Melbourne Victory: 2021 FFA Cup Champions
Australia's main men's national knockout football competition will undergo a name change, with Football Australia confirming the FFA Cup will become the Australia Cup.
"Through discussion with Australian football historians, and dialogue with fans and stakeholders of the competition, the consensus was that the name Australia Cup truly speaks to what this competition is and represents," Football Australia CEO James Johnson said in a statement.
"We are pleased that through this process pioneering players, clubs, and officials can feel recognised and connected to the competition.
"The research and consultation we have conducted regarding this name change indicates that people will be overwhelmingly happy with the shift to Australia Cup from 2022 onwards."
The competition will not be the first played with the name Australia Cup. For seven seasons in the 1960s, a competition with the same name was played between leading state league teams. The last side to win that Australia Cup was Sydney Hakoah.
The 2021 competition comes to a conclusion on Saturday night, with the final between Melbourne Victory and Central Coast Mariners.
The new cup competition will begin almost immediately, with the preliminary rounds for 2022 beginning in coming weeks across the states and territories.
The knockout competition regularly attracts 700 teams to compete for the cup.
Johnson said the name change for the FFA Cup was part of "an exciting next step in this evolution [of the competition]".
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Ten months after he was charged with lifting Melbourne Victory out of the doldrums, Tony Popovic's revolution has delivered its first trophy in a dramatic 2-1 FFA Cup final triumph over Central Coast.
ason Davidson's thunderous free-kick handed Victory the advantage in the 70th minute, with Chris Ikonomidis' 95th-minute volley proving the winner before Central Coast skipper Oliver Bozanic ensured a nervous finish to the match when he scored in the 97th minute.
The triumph, Victory's second FFA Cup title after 2015, came just eight months after their first wooden spoon.
As a result of their poor 2020-21, Victory had to win a play-off to reach the Cup round of 32 before going on a barnstorming run that culminated in Saturday night's triumph in front of 15,343 fans at AAMI Park.
Popovic's first domestic final win also earned Victory a shot at the AFC Champions League, with the competition winner receiving a play-off spot — an away game against Japanese side Vissel Kobe in March.
The game cracked open in the second half when Marco Rojas charged forward and was cut down by Harrison Steele.
Davidson had acted as a decoy on previous set pieces but stepped up and thundered a wonderful left-footed strike into the top corner as AAMI Park erupted.
Victory snared a second goal five minutes into injury time when Josh Brillante quickly took a free-kick and the ball ultimately ended up with Ikonomidis, who chested it to himself then smashed a sweet left-footed volley home.
Emotions spilled over for Victory's active supporters, with a large number going over the barriers and briefly stopping play.
Shortly after, Victory failed to clear a Mariners attacking foray and the ball spilled to Bozanic, who lofted home a left-footed strike.
Bozanic had previously scored in Victory's 2015 triumph but this time, his goal proved only a consolation as the final whistle ensured any chances of a last gasp Mariners draw had run out.
AAP
