Australian Tier 1

From the Football Manager 2023 manual

Competition Structure

Twelve teams play each three times throughout the season – which runs from mid-October until early or mid-April in normal times – to complete a total of 33 fixtures.

The top six teams advance to the Finals Series. The top two teams receive a bye (allowing them to progress automatically) while 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th for the right to advance. The top-ranked team then plays the lowest remaining seed, with the two remaining teams also squaring off as the competition adopts a straightforward Semi Final to Final knockout approach.

The winning team qualifies for the Asian Champions League, as does the team which finishes top of the regular season. If the same team achieves both feats, the runner up in the Grand Final takes the second berth. Wellington Phoenix are ineligible for qualification as New Zealand belongs to the Oceania Confederation, while Australia belongs to the Asian Confederation.

Squad/Player Eligibility Rules

Squads are limited to 26 players (and a minimum squad size of 20), of which two must be goalkeepers and no more than five can be foreign (i.e. from outside of Australia, or in the case of Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand). A minimum of three Australian (or NZ) U23 players must be registered.

A salary cap is in place, enforced in the region of A$2.6m per season. There is a salary floor also in place, requiring teams to spend at least 90% of that figure.

Teams are also able to utilise the Designated Player rules. Designating a player makes them exempt from salary cap regulations and allows teams to pay them a higher wage to increase their chances of attracting/retaining players of greater quality.

The Designated Player tag can be applied to two players of any type while provisions are made for Mature Age Rookies: players playing in the Australian Premier League who can come in on non-contract terms for a limited spell of matches. Similarly, Guest Players may feature for up to 14 matches in the regular season. They do not need to be registered as a part of the overall squad. There is no limit on the salary a Guest Player can be paid but clubs are limited to a maximum of one per season.

Loyalty Players are defined as those who have spent four or more consecutive seasons at a club and the league allows a portion of those players’ salaries to be exempt from the Salary Cap on a progressive scale depending on the length of service.

Teams can name a maximum of seven substitutes on a match day, of which one must be a goalkeeper and only three can be used. There must also be at least two domestic Under-22 players on the bench, and at least three domestic Under-23s in the match day squad.

The Transfer Market

With the salary cap being relatively low and the Australian league’s reputation not quite at the levels of some of the more prestigious leagues, the transfer market is mostly reserved for identifying Designated Player targets. South American imports have been among the favourites of the league, but teams are just as likely to use the Designated Player tag on Australians for both the domestic and international slots. This is typically done when trying to sign a high-profile Australian international footballer who may have plied their trade overseas for much of their career. Guest Players arrive on a higher level still, with no salary restrictions and the short-term contract proving attractive to players of a more substantial worldwide profile.

Otherwise, clubs are encouraged to develop their own talent and not rely on sourcing talent from elsewhere. This is evidenced in the fact that clubs cannot make offers for other players playing within the A-League; players may only move in exchange deals.

There are two transfer windows, with the main off-season window beginning in late July and closing in mid- October, while there is a short mid-season window operating for most of January.