Western United to sit out 2025-26 A-League season with club put into ‘hibernation’

Troubled A-Leagues club Western United has been temporarily barred from the competition and will sit out the upcoming 2025-26 season after being placed in “conditional hibernation” by administrator the Australian Professional Leagues.

Uncertainty over the ongoing viability of the club has cast a shadow over the new season, with the league, other clubs and players unable to prepare with “necessary clarity”, according to the APL.

Western United are facing a winding up order after the club’s owner and operator, WMG Football Club Limited, was placed into liquidation by the federal court last week. The club applied for a review of that decision, but an appeal hearing date is yet to be set.

In addition, the club is appealing Football Australia’s decision to withdraw its licence, with a new hearing set for next week due to a request for further submissions from the parties involved.

The APL said that placing the club’s men’s and women’s teams into a period of hibernation and allowing time for the various appeals to be heard would enable all parties to move forward with more certainty for the new season.

The fixture lists for both men’s and women’s competitions, due to kick off next month, will now belatedly be drawn up, minus Western United, and announced next week.

It is hoped the break in competitive football gives Western United’s owners an opportunity to rebuild its financial and operational foundations with a view to re-entering the A-Leagues from season 2026-27.

“The club needs time to work through these legal and regulatory proceedings and re-establish their financial and operating position, but with the timing and outcome for both up in the air, we need to progress with our plans for season 25-26 without Western United,” the APL’s executive chair, Stephen Conroy, said.

“We see great value in the potential of Western United, and the opportunity of having an A-League club in the west of Melbourne – the fastest growing corridor in Australia. The club has had great success on the pitch and their academies are an important pathway for emerging young talent in the Victorian football community – but we need to do what is best for the league, our partners and our other clubs at this time.”

The decision allows members of the current Western United playing group to seek alternative employment for next season while the transfer window is still open.

“This has been a difficult period for everyone involved with the club – especially the playing group,” Conroy said. “With this decision to hibernate the club’s CPA for season 2025-26, the club has admirably also agreed to release the players.”

The club intends to still run its academy during the hibernation period.

“Let us be absolutely clear: this is not a farewell, nor is it a step back,” a Western United statement read. “This is an investment in our future, a proactive move that will empower us to reset and come back revitalised.

“To our A-Leagues players, coaches and staff, we say simply and sincerely: we are sorry. The uncertainty you have faced is not what you deserved.”

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