A-League: Auckland FC , Wellington Phoenix sights set on silverware

The A-League has the longest off-season in world football, which gives plenty of time for off-field situations to play out.

The 21st season of the A-League kicks off on Friday with fewer teams, after Western United was placed into hibernation in September.

With 12 teams competing this season, there are no byes across the 26-round regular season.

However, the same number of teams as last season, six, will make the finals series which will begin in the first week of May.

This is the first season that a trial of salary cap changes is starting to be implemented.

For the second season in a row New Zealand will have two clubs aiming to be the first on this side of the Tasman to win the Championship.

Auckland FC

In their inaugural season, Auckland FC set all kinds of records on and off the pitch.

They finished top of the league and claimed the Premiers Plate, were the fastest club to score 50 goals in the 20 seasons of the A-League, set records for unbeaten streaks and clean sheets.

Auckland also had the highest average attendance of any club.

The season ended abruptly with a semi-final exit on their home turf against Melbourne Victory.

But season two will be different.

In the off-season they have parted ways with goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, Neyder Moreno, Max Mata, Luis Toomey, vice-captain Tommy Smith and Scott Galloway.

They have brought in Lachlan Brook, Oli Sail, Sam Cosgrove and Jake Girdwood-Reich.

Coach Steve Corica said the second season was about starting again.

"I'm just excited for the second year to see if we can be as consistent as the first year and if we are we'll be right up the top. Obviously we're known now to teams but we've changed a few players which is also a different style at times with big Sam coming in ... hopefully play exciting football again, score a lot of goals, defensively we want to be aggressive and keep clean sheets that was our motto last year and if you do that consistently hoping we end up on top at the end of the season."

Visa player Guillermo May is back for a second season with Auckland and can see where they can improve in the 2025/26 campaign.

"We have to take care of the ball a little bit more, sometimes we struggle with that. We were a really powerful team in the defensive side and we have to keep doing that."

Auckland FC chief executive officer Nick Becker said some of the A-League's current problems stemmed from "apathy across the wider sport in Australia".

"I believe personally it is going to come back without a doubt, the talent is there, the passion is there from the fans, football the fact that it is so tribal will mean that it will always have that core support and it will just come out of that position it is in over there now."

Auckland FC will only compete in the men's competition this season as their women's team has been delayed.

Wellington Phoenix

The Wellington Phoenix had a season to forget in 2024/25 finishing in 11th in a 13-team league with six wins, six draws and 14 losses.

Coach Giancarlo Italiano had his contract extended despite missing the play-offs.

Captain Alex Rufer is into his 13th season with the Phoenix and said the expectation every year was to make the top six.

On a personal level Rufer had a tough time last season as he battled illness and missed weeks of football as his side struggled to keep pace with the rest of the competition.

Rufer was confident they could turn things around and is positive about the new season. He said the team could not dwell too much on the past.

"We know as individuals and as a group a few of our shortcomings of last year and a few of the struggles we went through but we've make some really good signings that have brought a lot of character into the room, and we needed that, and we've bonded really well, we've worked really hard and it's fresh ideas which is always really good."

The Phoenix have welcomed Ifeanyi Eze, Carlo Armiento, Nikola Mileusnic, Manjrekar James, Dan Edwards and Ramy Najjarine to the club in the off-season.

Kosta Barbarouses, Scott Wootton and Sam Sutton have all left for other A-League clubs while Stefan Colakovski, Francisco Geraldes and Dublin Boon have departed to league.

Early in the off-season the Phoenix caused a bit of an upset when they beat English Championship side Wrexham AFC with a young playing group, some of those players will be back again for the Phoenix this season.

Rufer said during the last A-League season the Phoenix were forced to go with youth when injuries impacted the squad.

"Whether or not they were ready is not for a player to decide, but I also think the best way to learn is by sinking or swimming and a lot of those young players were thrown into the deep end and yes results weren't positive for us but I think in terms of experience it was extremely important and now we've had layers go away with the Under-20 world cup and that's been another great experience for all those players and a lot of the Phoenix players did really, really well and now it's about making sure that they carry that form here and build consistency.

"They're all really energetic, they're all want to learn and I'm looking forward to having them all back and making sure we hit the ground running."

Rufer said Italiano was wanting a more assertive approach this season.

"The aggressiveness in the way we start, the way we play and also in the way we defend, I don't want to give away too much but I just think having a more front-foot mentality."

The Phoenix lost all three derby games against Auckland last season but Rufer did not have the first game against their northern neighbours on 8 November circled in the diary.

"The most important thing in football is the next game, if you're looking too far ahead you can get side-tracked and your concentration can [wane]."

The Phoenix kick off the season in the distance derby away against Perth Glory and Rufer said the opening rounds could not define their season.

"You always have to believe, you have to start well but as well making sure that even if we don't start well just keeping the belief and keep doing what we have been doing this whole pre-season and I've every confidence and belief in this group that we're going to do well this year."

The A-League women's competition kicks off in a fortnight, but the Phoenix women have a bye in the first round. Under new coach Bev Priestman the Phoenix open their season against Canberra United on 8 November in a double-header at Sky Stadium when the men take on Auckland FC.

The rest

Since last season's Grand Final in May, which Melbourne City won, there have been 110 new player signings across the league and several teams have new head coaches.

"With Western United going out of the competition there were some really good players there, obviously Sydney picked up a few, Wanderers got a few as well, unfortunately we didn't get any we had most of our squad and we couldn't get into any more players," Auckland FC's Steve Corica said.

The impact of the off-season changes, and the winners and losers from the movements, will not be immediately obvious according to Corica.

"It's hard to say right now until you see the first couple of games and see how things start to pan out. It's always quite tight at the start of the A-League and after a few rounds you can start to see which teams are going to be very good."

The Newcastle Jets, under a new coach Mark Milligan, won the Australia Cup, played in pre-season, which was their first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Brisbane Roar's pre-season form has also made pundits take notice.

Melbourne Victory have lost three straight finals but are likely to be challenging for trophies again this season.

City are positioned to win back-to-back Championships whereas Perth Glory, having won back-to-back wooden spoons will be trying to avoid making it three in a row.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.