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22 June 2024

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Adelaide United have been drawn against Filipino side Kaya in the first preliminary round of the rebranded AFC Champions League Elite.

Competing in Asia's premier continental competition for the first time in nearly a decade, the Reds will need to make it through two preliminary rounds and a playoff before they can reach the group stage proper, starting with a fixture against the Filipino champions.

The match will be played at Coopers Stadium on the 6th of August, which means it will be nestled in between pre-season and Australia Cup fixtures although Adelaide are expected to retain the majority of their squad this off-season and should be able to field close to a full strength side.

The winner of the tie will go on to face Hong Kong's Woofoo Tai Po in the second preliminary round.

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2 July 2024

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Adelaide United have partnered with the South Australian government in announcing major upgrades to the State Centre for Football at Gepps Cross.

The club are reportedly fronting most of the $3.2 million allocated, after a strong financial performance in the 2023/24 season. The Centre, also known as ServiceFM stadium, is the home of Adelaide United's NPL, youth and women's teams as well as the temporary home of NPLSA side Adelaide Comets.

A new artificial pitch as well as major upgrades to the training facilities will be undertaken with the works expected to be completed by November.

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12 July 2024

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Having been linked with an overseas move at various points in the last six months, Luka Jovanovic has indeed signed with J1 League side Nagoya Grampus on a three year deal.

The 19 year old started the 2023/24 season strongly for Adelaide United before losing his spot in the first team to the incoming Tete Yengi, who went on to win the Johnny Warren Medal. He finished with six goals in seventeen A-League appearances for the season after three goals in limited gametime the season prior.

The transfer fee is believed to be around $1.2 million, representing another major cash injection for Adelaide United who only recently received $2.6 million for Nestory Irankunda's move to Benfica.

Nagoya Grampus currently sit in 13th with twelve games to go in their campaign, and will hope Jovanovic can challenge the likes of Kasper Junker and Akira Disaro who only have seven and six goals respectively to this point in the season. He'll link up with compatriot Reno Piscopo who signed from Newcastle Jets for $160,000 back in January.

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19 July 2024

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Adelaide United have movedly quickly to replenish their forward stocks following the sale of Luka Jovanovic, spending $90,000 to bring Kusini Yengi back to the club from League One side Portsmouth.

The 25 year old is the older brother of reigning Johnny Warren Medal winner Tete and will no doubt hope to form a brotherly strike partnership at some point but is likely to be behind Musa Toure in the pecking order for now.

Like his brother, he came through the youth setup at Adelaide Comets and then made 27 appearances for Adelaide United over three seasons, with six goals, before securing a move to Western Sydney and then a $200,000 transfer to Portsmouth. Yengi only made three appearances in England and was placed on the transfer list with Adelaide United moving quickly to secure his signature ahead of Sydney FC who were rumoured to be interested.

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21 August 2024

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With the playoffs for both the Western and Eastern zones now complete, the 40 group stage teams have now been drawn into ten groups and play is set to kick off in late September.

Due to the large distance between West and East Asia, the AFC Champions League Elite is split in two with teams from each zone only playing against eachother all the way up to the two-legged final.

The full group stage draw is displayed below:

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Two Thai teams and two Malaysian teams.
ALeague has some work to do!

As a South Australian in enemy territory to the east, appreciating the read.

2025-03-03 20:29#300812 DiscoStu : Two Thai teams and two Malaysian teams.
ALeague has some work to do!

As a South Australian in enemy territory to the east, appreciating the read.

Feel for ya mate, I'm also stuck behind enemy lines in Victoria, yearning for the wide open spaces of the parklands. Appreciate the support.

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1 September 2024

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The club are proud to announce that Ethan Alagich has been named vice-captain for the 2024/25 season and beyond.

The 20 year old and reigning best and fairest winner will work closely with captain Ryan Kitto and other experienced dressing room leaders such as previous vice captain Osama Malik and marquee player Brandon Borrello.

Ethan's work rate and determination have been proudly displayed across his forty-six A-League matches to date and he represents the youthful nature of our squad as well as our commitment to homegrown talent. Ethan, like every other member of the team, was raised in South Australia and his father Richie played over 100 times for the club.

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Melbourne Victory have been named early favourites for the A-League premiership for the second season running despite a disappointing 2023/24 campaign.

The betting market has evidently seen the strength of the Victory squad as undeniable and they will go into the season under new leadership with former NSL player and Mumbai City assistant Hiroshi Miyazawa taking the reins from Tony Popovic, who was dismissed after a semi-final exit last season at the hands of Adelaide United, who are second favourites at odds of $4.50.

Melbourne City, Central Coast Mariners and a potentially resurgent Perth Glory are all expected to challenge at the top of the table with Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers projected to scrap for the last finals spot. Newcastle Jets are predicted to struggle hard this season with pre-season odds of $2001.

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A number of significant transfer moves will no doubt have an impact on the season ahead as well, with Melbourne Victory's $900,000 fee for Rhys Youlley from Westerlo one of the most audacious investments in the league in recent years. Wellington Phoenix spent $500,000 bringing in newly minted New Zealand international Jack Iredale while Kusini Yengi and Fran Karacic moved back to Australia for more modest fees to Adelaide and Central Coast respectively.

On the home front, a number of key players switched clubs over the off-season after their contracts expired, most notably including Steven Ugarkovic who left Melbourne City for Macarthur, Corey Brown who left Brisbane for Perth Glory and Connor O'Toole who replaced Brown after leaving Western United.

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And so casting our eye across the squads, it's no surprise that our Dream XI contains three players each from the two favourites in Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United, including the forward trio of Nestory Irankunda, Daniel Arzani and Chris Ikonomidis. Sydney FC boast some of the best defenders in the league in Joel King and Jordan Courtney-Perkins, who join Wanderers' Marcelo and Victory's Jason Geria in our dream back four ahead of Joe Gauci. In midfield, we've gone for the trio of City's German linchpin Tolgay Arslan, Adelaide vice captain Ethan Alagich and Perth Glory's Mustafa Amini.

Outside of our Dream XI, Oskar Zawada - the reigning A-League Golden Boot - and new Glory signing Jake Taylor both look like early front runners for the top scorer award, along with Adelaide's Tete Yengi who had such an explosive start to life at Coopers Stadium last season, and four-time winner Jamie Maclaren whose 2023/24 campaign was injury interrupted. In the midfield stocks, we expect big things from the likes of Brandon O'Neill (Newcastle) and Daniel De Silva (Macarthur) while defensively Brisbane Roar's Kai Trewin could be a player who develops into a star of the league.

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