Confirmed: Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix have been drop-kicked out of the Hahn Australia Cup 2026 by Football Australia.
Football Australia said that the refined competition structure came about after a review of qualification pathways and to “align with international competition alignments.”
BUT, everyone knows that the New Zealand teams were removed only because Auckland FC came too close to winning the Australia cup in 2025 (reaching the semi-finals where they lost against Heidelberg United 2-0) and Aussie clubs are too scared to have them in the next edition of the cup. You know, you can’t have a Kiwi team winning it, can you? No other reason.
Had Auckland FC or Wellington Phoenix won the competition, they wouldn’t have qualified for the AFC Champions Two??? due to the teams being a part of the Oceania Football Confederation. The AFC Champions League Two place would automatically go to the other finalist.
So what does this mean? (Apart from confirming FA is scared of us)
All 10 current A-League Men’s clubs will immediately start in the Round of 32 without having to the lowest 4 teams of the previous A-League season having to play each other to decide two of the spots. Also, the 2025 Australian Championship winner (South Melbourne FC) will qualify directly into the Round of 32.
Interestingly, Western United FC (which didn’t play in the A-League 25/26 season) will still have a chance to participate via the preliminary rounds of the Football Victoria pathway.
In 2025, Newcastle Jets beat Heidelberg United 3-1 in the final to win the Hahn Australia Cup 2025.
