On 10 October at AAMI Park in Melbourne, South Melbourne, a club from outside the A-League, meet Melbourne Victory in the Australia Cup final. On Sportsbet’s prices checked on 29 September, Victory went in as favourites. According to South, the stadium sold out in little more than a day.
Who South Melbourne are
In the late 1990s South were among the strongest clubs in the country. Their honours page lists four titles in the old National Soccer League, from 1984, 1991, 1998 and 1999. In 1999 South also won the Oceania Club Championship, the title their honours page credits with taking them to the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship.
These days, as Football Victoria’s fixture list shows, Sinisa Cohadzic’s side play in NPL Victoria, and Football Australia counts them among the foundation clubs of the Australian Championship, the new national second tier. Only two clubs from outside the A-League had reached the Australia Cup final before. Sydney United 58 lost 2-0 to Macarthur in 2022, while Heidelberg United went down 3-1 to Newcastle Jets after extra time three years later. Now South join that list. It is their first Australia Cup final.
The road to the final
Lions FC led South in their semi-final at Lakeside Stadium on 15 September. Jackson Hart-Phillips put Lions ahead in the 23rd minute after a run and pass from Luke Broderick. Bul Juach came on after the break. His hat-trick, in the 53rd, 60th and 83rd minutes, won it 3-1 for South, with Hassan Ramazani setting up the second.
Victory struck early in theirs. They won 2-0 away to Sydney FC at Jubilee Stadium on 9 September, Keegan Jelacic scoring in the second minute from a Matthew Grimaldi pass, and on 61 minutes Jordan Courtney-Perkins turned a Charles Nduka cross into his own net.
What the market says
Checked at 2:40pm Melbourne time on 29 September, Sportsbet’s 90-minute result market had South at $4.30, the draw at $4.00 and Victory at $1.80.
There is no archived copy of that page, so the prices are best read as a snapshot of one afternoon. They may well move before the final.
Converted to probabilities with the bookie’s margin stripped out, that comes to about 22 per cent for South, 24 per cent for the draw and 53 to 54 per cent for Victory. If it is level after 90 minutes, extra time follows, then penalties if needed. A confirmed price on the eventual cup winner could not be found.
The club was given half the stadium, and by its own account every seat in that half has gone. A cup final with a second-tier side in it draws more than the two sets of fans, pulling in a neutral football crowd as well. Some of that wider audience play at online casinos, and for them Wild Tokyo Casino lists the newest pokies at https://wildtokyo-au.casino/ alongside baccarat and jackpot games. For South Melbourne it is a first shot at lifting the Australia Cup.
Victory’s experience
Giovanni Savarese’s side have been here three times before, all at AAMI Park according to the competition’s records. Victory, going by the competition’s list of past finals, beat Perth Glory 2-0 in 2015 and got past Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in a final that the calendar reshuffle had pushed back to 5 February 2022. Macarthur beat them 1-0 in the 2024 final. Those three finals drew crowds of 15,098, 15,343 and 13,289.
Jason Davidson captains the side. Back in the round of 16 on 8 August, after a 1-1 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers, goalkeeper Jack Duncan saved three penalties as Victory won the shootout 3-2.
Tickets and a ticket to Asia
General sale opened on 21 September, with adult tickets from $25, family passes from $63, concessions from $20 and children’s tickets from $13. South Melbourne’s announcement of a sell-out and a record for final ticket sales came on 24 September, although the club did not give exact numbers.
It is the first all-Victorian final of the modern Australia Cup, which has been played since 2014. This year’s competition drew a record 777 clubs. Whoever wins goes straight into the 2027/28 AFC Champions League Two, as long as they clear AFC club licensing.
Kick-off is at 7:35pm local time. Network 10, 10 Streaming and Paramount+ will show the final live.
