The 2024 edition of the Australia Cup is about to begin, with 32 teams at both professional and semi-pro level looking to win the main cup competition in Australian football.

In its 10 years of existence it has become one of the most unique in Australia due to the prevalence of A-League sides coming up against teams from state competitions around the country, and the nature of ‘giant killings’ as a result.

The Sporting News looks at the history of the competition, and how it works.

MORE: 2024 Australia Cup schedule and draw | When does the 2024-25 A-Leagues season begin?

Australia Cup history

The Australia Cup was created in the early 2010s, as powerbrokers in Australian football at the time wanted to create a competition similar to the English FA Cup, where teams from all levels of the football pyramid could face professional A-League clubs.

It was launched by the then Football Federation Australia (FFA) and called the FFA Cup, with a first edition of the tournament set for 2014.

The name was changed to ‘Australia Cup in 2022 due to the name change of the FFA to simply Football Australia, and to reflect the nature of the competition as a country-wide one; this year was also the first where the winners of the competition were granted a spot in continental football tournaments in the AFC Cup.

It has since been played every year since then bar one; in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was initially postponed, followed by its eventual cancellation.

How does the Australia Cup work? Format and qualifying

Theoretically, teams from any level of football can enter the qualifying rounds of the Australia Cup; for example in this years edition 761 sides participated in the qualifying process.

However, the competition proper begins at the Round of 32 stage when the A-League Men’s teams enter the tournament; until 2019 all A-League qualified automatically, but now the teams who finish in the top eight of the previous A-League Men’s season qualify, whilst the bottom four participate in a play-off.

Both the qualifiers and competition proper are straight knockouts, where a winner must be decided, meaning there is extra time and penalties if a game is drawn after 90 minutes.

At the end of each round, there is a draw to decide the makeup of the next round of fixtures, including the final where one team is given the hosting rights over the other.

In previous editions of the tournament, the draw was weighted from the Round of 32 onwards to ensure at least one member state club made it to the semi-finals, though these rules were altered in 2022, though member state clubs still get home ground advantage if they are drawn against an A-League side.

The makeup of this year’s competition and the qualified teams from each federation is listed below:

• Football Australia: 10 spots
• Capital Football: 1 spot
• Football NSW: 4 spots
• Northern NSW Football: 2 spots
• Football Northern Territory: 1 spot
• Football Queensland: 4 spots
• Football South Australia: 2 spots
• Football Tasmania: 1 spot
• Football Victoria: 5 spots
• Football West: 2 spots

Australia Cup/FFA Cup past winners

There has never been a member state side that has won the competition, the only semi-pro side to reach the final was Sydney United in 2022, where they were defeated by Macarthur 3-0 in the final.

*Competition not contested due to COVID-19 pandemic 

How to watch 2024 Australia Cup: TV channel and live stream

Network 10 currently have the broadcast rights to the Australia Cup. 

All games from the play-offs and round of 32 onwards can be streamed on 10 Play, while select matches — including the final — will also be shown on television via Channel 10 or 10 Bold.