The 2023 Australia Cup is the tenth season of the

Australia Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austra ...

, 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 will contest the competition proper, with the winner qualifying for the 2024–25 AFC Cup.

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). On ...

are the defending champions but were eliminated by Campbelltown City in the

Round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Teams

A total of 32 teams will participate in the 2023 Australia Cup competition proper. A-League Men clubs represent the highest level in the Australian league system, whereas Member Federation clubs come from level 2 and below.

Preliminary rounds

Member federation teams are competing in various state-based preliminary rounds to win one of 22 places in the competition proper (at the Round of 32). All Australian clubs are eligible to enter the qualifying process through their respective member federation; however, only one team per club is permitted entry into the competition. The preliminary rounds operate within a consistent national structure whereby club entry into the competition is staggered in each state/territory, determined by what level the club sits at in the

Australian soccer league system The Australian soccer league system is the league structure for soccer clubs in Australia. The league system in Australia since 1977 has involved one top divisional league controlled by Football Australia and many leagues run within each state ...

. This ultimately leads to round 7 with the winning clubs from that round entering directly into the round of 32. As there was no NPL Champion in the previous year, an additional slot was allocated to Victoria for this edition.

Round and dates

Round of 32

The round of 32 draw took place on 28 June 2023 and the match details were announced on 5 July 2023. The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round is Goulburn Valley Suns. They are the only level 4 team left in the competition. Times are

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 ...

(

UTC+10 UTC+10:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Port Moresby, Dededo, Saipan'' North Asia *Russia – Vl ...

), as listed by

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 ...

(local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Round of 16

The round of 16 draw took place on 14 August 2023 and the match details were announced on 18 August 2023. The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round is Inter Lions. They are the only level 3 team left in the competition.

Top goalscorers

References

{{2023-24 in Asian football (AFC)

2023 in Australian soccer Australia Cup seasons