City since 2017.

This new collaboration formalises the relationship between the two brands, with ALPHA Gear now extending its support to include the Club’s senior men’s and women’s teams, as well as City’s community initiatives.

ALPHA Gear will play a key role in programs such as City in the Community (CITC) and Macca’s City Clubs, with their logo featured on CITC Young Leaders’ uniforms and exciting product giveaways for Macca’s City Clubs.

Brisbane Roar in 2023 partnered with Alpha Group and the company is destined to continue to grow within Australian football as they continue to successfully supply their products.

ALPHA Gear Director, Robert Bonanno expressed his enthusiasm about finalising the partnership and joining forces with Melbourne City after many years of collaboration.

“Melbourne City’s focus on community engagement and youth development is really impressive, and at ALPHA Gear, we share those same values,” Bonanno mentioned in a statement.

“Building strong on-field environments for footballers of all ages and abilities to develop is what we are all about, so we couldn’t be more excited to formally partner with City.”

Melbourne City FC CEO Brad Rowse spoke on the fantastic relationship both parties have built over time, sharing similar sentiments.

“We’ve been working with ALPHA Gear for several years already, and they have always ensured a seamless training experience, helping our teams perform at their best with top-quality equipment,” Rowse said in a club statement.

“Trophies might be awarded in stadiums, but they are won on the training pitch. To train at the highest level, you need the highest quality equipment, which is exactly what we have with ALPHA.

“We’ve been working with ALPHA Gear for several years already, and it’s exciting to now have their support across all levels of the Club, including our community programs, which are at the heart of everything we do.”

The collaboration will end up benefitting the community and youth programs within the club whilst also upgrading the quality of their current training products.

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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.

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

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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.

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