Few clubs in Australian football have done more, or contributed more, than Adelaide City.
Founded out of the back of a sports shop by Italian migrants after the end of the Second World War, the club went on to become standard bearers of South Australian football in the 20th century, three-time champions of Australia and the first-ever Oceanian champions in 1987. Luminaries such as Alex Tobin, Damian Mori, Sergio Melta, Carl Veart, the Vidmar brothers, and the Aloisis all pulled on their famous black-and-white stripes, making them not just one of the greatest incubators of Socceroos, but also Australian coaching talent.
And now, 23 years since their last season in the National Soccer League (NSL), and 80 years since the club was first founded, Juventus is back on the national stage proper -- in the Australian Championship. Playing out of Adelaide City Park these days, rather than their NSL home of Hindmarsh Stadium, they punched their tickets to this year's iteration on the final day of the NPL SA season, and will open their campaign on Friday evening when they host foundation side Avondale. That will come a day after Preston and the Wollongong Wolves kick things off the second year of Australian football's first attempt at a national second-tier competition.
"We have been starved," club chairman Angelo Carrozza told ESPN. "And I think our community is super excited by the opportunity to be playing at this level again."
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On some level, that Australian football even summoned the collective will to introduce a second-tier, let alone one that'll actually log more than a single season, is remarkable, given it long served as one of the palest Great White Wales of the game. With "aspiration" at the core of its launch messaging, the competition, while not (yet) connected with the A-League Men, offers clubs something to strive for, offers players more games against better opposition, and an opportunity for both to realise these opportunities on a larger, national stage.
Won by South Melbourne in its first staging -- granting them an Australia Cup berth they would go on to convert into a historic triumph -- its eight foundation clubs will be joined once again by Bayswater City (WA), Broadmeadow Magic (NNSW), Canberra Croatia, and South Hobart (TAS) in 2026, alongside first-time qualifiers Adelaide City (SA), Oakleigh (VIC), Lions FC (QLD), and the Sutherland Sharks (NSW). Once more, the format will see its 16 participants divided into four groups of four, with the top-two finishers after a home-and-away round robin advancing into a single-elimination knockout stage.
"We're expecting to see a bigger and better season, given that we implemented some of our learnings from last season," Football Australia executive director of football Heather Garriock told ESPN. "If you have a look at the draw and the match-ups with the different teams, I think there are some really quality games."
Commencing just days after Hellas' remarkable Australia Cup win over Melbourne Victory, Football Australia couldn't have asked for a better lead-in to this year's competition. South's triumph -- and the raucous atmosphere at AAMI Park -- has swung focus well and truly onto the strength of the game outside the A-League, with conversations surrounding the merits of promotion and relegation penetrating the mainstream for the first time ... ever, really.
If there was ever going to be a moment wherein you could capture the imaginations of both the rusted-on supporters and those beyond them, it's now.
"We were able to watch with envy the first year," said Carrozza. "To be playing it in the second year, collecting the data, seeing what you know is out there; we've just seen an enormous boost in people. From our social media following to merch sales to membership. There is an appetite for Adelaide City at that level.
"It's very different from the local league. And I think that's what former fans are looking for: they want Adelaide City, but they want Adelaide City of old, on the national stage."
Nonetheless, for all the years of work that went into advocating for, planning, and staging the first iteration of the Champos, this second season is just as crucial as its first. Perhaps more so.
After proving that it could be staged without falling over in a heap, pressure is now on for clear signs of growth to occur in year two, for the competition to show that it can attract an audience, as well as corporate and broadcast support, without the benefits of being a shiny new competition.
2025 was a good start, but it's far from the destination most will have envisioned.
"Bums on seats," Garriock said when asked what the federation wants to see. "Live attendance. The broadcast overachieved our expectations.
"Post this season, we'll do a review. It's important not to just look at one season, but to look at both seasons and then what we need to do to really increase what the Australian Championships are all about. It's certainly a part of our development pathways and a critical part of our development pathways."
But while Football Australia will be casting their eyes over the competition following December's final as they try to plot out its next evolution, significant scrutiny will be -- or at least it should be -- coming their way, too. For as laudable as getting a second-tier off the ground was, it was just one part of a longer journey for the competition, which will throw up challenges and opportunities in equal measure.
On Monday, for instance, Football NSW handed down sanctions on foundation side Sydney Olympic for compliance issues, which follow their senior men's relegation from the NPL NSW. That came a day after the Australian Financial Review published allegations of deception against former president Damon Hanlin, already the subject of tax fraud allegations and who reportedly holds Olympic's licence for the Championship -- which effectively operates as a separate entity from their NPL side. Yet, under the current model, they also retain a guaranteed Championship place.
"I was at Belmore for a handful of games this season, and the fans have abandoned the team," Sydney-based broadcaster Teo Pellizerri told ESPN. "Over the last four years, instead of building up to where South Melbourne are, by contrast, using the Australian Championship as a platform, Sydney Olympic have this identity crisis which doesn't appear to be getting resolved anytime soon. The membership and people that care most have made their feelings clear at extraordinary meetings, but we're no closer to a resolution. This separate entity means that the fans feel the club is being held hostage."
And that's just one individual case. On a broader level, few, if any, clubs are of the mindset that the current model -- a tournament staged post-NPL season -- is what the Australian Championship should ultimately be. Nor that such a model is capable of generating the long-term interest and support necessary to make it financially viable. Instead, though recognising the need to lay foundations and reward foundation clubs for their investment, a standalone, home-and-away model which serves as clubs' base -- rather than NPL competitions many see as a "dead end" -- remains an overwhelming preference.
And while the sporting and developmental benefits of a standalone, home-and-away model should be obvious, it would also, speaking to questions of viability, allow clubs that it's ostensibly wanting to attract to plan and invest with confidence on a scale of multiple years.
"Would you be in it every year? The answer is absolutely," Carrozza explained. "We won't hesitate. We are ready to be part of this. But the preparations alone; we made this competition literally [in] the last game [of the NPL SA season].
"The preparation is the problem: turning around and having so much pressure on our staff and our volunteers. To have a year of preparation [instead], if you said to me you're in it in 2027, I think we would be far better. Our fans will be better for it. The league, everything will be better. I think it's almost time the standalone competition begins.
"It's a joint venture. It's a partnership. Football Australia need to recognise that there are some very financially sound clubs with a lot of money. And some clubs are cautious, like us, to ensure that we're fiscally responsible, that we don't deteriorate what we've got, because we've built our club over a very long period of time; we don't want to see it fall like a pack of cards.
"Collaboratively approaching the costs associated with being a part of it, it needs to be fair. It can't be cost-prohibitive. It can't be too big a risk for clubs. And I think if we can find that mutual ground, it wouldn't be difficult to find 10 or 12 teams that play in a competition week in, week out."