Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has asserted that the key to unlocking Australia’s full football potential is by A-League expansion.
Speaking prior to Tuesday night’s friendly in Melbourne against Ecuador, Arnold noted that the “unbelievable form” shown by Riley McGree is larely due to the expanded format he plays in back in the UK’s English Championship.
According to Arnold, an A-League expansion format is the best way to capitalise on the success we saw in Qatar, and move towards an even greater result at the 2026 World Cup.
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“We just need the A-League to play more and more games. It‘s crazy, 25 games is not enough,” said Arnold, noting that there are a number of Australian players who he believes are being held back by their lack of game time.
“I could probably name 100 kids that, you know, could go up to another level, but they just need to play more football.”
While Australians playing in the Scottish Premiership or English Premier League play 38 games per season (not including other competitions and cups like the FA Cup or Carabao Cup), the A-League only has 26 rounds. He believes it’s one of the reasons footballers down under are falling behind and why it’s so important to accelerate A-League expansion.
Arnold has gone so far as to suggest that a shorter season is “taking away kids’ lives”.
“If you’re a golfer and you want to get to the low handicap, what do you do? You play more. And it’s the same in football now it’s a team sport, but it’s also very much an individual sport as well.
“So just expand and give kids more of an opportunity to fulfil their dreams. Because when you restrict those, then you’re taking away kids’ lives, so give them a chance.”
Why A-League expansion will continue football’s rise
Thankfully, the league is seemingly of the same belief. A-League expansion will see two more clubs joining the league in the 2024-25 season, followed by two more in 2025-26 — culminating in a 16-club competition.
By the start of the 2025-26, the A-League will feature a 30-game home and away season, which is still shorter than European leagues, but is significantly longer than the current format.
In addition to this, Football Australia is working on the development of a national second division, which will allow even more Australian footballers to earn a full-time income from the sport, and widen the talent pool even further ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
If the World Cup has taught us anything, it’s that we should be nurturing our local talent
The 2022 FIFA World Cup saw Australia return to its glory days of football that hadn’t been seen since the early 2000s, and if it taught us anything, it is the importance of nurturing local talent.
While we have big names abroad in the likes of Harry Souttar and Jackson Irvine, the A-League has no shortage of talent playing in our own backyard every weekend — including the Central Coast Mariners’ Garang Kuol, who was snapped up by Premier League club Newcastle United after showing his skills in Qatar.
And that wasn’t just a fluke, with more big names coming out of the A-League seemingly every week in the likes of Nestory Irankunda and Joe Gauci, who were both named in the squad for the homecoming friendlies.
A-League expansion: How will promotion-relegation work?
“Developing a national second-tier competition is a key component of our 15-year vision for the game and our efforts to reconnect and realign Australian football competitions,” FA chief executive officer James Johnson said.
