2014 FFA Cup

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The **2014 FFA Cup** is the inaugural season of the FFA Cup, the main national association football knockout cup competition in Australia. 631 teams in total from around Australia entered the competition. Only 32 teams will compete in the competition proper (Round of 32), including the 10 A-League teams and 22 Football Federation Australia (FFA) member federation teams determined through individual state qualifying rounds held in early 2014 (and 2013 in the case of the ACT). The FFA Cup competition proper commenced on 29 July 2014 and will conclude with the FFA Cup Final on 16 December 2014. Although future editions of the tournament will involve the Cup Final being played on Australia Day, this season's Final was brought forward in order to avoid a clash with the 2015 Asian Cup, which will be hosted by Australia.

## Qualifying rounds

Main article: 2014 FFA Cup Qualifying Rounds

621 teams competed in various FFA member federations qualifying rounds to win one of 22 places in the competition proper (Round of 32). Eight of the nine FFA member federations took part in the tournament, the exception being Northern Territory, which is expected to start participating from the 2015–16 season. Player registration numbers in each jurisdiction was used to determine the number of qualifying teams for each member federation:

* NSW have seven teams qualify.
* Queensland have four teams qualify.
* Victoria have four teams qualify.
* Northern NSW have two teams qualify.
* Western Australia have two teams qualify.
* ACT have one team qualify.
* South Australia have one team qualify.
* Tasmania have one team qualify.

The first qualifying round began on 6 April 2013 and the final qualifying round will take place on 25 June 2014. Seven of the eight member federation qualifying rounds took place in 2014 (16 February–25 June). The exception was the ACT, whose competition took place during 2013 (6 April–28 August).

## Teams

A total of 32 teams will participate in the 2014 FFA Cup competition proper, ten of which will come from the A-League, the remaining 22 teams from FFA member federations, as determined by the qualifying rounds. A-League clubs represent the highest level in the Australian league system, where as member federation clubs come from Level 2 and below. The current season tier of member federation clubs is shown in parentheses.

## Draw

After the completion of the 2013–14 A-League season and the qualifying rounds by the respective member federations, the 32 teams were organised for the FFA Cup Round of 32 draw, the first of four draws in the competition proper. The draw for the Round of 32 used three pots to arrange the teams: Pot A included the four A-League teams to reach the semi-finals in the 2013–14 A-League Finals series (Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers), Pot B included the remaining six A-League teams and Pot C contained the 22 member federation teams. Teams were drawn randomly into pre-determined positions. From the Round of 16, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, teams will be allocated in one of two pots. The remaining A-League teams will be allocated to Pot A and the remaining member federation teams will be allocated to Pot B. In each draw, teams will again be drawn randomly into pre-determined positions.

The positions which teams are drawn into are structured to ensure that member federation teams will have the best chance of advancing in the competition. A minimum of one non-A-League team will reach the Semi-finals stage, a minimum of three in the Quarter-finals and a minimum of nine in the Round of 16. This structured is achieved by allocating teams (which are randomly drawn) into pre-determined positions, with some A-League teams drawn against one another to ensure that a certain number of A-League teams are eliminated and that a certain number of member federation teams may progress in the tournment.

The draw for each round will not be made until after the scheduled completion of the previous round. The draws will also determine which teams will play at home; that is, if a member federation team draws an A-League team, the member federation team will host the fixture. However, if two A-League teams or two member federation teams are drawn together, the first team drawn will host, with the exception that Wellington Phoenix must play all of their matches in Australia, away from home.

## Round of 32

The Round of 32 draw took place on Friday 27 June 2014. The lowest ranked sides that qualified for this round were South Springvale and Hakoah Sydney City East. They are the only level 4 teams left in the competition.

*All times listed below are at local time*
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## Round of 16

The Round of 16 draw took place on Friday 22 August 2014. The lowest ranked side that qualified for this round is South Springvale. They are the only level 4 team left in the competition. The dates for each match were announced on Wednesday 27 August 2014.

*All times listed below are at local time*
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## Quarter-finals

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## Semi-finals

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## Final

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## External links

* Official website

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