Two blockbusters at Hindmarsh Stadium against Melbourne Victory plus home games on Boxing Day and New Years Eve headline Adelaide United FC’s draw for the Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season.
Two blockbusters at Hindmarsh Stadium against Melbourne Victory plus home games on Boxing Day and New Years Eve headline Adelaide United FC-s draw for the Hyundai A-League 2012/13 Season.
Following Football Federation Australia-s (FFA) release of the draw for season eight this morning, the Reds will host their fiercest rivals twice for the first time since 2007/08, while also holding two festive season crackers, against reigning champions Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC.
The two home matches against the Victory will be played on the Friday nights of December 7 and February 8, with Brisbane Roar heading to Hindmarsh on Boxing Day before Sydney FC come to Adelaide on the last day of 2012.
Following the overwhelming response and success of the tribute last season, the Reds will also once again host a game on Remembrance Day (11 November), which will be against Perth Glory.
The Reds face a tough first up assignment away to the Newcastle Jets on Sunday 7 October, the task even more difficult for the fact that United-s squad is only scheduled to arrive back in the country a day earlier after returning from its AFC Champions League Quarter Final against Bunyodkor in Tashkent.
This will be followed by the Reds- opening home game of the season, against the Hyundai A-League-s new western Sydney based club, at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night, October 12.
“The FFA was placed in a very difficult position trying to balance clubs- and broadcast requests and demands when formulating the 2012/13 program,” Adelaide United CEO Glenn Elliott said.
“In the end our obligation is to perform and justify fan support. The highlights for our Club include the two Melbourne Victory home games and the Remembrance Day clash. Now the program has been released, we can finalise further home match initiatives with announcements closer to the season itself.”
Adelaide United will play five of its home games on Friday nights while it has three scheduled on Saturdays and four on Sundays to go with its matches on Boxing Day and New Years Eve.
The Reds will only travel to Wellington and Perth once, while also hosting Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney and Melbourne Victory twice.
Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory will open the season on Friday 5 October 2012 at Etihad Stadium.
Adelaide United 2012/13 memberships are currently being finalised and details will be released in the coming weeks.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE 2012/13 SEASON DRAW
Finals Series
Season Eight of the Hyundai A-League will also see the introduction of a new knockout finals format with six teams competing over a three week series climaxing in the Hyundai A-League 2013 Grand Final.
The revamped Hyundai A-League Finals Series will now become a straight knock-out cup style format with the 1st and 2nd placed teams taking advantage of a rest in Week 1 of the Finals Series before entering the Week 2 Semi-Finals.
Week 1 will see 3rd play 6th and 4th play 5th at the higher ranked team-s home venue in the Elimination Finals with the winners going through to play away against teams one and two.
Team one will then host the lowest ranked winner from Week 1 of the Finals Series, while team two will face the highest ranked winner from the Elimination Finals.
The highest ranked winner of the Week 2 Semi-Finals will go on to host the Hyundai A-League Grand Final in the final match of the season.
