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A-League season start date, airing on Ten & Paramount+

The start date of the 2021/22 A-League season has been set, commencing on 30 October, with all games to be available across Ten and ViacomCBS streaming platform Paramount+.

Football Australia this morning confirmed the dates for the 2021/22 domestic football season, which includes the A-League, W-League, FFA Cup as well as Men’s and Women’s FIFA International fixtures.

The domestic season will kick off on 29 October, the A-League commencing the following day, and the W-League a fortnight later on 13 November. The season will conclude on 28 October 2022, with the final game of the season being the FFA Cup Final.

2020/21 A-League Premiers Melbourne City

The APL also announced that the club football season will “reach a crescendo” with the A-League Grand Final scheduled for 28 May 2022.

Managing director of the APL, Danny Townsend said: “We’re less than two weeks out from the launch of Paramount+, and three months away from seeing the very first domestic football on the platform in Australia, as well as in every Australian home on Network 10.”

In May, Network Ten parent company ViacomCBS signed a five-year deal with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), to broadcast both the A-League and W-League across its free-to-air channels and also new streaming service Paramount+.

This will also include at least one A-League match broadcast live each week on free-to-air, with a Saturday night 7:30pm primetime game to air on Channel Ten, and one W-League game to be shown on 10Bold each Sunday.

10ViacomCBS this year signed a historic broadcast deal with the APL

The domestic calendar will also see both professional leagues break for FIFA International fixtures for the first time in the both competition’s history, which “reflects policy with respect to the status of Australia’s top tier club competitions during these national team windows”.

Football Australia CEO, James Johnson said: “Notably, we believe that the DMC 2021/22 places Australian football at its core. It opens with the commencement of the A-League and concludes with the FFA Cup 2022 Final as the last match of the Football Australia Season – two iconic moments in the season which all fans can look forward to.”

The deal has been reported to be worth in the vicinity of $200 million including cash and commercial contra, however neither the APL or Ten would comment on the deal’s value.

The previous deal with Foxtel ending with the closure of the 2020/21 season.

The A-League and W-League’s one-year deal with Foxtel was worth $32 million. The deal was worth $60 million a year when it was first struck, but Foxtel renegotiated mid-way through 2020.

A statement from Football Australia said that the launch of the domestic match calendar 2021/22 is the official introduction for new media rights partner, Ten ViacomCBS “who will be the new ‘Home of Australian Football’ for the Matildas, Socceroos, Westfield W-League, A-League and FFA Cup”.

Paramount+ launches on August 11.

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