The 2014 FFA Cup is the inaugural season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout
cup competition in Australia.
631 teams in total from around Australia entered the competition.
Only 32 teams will compete in the competition proper, including the 10 A-League teams and
22 Football Federation Australia member federation teams determined through individual state
qualifying rounds held in early 2014.
The FFA Cup competition proper commenced on 29 July 2014 and will conclude with the FFA
Cup Final on 16 December 2014.
Although future editions of the tournament will involve the Cup Final being played on
Australia Day, this season's Final was brought forward in order to avoid a clash with the
2015 Asian Cup, which will be hosted by Australia.
The winner of the FFA Cup will win $50,000, part of a total winning prize money pool of
$131,450.
Round and dates Prize fund
Qualifying rounds
621 teams competed in various FFA member federations qualifying rounds to win one of 22 places
in the competition proper.
Eight of the nine FFA member federations took part in the tournament, the exception being
Northern Territory, which is expected to start participating from the 2015–16 season.
Player registration numbers in each jurisdiction was used to determine the number of qualifying
teams for each member federation: NSW have seven teams qualify.
Queensland have four teams qualify.
Victoria have four teams qualify.
Northern NSW have two teams qualify.
Western Australia have two teams qualify.
ACT have one team qualify.
South Australia have one team qualify.
Tasmania have one team qualify.
The first qualifying round began on 6 April 2013 and the final qualifying round took place
on 25 June 2014.
Seven of the eight member federation qualifying rounds took place in 2014.
The exception was the ACT, whose competition took place during 2013.
Teams A total of 32 teams will participate in the
2014 FFA Cup competition proper, ten of which will come from the A-League, the remaining
22 teams from FFA member federations, as determined by the qualifying rounds.
A-League clubs represent the highest level in the Australian league system, where as
member federation clubs come from Level 2 and below.
The current season tier of member federation clubs is shown in parentheses.
Draw After the completion of the 2013–14 A-League
season and the qualifying rounds by the respective member federations, the 32 teams were organised
for the FFA Cup Round of 32 draw, the first of four draws in the competition proper.
The draw for the Round of 32 used three pots to arrange the teams: Pot A included the four
A-League teams to reach the semi-finals in the 2013–14 A-League Finals series, Pot
B included the remaining six A-League teams and Pot C contained the 22 member federation
teams.
Teams were drawn randomly into pre-determined positions.
From the Round of 16, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, teams will be allocated in one of two pots.
The remaining A-League teams will be allocated to Pot A and the remaining member federation
teams will be allocated to Pot B. In each draw, teams will again be drawn randomly into
pre-determined positions.
The positions which teams are drawn into are structured to ensure that member federation
teams will have the best chance of advancing in the competition.
A minimum of one non-A-League team will reach the Semi-finals stage, a minimum of three
in the Quarter-finals and a minimum of nine in the Round of 16.
This structured is achieved by allocating teams into pre-determined positions, with
some A-League teams drawn against one another to ensure that a certain number of A-League
teams are eliminated and that a certain number of member federation teams may progress in
the tournament.
The draw for each round will not be made until after the scheduled completion of the previous
round.
The draws will also determine which teams will play at home; that is, if a member federation
team draws an A-League team, the member federation team will host the fixture.
However, if two A-League teams or two member federation teams are drawn together, the first
team drawn will host, with the exception that Wellington Phoenix must play all of their
matches in Australia, away from home.
Bracket Round of 32
The Round of 32 draw took place on Friday 27 June 2014.
The lowest ranked sides that qualified for this round were Hakoah Sydney City East and
South Springvale.
They are the only level 4 teams left in the competition.
As a result of their loss to Adelaide City, Western Sydney Wanderers became the first
A-League club to be eliminated by a member federation team.
All times listed below are at AEST
Round of 16 The Round of 16 draw took place on Friday
22 August 2014.
The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round is South Springvale.
They are the only level 4 team left in the competition.
Quarter-finals The Quarter-final draw took place on 23 September,
with all timing and venue details confirmed on 29 September.
The lowest ranked sides that qualified for this round were Adelaide City, Bentleigh Greens
and Palm Beach.
They are the only level 2 teams left in the competition.
All times listed below are at AEDT
Semi-finals The Semi-final draw took place on 31 October,
with all timing and venue details confirmed on 5 November.
The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round is Bentleigh Greens.
They are the only level 2 team left in the competition.
All times listed below are at AEDT
Final
Top goalscorers Note: Goals scored in qualifying rounds not
included.
Broadcasting rights The live television rights for the competition
are held by the subscription channel Fox Sports, who will broadcast 10 games live.
These matches will be televised live by Fox Sports:
Match ball The official match ball for the 2014 competition
is the Umbro Neo 150 Elite.
References
External links Official website