The Australian Professional Leagues ahead of the upcoming 2021/22 professional football campaigns have launched a new logo and a revamped naming structure to the tiers within the game.
All of the pre-existing products under the helm of the APL (A-League, W-League and Y-League) will be collectively named ‘A-Leagues’, where the A-League will be renamed ‘A-League Men, the W-League will be renamed ‘A-League Womens’ and the Y-League will be renamed ‘A-League Youth’.
In an unprecedented fashion, this move is emblematic of the greater control that the Australian Professional Leagues have over the structure and makeup of the way the leagues will be presented in the years to come with the new broadcast agreement with Viacom/CBS (Network Ten) also serving as a marker of the new chapter the game is entering.
The A-Leagues will all move to a unified social media network for the men’s and women’s channels and the A-League website will be re-launched as well.
Danny Townsend, Managing Director, spoke on the rebranding of the leagues.
“It’s not men’s football, or women’s football, it’s just football,” he said.
“We’re committed to growing the game in Australia – for everyone. That means delivering a world-class experience on and off the pitch and inspiring the next-generation of A-Leagues superstars to fulfil their highest potential. This is just the beginning of our ambitious, long-term vision for the growth of football in Australia.”
Ant Hearne, Chief Commercial Officer, said:
“We know our fans live and breathe football so we want to create the best possible experience in the stadium, at home, on the move, through gaming or fashion or food – however fans want to connect with football, we will deliver.”
It remains to be seen how these changes will affect the promotion of the leagues for the upcoming season.
The new A-Leagues 2021-22 season will kick off on November 19 for A-League Men and December 3 for A-League Women.
