(FFA) is the governing body for the sport of
Football (soccer) in
Australia . Before
1 January 2005 , it was known as the '''Australian Soccer Association''' (ASA), which succeeded '''Soccer Australia''' in this role in
2003 .
Among other duties, the FFA oversees Australia's national football teams (including the
Socceroos (men), the
Matildas (women), and various youth teams); national coaching programmes; coordination with the various state and territory governing bodies; and the national club competition. Until 2004 the national competition was the
National Soccer League ; the FFA launched a new national league in 2005, the
A-League .
Ben Buckley is currently the CEO of the FFA and
Frank Lowy is the chairman.
Ben Buckley appointed as new FFA CEO Football Federation Australia 8 November 2006
The FFA's origins lay as far back as
1921 when the was formed with its headquarters in Sydney. However this association was suspended from FIFA in 1960. In 1961 the '''Australian Soccer Federation''' was formed. However, this association was refused re-admittance with FIFA until outstanding fines had been paid. 1963 saw the re-admittance of Australia to FIFA after the fines were reduced and paid.
Australia first applied to join the
Asian Football Confederation in 1964 but were denied, eventually forming the
Oceania Football Federation with
New Zealand in 1966.
–
2003 ]]
Following the collapse of the previous governing body, Soccer Australia, the
Australian Government commissioned an independent inquiry known as the
Crawford Report . The findings of the report were dismissed by the board of Soccer Australia until the
Australian Sports Commission threatened to withdraw funding to Soccer Australia unless it implemented the measures outline by the Crawford committee. The board then resigned en-masse.
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This report recommended, among other things, the reconstitution of the body as the Australia Soccer Association (ASA) with an interim board headed by prominent businessman
Frank Lowy . The ASA renamed itself in
2005 to align with the general international usage of the word "
Football ", in preference to "soccer", and to also distance itself from the failings of the old
National Soccer League and Soccer Australia. It coined the phrase "old soccer, new football" to emphasise this.
On , as well as providing access to the
AFC Champions League for the A-League clubs.
Also, with many of the top sides in the AFC based in the middle east, it is more likely that Australian teams may include their top Europe-based players when playing away games in
Beirut or
Riyadh than, for example,
Tahiti or
Auckland , for two main reasons, the first is the distance and time taken is shorter than if travelling all the way to Australia, and playing Asian federation teams is much more attractive, as the players involved are invariably professional and playing for larger Asian or European clubs, as opposed to semi-pro players who remain in their own country and often play football as a second job. The biggest nation in Ocenaia apart from Australia is New Zealand, and apart from them, the teams involved are all tiny pacific nations who do not pose any threat against teams picked from players based in Australia. In Asia, the teams picked will require top-level Australian players (based in Europe) to succeed fully at that level. Many Asian clubs such as Japan, Korea and some Middle Eastern clubs have a club competition equal or better in subjective quality than the Australian A-League.
FFA is a federation of whom the state federations are constituent members. These include a governing body for each state ( in the central and southern parts of the state, and
Northern New South Wales Football in northern New South Wales.
Football NSW is by far the largest football association in Australia.
