The A-Leagues All Star Game is an association football match contested by the A-Leagues All Stars team against an invitee club. The All Stars team is made up of selected
A-League Men or
A-League Women players. The game is played during the footballing
off-season, the first of which was held on 20 July 2013.
After the 2014 edition, the All Star Game was not held for almost a decade, before the concept was revived in 2022 and was expected to continue for at least the 2023, 2024 and 2025 A-League seasons as part of the commercial agreement with the NSW State Government to play a "Football Festival" culminating with the A-League Grand final in Sydney for those three seasons.
A-League All Stars Men
Background
On 13 November 2012, it was confirmed that
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
would come to Australia and play an all-star team consisting of
A-League players. The
inaugural A-League All Stars Game took place on 20 July 2013, against Manchester United. The A-League team was picked by an online vote by fans and by the appointed manager. On 20 December 2013, it was confirmed that
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
would compete against the all-star team for the
2014 game, again hosted in Sydney.
On 6 April 2022 it was announced that a third A-League All Stars match would be held against
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
on 25 May 2022, again in Sydney.
The 2023 edition was under negotiations with
Bayern Munich to appear as the foreign club but the APL were unable to fund the multi-million dollar appearance fee.
On 18 March 2024, it was announced that the A-League All Stars would be facing
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
side
Newcastle United on 24 May 2024 as part of
Global Football Week Melbourne, 5 days after the conclusion of the Premier League
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
. The game was played at
Marvel Stadium, and is the first time in 10 years that United have visited Australia.
Games
The 2013 and 2014 matches were televised in Australia by
Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
. The 2022 and 2024 matches were televised on
10 Bold.
Man of the match
:
A-Leagues All Stars Women
Background
On 18 March 2024, it was announced that the A-League All Stars would be facing
Women's Super League side
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
on 24 May 2024 as part of
Global Football Week Melbourne, five days after the conclusion of the WSL season. The game was played at Marvel Stadium. The All Stars squad, which was coached by former A-League Women's Melbourne City and Arsenal's coach,
Joe Montemurro, comprised Lydia Williams, Jada Whyman, Alana Cerne, Michaela Foster, Grace Maher, Danika Matos, Kayla Morrison, Rebekah Stott, Alex Chidiac, Mackenzie Hawkesby, Elise Kellond-Knight, Rhianna Pollicina, Tameka Yallop, Sophie Harding, Michelle Hayman, Princess Ibini, Kyah Simon, Cortnee Vine and Hannah Wilkinson.
Arsenal won, 0–1, with a header by
Alessia Russo after a cross from Vivienne Lia.
Games
The 2024 Match was broadcast on
10 Bold.
References
External links
ALeagues.com.au info
{{Football League Select XIs
Soccer teams in Australia
Annual sporting events in Australia
Recurring sporting events established in 2013
Recurring events disestablished in 2015
Australian soccer friendly trophies