2024 Australia Cup final

The 2024 Australia Cup Final was an association football match played between A-League Men sides Melbourne Victory and Macarthur FC at AAMI Park in Melbourne on 29 September 2024 to determine the winners of the 2024 Australia Cup.^[2] It was the ninth Australia Cup final and the 42nd final of Australian soccer's primary cup competitions. It was the first FFA Cup/Australia Cup final to be played in September.

2024 Australia Cup Final

Event	2024 Australia Cup
Melbourne Victory Macarthur FC 0 1
Date	29 September 2024 (2024-09-29)
Venue	AAMI Park, Melbourne
Man of the Match	Filip Kurto (Macarthur FC)[1]
Referee	Jonathan Barreiro
Attendance	13,289
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 Australia Cup final's crowd of 13,289 is the lowest ever crowd for an Australia Cup final.

Teams

Team	Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Melbourne Victory	2 (2015, 2021)
Macarthur FC	1 (2022)

Route to the final

Further information: 2024 Australia Cup

Melbourne Victory		Round	Macarthur FC
Opponent	Score		Opponent	Score
Lambton Jaffas	4–1 (A)	Round of 32	O'Connor Knights	2–1 (A)
NWS Spirit	4–0 (A)	Round of 16	Newcastle Jets	4–3 (A)
Moreton City Excelsior	4–0 (A)	Quarter-finals	Oakleigh Cannons	1–0 (A)
Adelaide United	1–0 (H)	Semi-finals	South Melbourne	1–0 (A)
Note: In all results above, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory began their Australia Cup run in the Round of 32 with an away match against the Lambon Jaffas. Victory won the match 4–1 through two goals by Nishan Velupillay and one each by Bruno Fornaroli and Alex Lee and qualifying for the Round of 16.^[3] Two weeks later, Victory began their Round of 16 match away against NWS Spirit winning 4–0 through another two goals by Nishan Velupillay, and further goals by Ryan Teague and Nikos Vergos.^[4] The quarter-final match away against Moreton City Excelsior saw Victory win 4–0; so far all three cup matches scoring four goals, as Nikos Vergos scored two goals, and Kasey Bos and Nishan Velupillay each scoring one.^[5] The semi-final against Adelaide United was Victory's first home tie in this Australia Cup run, which was won 1–0 through a late winner by Jordi Valadon.^[6]

Macarthur FC

Macarthur FC also began their Australia Cup run in the Round of 32 playing away against O'Connor Knights; despite conceding the opening goal, came back to win 2–1 through goals by Jake Hollman and Luke Brattan to qualify for the Round of 16.^[7] Macarthur versed A-League Men side away against the Newcastle Jets which was won 4–3 after falling behind twice as Valère Germain and Marin Jakoliš both scored two goals.^[8] Macarthur travelled to Melbourne for their quarter-final and semi-final match-ups. First Macarthur took on Oakleigh Cannons away and won 1–0 through an early goal by Valère Germain.^[5] The semi-final was up against South Melbourne away and also won 1–0 through a Valère Germain penalty in the 84th minute who was also sent off in the last minutes of the match.^[9]

Match

Background

Details

29 September 2024

19:10 AEST

Melbourne Victory (1)	0–1	Macarthur FC (1)
	Report	Jakoliš 58'

AAMI Park, Melbourne

Attendance: 13,289

Referee: Jonathan Barreiro

Melbourne Victory

Macarthur FC

GK 25 Jack Duncan RB 2 Jason Geria CB 5 Brendan Hamill CB 21 Roderick Miranda LB 28 Kasey Bos CM 14 Jordi Valadon CM 8 Zinédine Machach  79' CM 6 Ryan Teague RW 27 Reno Piscopo  66' CF 9 Nikos Vergos  66' LW 17 Nishan Velupillay Substitutes: GK 40 Christian Siciliano DF 3 Adama Traoré DF 22 Joshua Rawlins MF 18 Fabian Monge FW 10 Bruno Fornaroli  66' FW 19 Jing Reec  66' FW 35 Jordan Hoey  79' Head Coach: Patrick Kisnorbo

GK 12 Filip Kurto CB 6 Tomislav Uskok CB 5 Matthew Jurman CB 13 Ivan Vujica RM 20 Kealey Adamson CM 26 Luke Brattan CM 22 Liam Rose LM 18 Walter Scott RW 8 Jake Hollman  65'  73' CF 11 Jed Drew  80' LW 44 Marin Jakoliš  55'  90+5' Substitutes: GK 40 Franklin Jan DF 16 Oliver Jones  90+5' DF 27 Joshua Damevski DF 33 Yianni Nicolaou MF 28 Ante Vojvodic FW 19 Ariath Piol  80' FW 24 Dean Bosnjak  73' Head Coach: Mile Sterjovski

Assistant referees: Ashley Beecham Arvin Shanmuganathan Fourth official: Jack Morgan

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Seven named substitutes

Post-match

Melbourne Victory manager Patrick Kisnorbo stated he omitted star player Daniel Arzani from both the starting lineup and the substitute bench due to experimentation with the squad as a result of Arzani's eventual suspension from the first match of the regular season for yellow card accumulation.^[10] Arzani played a key role in leading Victory to the final, having played in all four matches leading up to the final and contributing two assists in the quarter-final match against Moreton City Excelsior.^[10][11] After the loss in the final, Kisnorbo stated he stood by his decision.^[12] However, it was also reported a day after the match that the main reason Arzani was excluded from the matchday squad for the final was rumored to be for the anger he expressed towards Kisnorbo at training during the week, with speculation variously suggesting this was due to him discovering he wouldn't be in the starting team, while also being reported it was due to him being offered to other clubs during the offseason.^[13] Days following the final, Arzani was included in Tony Popovic's inaugural Australia squad for World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan, but was not named in the matchday squad against China and was an unused substitute against Japan.^[14] After returning to Melbourne from international duty, Arzani was replaced in Victory's starting lineup by Kisnorbo for Reno Piscopo in the ensuing matches, and was not called up by Popovic for the next set of World Cup qualifying matches in November.^[15][16]

Macarthur's Australia Cup triumph was their second silverware in club history following their 2022 Australia Cup win.^[17]