Four mouth watering encounters in the opening month of the season will launch Adelaide United FC’s start to the highly anticipated Season Seven of the Hyundai A-League.
As well as the confirmation of an October start to avoid a clash with the AFL and NRL finals, the unveiling of the Hyundai A-League 2010/11 Season draw by Football Federation Australia (FFA) today revealed that the Reds will open their season away from home with an intriguing clash against Perth Glory and former Reds skipper Travis Dodd on Sunday, October 9.
This will be followed by two massive home games at Hindmarsh Stadium against Hyundai A-League heavyweights and rivals Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, the Reds- mammoth October to be rounded off by a trip to Suncorp Stadium to tackle reigning Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar.
Spread over 25 weeks, the 27 game regular season will see Adelaide United play all 13 of its home games at Hindmarsh Stadium, eight of which have been scheduled in the popular Friday night timeslot.
“Traditionally, Friday night home games have been extremely popular with the fans, so it-s important for the team to have that support in the stands,” Adelaide United Football Director Michael Petrillo said.
“We are also happy to see more space and a more even distribution of matches over the Christmas period, which is something we had to contend with last season.
“It-s also good to have some tough matches early on to give us a gauge of where we are at, and also some great matches for our supporters here at home with Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC in our first two home games.”
The Hyundai A-League format for season seven will also include two significant new initiatives; a ‘Hyundai A-League marathon- which will see five games played back to back on Wednesday 4 January, plus matches scheduled in regional centres aimed at broadening football-s reach into regional areas. The location of the Reds- regional game against the Newcastle Jets on January 25 is still to be confirmed.
Other features of the Reds- draw includes a Saturday night blockbuster against Brisbane Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium on January 7, while they will host Sydney FC, Melbourne Heart, Perth Glory and the Wellington Phoenix twice.
The season will culminate with the Grand Final on the weekend of April 20-22.
