The 2024 A-Leagues All Stars Men game was the fourth edition of the A-Leagues All Stars Game, and the first since the 2022 Game. It was held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on 24 May 2024 against English club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

as part of Global Football Week Melbourne.

Pre-match

In March 2024, the

A-Leagues A-Leagues is an umbrella term to describe several Australian association football competitions which are overseen by the Australian Professional Leagues (beginning in 2021) and Football Australia (previously): * A-League Men, the highest-tier profe ...

announced that the A-League All Stars Men would play

at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on 24 May 2024 as part of Global Football Week Melbourne – shortly ahead of the 2024 A-League Men Grand Final. In addition, an A-Leagues All Stars Women game would be held for the first time, against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, immediately after the men's game at the same venue. Newcastle would also play Tottenham Hotspur at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

in a friendly two days before the All Stars game. The official kit partner was announced to be

Kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value o ...

Squads

The A-League All Stars Men squad will initially consist of 23 to 26 players, as selected by the coaching staff, before being finalised to an 18 to 20 player squad. Only a maximum of four players per club can be chosen. Nestory Irankunda and Daniel Penha were announced to be the first two players to be selected in the squad as voted by fans. On 14 May 2024, Patrick Kisnorbo was named head coach of the A-League All Stars Men, with Robert Stanton and Mark Milligan as assistant coaches and Michael Theo as goalkeeping coach. A 13-player preliminary squad selected by Kisnorbo was announced on 15 May. Penha withdrew for personal reasons. Following the season's semi-finals on 20 May, Kisnorbo added eight players from

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

and Wellington Phoenix to finalise a 21-player squad for the match. Around the same day,

's head coach Eddie Howe announced a 29-player squad for the matches against Tottenham Hotspur and the A-League Men All Stars.

Garang Kuol Garang Mawien Kuol (born 15 September 2004) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United. Born in Egypt and raised in Australia to Sout ...

featured as the only Australian player for ''The Magpies'' from their 2023–24 season. Before the match, Howe renamed the starting line-up from their match against Tottenham to consist of under-21s players.

Kieran Trippier Kieran John Trippier (; born 19 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Newcastle United and the England national team. Trippier started his career in the youth system at Manchester City but ...

was named on the bench as the only over-21 player in the match squad after a majority of first-team players were withdrawn. Kuol made his unofficial starting debut for Newcastle in the match. None of the players named for the English side had registered a Premier League start prior to the match.

A-Leagues All Stars Men squad

Newcastle United squad

Match

Details

Post-match

The men's game was heavily criticised for the schedule of the event which resorted

to field a team of players from their youth academy after the club's first-team players were withdrawn for international duty. The average age of the match squad was 19.5 years old, excluding goalkeeper Mark Gillespie. Eddie Howe noted that it was not possible for his side to field the first-team players due to travel, risk of injuries, and the recent conclusion of the

2023–24 Premier League The 2023–24 Premier League is the 32nd season of the Premier League and 125th season of English football overall. The fixtures were announced on 15 June 2023 at 09:00 BST. Manchester City are the three-time defending champions, and can beco ...

. Newcastle reportedly travelled 16,914 km (10,510 m) from

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

to play in Melbourne, three days after their 2023–24 season finished.

and

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

criticised the date of the friendlies which placed near to the

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América will be the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. Argentina are the defending champions. Host country ...

and UEFA Euro in June 2024. For fans, the match was deemed to be disrespectful to the A-League and local supporters for fielding a weaker side than anticipated. Newcastle were reported to have received a seven-figure sum from the matches. After concerns were raised about player welfare, The Football Association opened about a rule change that would prohibit overseas friendlies after a season was completed. English clubs are also obligated to give players a five-week rest following that period. The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) were reported to be aware of these concerns. The match was the first win for the A-League Men in an A-Leagues All Stars Game after losing in the matches to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and Barcelona. The crowd was confirmed to be 42,000 spectators in total after the women's match. Despite the absence of first-team players, Howe said the match was a great experience for the younger players going against experienced opposition. All Stars head coach Patrick Kisnorbo praised his sides' hunger and dominance during the match although understood Howe's decision prior. Kisnorbo also suggested for future matches to be between an Asian side rather than a European opposition to solve scheduling issues.

References

{{Newcastle United F.C. matches

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

All Stars Game A-Leagues All Stars Men game 2024 Soccer in Melbourne 2020s in Melbourne