The 2021 FFA Cup was the eighth season of the FFA Cup, the main national

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

cup competition in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Thirty-two teams contested the competition proper from the round of 32, including 10 of the 12

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

teams (with two teams not qualifying), 21

Football Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

(FA) member federation teams determined through individual state qualifying rounds, as well as the

2019 National Premier Leagues The 2019 National Premier Leagues was the seventh season of the Australian National Premier Leagues association football, football competition. The league competition was played by eight separate state and territory member federations. The divis ...

champions ( Wollongong Wolves from New South Wales). This year's competition was the final season the competition is referred to as the "FFA Cup". Following the rebranding of Football Australia from the Football Federation Australia (FFA), it was changed to "Australia Cup". This edition also marked the first season that the winner would qualify for the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

in the following year. However, certain teams were excluded, such as

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

, three other A-league teams or any teams from the National Premier Leagues. The competition format and timing was impacted by the on-going

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

Round and dates

Teams

A total of 32 teams are scheduled to participate in the 2021 FFA Cup competition proper, ten of which are from the

A-League Men A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, one the

champions ( Wollongong Wolves), and the remaining 21 teams from member federations, as determined by the qualifying rounds. A-League clubs represent the highest level in the Australian league system, whereas member federation clubs come from Level 2 and below. The current season tier of member federation clubs is shown in parentheses. For the first time, the round of 32 and round of 16 were split into four geographical zones (East, South, North and West) which were determined by

Preliminary rounds

Member federations teams competed in various state-based preliminary rounds to win one of 21 places in the competition proper (Round of 32). All Australian clubs were eligible to enter the qualifying process through their respective member federation, however only one team per club was permitted entry in the competition. The preliminary rounds operated within a consistent national structure whereby club entry into the competition is staggered in each state/territory, ultimately leading to round 7 with the winning clubs from that round gaining direct entry into the round of 32. There were changes to the make-up of the entrants compared to the 2019 edition, with South Australia increasing from 1 to 2 qualifying places, with NSW losing one place. Additionally, the top eight placed

clubs for the

2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The st ...

season gained automatic qualification to the Round of 32. The remaining four teams were subject to a play-off series for the remaining two positions. The first matches of the preliminary rounds began in February 2021, with the final matches of the preliminary rounds (two A-League play-offs) completed in November.

Bracket

Round of 32

The Round of 32 draw took place on 8 July 2021, with match information for zones North, South and West confirmed on 14 July 2021. Edge Hill United were the lowest-ranked side in this round. They were the only level 5 team left in the competition. After Devonport City withdrew from the competition,

Avondale FC Avondale FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club, with the men's and women's teams based in Parkville and the junior sides based in Avondale Heights, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the National Pr ...

were awarded a bye to the Round of 16. ''Times listed below are at

AEST Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state gov ...

(prior to 5 October 2021), or AEDT (after 5 October 2021)'' East Zone North Zone South Zone West Zone

Round of 16

Due to fixture delays as a result of COVID-19 and State border restrictions, the Round of 16 draw was conducted in two parts. The first draw took place on 30 September where the winners from the North & West zones were combined into one pool to determine the three fixtures. On 15 November the remaining draw was conducted with the East & South zones remaining separated. The lowest ranked sides that qualified for this round were Adelaide Olympic,

APIA Leichhardt Tigers APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1954 as APIA Leichhardt, ...

Gold Coast Knights Gold Coast Knights Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Carrara, Queensland, Australia. The Croatian Australian backed club play in the National Premier Leagues Queensland, the top flight of the Football Queensland administrativ ...

Hume City The City of Hume is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes the outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne c ...

, Lions FC and Wollongong Wolves. They were the only level 2 teams left in the competition. ''All times listed below are at AEDT'' East Zone North/West Zone South Zone

Quarter-finals

The draw took place on 5 December 2021. The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round was

. They were the only level 2 team left in the competition. ''All times listed below are at AEDT''

Semi-finals

''All times listed below are at AEDT''

Final

Individual honours

The recipient of the Michael Cockerill Medal to recognise the tournament's standout National Premier Leagues performer was Finn Beakhurst from Lions FC.

Jake Brimmer Jake William Brimmer (born 3 April 1998) is an Australian footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Melbourne Victory. Club career Brimmer began to show his skills at the Rowville Sports Academy and with his junior club Nunawading City ...

from

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

and Kye Rowles from

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

won the

Mark Viduka Medal The Mark Viduka Medal is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged player/s from the final of the Australia Cup (formally the FFA Cup) each year. Introduced in the first edition of the competition in 2014, the award is named ...

for the players of the match in the final, the first time in the competition's history that there's been dual recipients.

Top goalscorers

;Note: Goals scored in preliminary rounds not included.

Broadcasting rights

Matches were broadcast live on 10 Play. The final was broadcast on free-to-air TV through Network 10, a first for the competition.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{2021–22 in Australian soccer

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2021 in Australian soccer