The 2026-27 A-League Women season kicks off on Saturday without a new collective bargaining agreement between players and league administrators. As reported by The Guardian on 15 October 2026, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) has yet to agree on new workplace terms with Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) or provide a plan to make the competition full-time. The delay comes after several leading players left Australian clubs during the off-season for professional contracts in Europe.
The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on 30 June 2026. Negotiations stalled in July when players rejected a revised proposal from the APL. Union chief executive Beau Busch said at the time that the previous five-year deal had failed to stop falling crowds and a growing loss of talent to overseas leagues.
Financial figures from the PFA’s 2024-25 A-League Women report, published in November 2025, detail the working conditions facing domestic players. Although total player payments reached a record A$8.7 million, the average salary was just over A$30,000, with the minimum wage set at A$26,500 for the 2025-26 campaign. Of the 251 players surveyed by the union, 76 per cent said their financial situation was either not at all secure or only slightly secure. During that season, 62 per cent of players worked a second job outside football.
For the first time in the survey’s history, A-League Women players rated their own competition last among four career preferences, behind England’s Women’s Super League, the United States National Women’s Soccer League, and other overseas competitions.
Leading Players Move to European Clubs
Clubs have continued to lose established players ahead of the new campaign. On 4 September, Melbourne City confirmed that Matildas midfielder Leticia McKenna joined English second-tier side Nottingham Forest in a permanent transfer. City stated that the undisclosed fee set a new Australian record for an outgoing transfer from the women’s league. McKenna made 114 appearances and scored 16 goals across five seasons in Melbourne, and she was voted the PFA Young Women’s Footballer of the Year earlier this month.
Adelaide United lost three key squad members earlier in the off-season. In Adelaide United’s announcement of the three departures on 2 July, the club confirmed that Erin Healy, Ella Tonkin, and Matilda McNamara had turned down new contract offers to move to Europe.
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Healy scored 12 goals in 41 matches for Adelaide and won the club’s 2025-26 Golden Boot and Player of the Year awards before joining Italian Serie A side Parma. Tonkin left after seven seasons and 84 appearances for Adelaide, where her teammates voted her Players’ Player of the Year in 2025 and 2026, to sign with Portuguese club Torreense. McNamara, a Matildas defender, also departed for Europe for an undisclosed transfer fee while still under contract.
As experienced footballers have moved abroad, clubs have relied more heavily on younger players. The PFA report found that footballers aged 21 and under played 32 per cent of all league minutes in 2024-25, up from 28 per cent the previous season.
Union Proposals and Attendance Figures
In early 2026, the players’ union released its Ready for Takeoff vision for the A-League Women. The document set out 21 recommendations covering independent governance, minimum club standards, revenue sharing, and transfer system reforms. The union had proposed relaunching the competition as a full-time professional league for the 2026-27 season to build on Australia hosting the March 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
The league also faces challenges with crowd numbers and promotion. Average matchday attendance fell by 26 per cent in 2024-25 to 1,559 supporters, with only Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar recording higher crowds than the previous year.Sam Lewis reported in The Guardian that promotion for the women’s competition ahead of this weekend’s opening round has been largely overshadowed by marketing for the A-League Men.
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The 19th A-League Women season begins on Saturday, 17 October, with Western Sydney Wanderers hosting Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets facing Perth Glory, and Brisbane Roar playing Central Coast Mariners. Defending premiers Melbourne City open their campaign away to Wellington Phoenix on Sunday, while Adelaide United travel to face Sydney FC.
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