Aloisi ‘devastated’ as former champions Western United stripped of A-League licence

Western United is on the brink of folding after the A-Leagues club was stripped of its licence to compete in Australia’s professional men’s and women’s competitions.

Champions of the A-League Men in 2022, the Melbourne-based club has been suffering financial turmoil in recent months, with players and staff paid late in April, May and June and with a FIFA ban due to a dispute with former star Aleksandar Prijovic blocking them from registering new players.

Jason Sourasis, the club’s chairman, had been hoping a planned takeover by American investors KAM Sports would end the uncertainty over Western United’s future, but the process has dragged on – and now Football Australia’s first instance board, an independent body tasked with club licensing, has forced the matter to a head by effectively booting them out of the A-Leagues.

The first instance board met on Thursday night and “determined that Western United FC has failed to meet the criteria required to be granted an A-League licence”, a spokesperson for Football Australia said.

“As such, Western United FC’s licence has been withdrawn, effective immediately.

“This outcome, while regrettable, reflects Football Australia’s ongoing commitment to upholding the integrity, stability, and fairness of competitions for all clubs, players, and stakeholders.”

John Aloisi, the former Socceroo who coaches Western United’s men and steered them to their 2022 grand final win over Melbourne City, told this masthead: “Not sure what I can say at the moment but I’m devastated for everyone involved at the club.”

Western United has eight days to appeal against the decision, but if it is not overturned, the A-League Men will kick off in October with 12 teams, while the A-League Women will be reduced to 11 teams.

In a statement, the club said it was “bitterly disappointed” by the decision and will lodge an appeal “with faith of a positive outcome as the sale of the club and injection of capital from KAM Melbourne continues to progress”.

FA would not reveal the members of the first instance board, and would only say they were independent of the federation, the APL and the clubs.

United’s men finished third last season and were knocked out of the semi-finals by eventual champions Melbourne City. Their women also reached the finals but lost 1-0 in their home elimination final to Adelaide United.

“We’ve been advised by Football Australia on the determination by [the first instance board] to withdraw Western United’s conditional licence,” Australian Professional Leagues executive chairman Stephen Conroy said in a statement.

“This is an FA, AFC and regulatory process, and we won’t comment further until the regulatory process and any appeal has been completed.”

Western United joined the A-League Men in the 2019-20 season, with the then-Football Federation Australia board approving their expansion bid, alongside Sydney-based Macarthur FC, in December 2018. The decision to add third teams from both Melbourne and Sydney was heavily influenced by Fox Sports, the A-League’s former broadcasters, which was eager for more derby matches in major cities, but neither club has built a particularly large fanbase. Western United averaged a league low of 3,709 fans at their home matches last season.

Western United’s expansion bid was centred around an Australian first ‘value capture’ real estate model, with plans to build a privately-owned 15,000-seat football-specific stadium in Tarneit, in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs, as well as housing and other infrastructure in partnership with the Wyndham City Council. They were awarded the licence ahead of other bids from south-east Melbourne and the former National Soccer League powerhouse South Melbourne.

However, construction of the long-promised stadium has still not begun - despite promises during the expansion process that the club was “shovel-ready” - and for the past year, they have been playing home matches out of Ironbark Fields, a training facility jointly funded by the club and the council.

The entire project’s future - and thus, the club’s future - was resting on the arrival of the new owners, KAM Melbourne, a subsidiary of KAM Sports, headed by businessmen Maciek and Mikhail Kaminski, to inject the necessary funds to proceed with the stadium and surrounds.

In May, the club announced that it had agreed to sell a controlling stake in Western United and its parent company, Western Melbourne Group, to KAM Melbourne - but three months later, the transaction has not been approved by FA or the APL, and the status of the takeover remains a mystery.

This masthead revealed in June that Sourasis had been hit with personal tax bill of nearly $3 million via a director penalty notice from the ATO for unpaid taxes across six of his businesses, including the companies underpinning the A-League finalists.

Guardian Australia reported last week that Western United lost $11 million in the 2023/24 financial year, with their liabilities exceeding assets by more than $55 million, following a deficit of more than $12 million for the preceding period.

Key figures within the Australian game have for weeks been privately speculating about the club’s likely demise, and rival clubs are believed to have held back in their recruitment in the expectation that their players would soon become free agents. The uncertainty has also contributed to the APL having not yet released next season’s fixtures.

The A-Leagues have not seen a club shut its doors since 2012, when the Clive Palmer-owned Gold Coast United were shut down weeks after FFA revoked its licence.

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