{"id":69440,"date":"2026-08-11T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69440\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:12:13","slug":"south-melbourne-hellas-announces-a-league-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69440\/","title":{"rendered":"South Melbourne Hellas announces A-League ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Australia\u2019s biggest soccer clubs will put forward its case to replace Western United as the A-Leagues\u2019 13th professional team after the Wyndham-based club was stripped of its licence.<\/p>\n

Victorian giant South Melbourne Hellas has reignited its interest to join the game\u2019s professional ranks, eight years after it was knocked back from joining the top-tier competition.<\/p>\n

South Melbourne was among the game\u2019s heavyweights in the National Soccer League, winning four championships, before the A-Leagues took over as the game\u2019s premier competition in 2005\/06.<\/p>\n

The club was frozen out of the A-Leagues when it formed and was overlooked in 2018 when it applied for the competition\u2019s then-11th licence, which ultimately went to a Western United bid that promised to privately build its own stadium.<\/p>\n

However South co-president Bill Papastergiadis told the Herald Sun the club would throw its hat in the ring once again after Western United\u2019s licence was terminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built the technical base for a club that\u2019s needed to enter the A-League,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be submitting documents (to the Australian Professional Leagues) and our supporters demand it\u201d.<\/p>\n

It comes after Western United was stripped of its A-Leagues licence<\/a> on Monday, putting the nail in the coffin of a trouble-plagued saga for the club.<\/p>\n

In a bid to strengthen advocacy and off field performance the club also added former Labor MP Philip Dalidakis to its board in recent months.<\/p>\n

South Melbourne currently plays in Victoria\u2019s National Premier League \u2014 Australia\u2019s second-tier \u2014 out of Lakeside Stadium.<\/p>\n

More than 3000 fans attended the club\u2019s historic Australia Cup round of 32 victory against Adelaide United in July, with it also attracting large crowds across its campaign in the newly created Australian Championship competition last year.<\/p>\n

Mr Papastergiadis said South Melbourne had the fan base to justify A-League entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe supporter base is there, the crowds we get are in excess of what some A-League clubs get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a ready made club \u2026 we\u2019ve made a significant investment in football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Papastergiadis said he hoped South Melbourne\u2019s entry into the A-League would inspire other traditional clubs in the sport to follow suit.<\/p>\n

South Melbourne \u2014 formed in 1959 after the merger of Hellenic, Yarra Park and South Melbourne United \u2014 was named Oceania club of the 20th century, with its legends including Socceroos Paul Trimboli, Alan Davidson and Ange Postecoglou.<\/p>\n

Postecoglou famously coached the club \u2014 made up of semi-professional athletes \u2014 in the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup and faced off against Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s Manchester United.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Australia\u2019s biggest soccer clubs will put forward its case to replace Western United as the A-Leagues\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[92643,45431,92422,92660,92655,76179,92685,92640,92692,92666,92672,92647,92657,92690,92695,66442,48534,92649,39152,39234,92699,92656,92705,42435,92681,92687,92646,341,92674,957,92634,92662,43804,92654,23,12842,36754,65281,80370,92686,3014,92694,92668,92697,92639,92663,92693,92645,92658,51072,92677,92689,92644,92667,38590,92652,80960,92704,260,92702,37045,92653,92665,92669,92703,92650,92678,92671,92691,92680,92641,92636,92696,92688,381,92642,92683,92679,92638,92675,47780,92673,92682,39770,92648,92637,57516,67910,92635,40472,5606,92684,92664,92701,92670,11025,40194,92676,92651,92661,92659,38964,68,92700,35475,92698],"class_list":["post-69440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-biggest-soccer-clubs","tag-s-entry","tag-s-exit","tag-s-heavyweights","tag-s-historic-australia-cup-round","tag-s-licence","tag-s-manchester-united","tag-s-national-premier-league-australia","tag-s-premier-competition","tag-s-professional-ranks","tag-s-second-tier","tag-s-then-11th-licence","tag-06-the-club","tag-13th-professional-team","tag-92695","tag-66442","tag-48534","tag-32-victory","tag-a-bid","tag-a-club","tag-a-massive-fanbase","tag-a-ready","tag-a-significant-investment","tag-a-spot","tag-a-trouble-plagued-saga","tag-a-victorian-soccer-giant","tag-a-western-united-bid","tag-a-league","tag-a-league-entry","tag-adelaide-united","tag-advocacy-and","tag-alan-davidson","tag-ambition","tag-ange-postecoglou-postecoglou","tag-australia","tag-club","tag-documents","tag-eight-years","tag-excess","tag-field-performance","tag-football","tag-former-labor-mp-philip-dalidakis","tag-four-championships","tag-hellenic","tag-huge-victorian-soccer-club","tag-its-a-leagues-licence","tag-its-board","tag-its-campaign","tag-its-case","tag-its-hat","tag-its-interest","tag-its-legends","tag-its-licence","tag-its-own-stadium-however","tag-july","tag-lakeside-stadium-more-than-3000-fans","tag-large-crowds","tag-last-year-mr","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-a-league","tag-monday","tag-mr-papastergiadis","tag-new-a-league-ambition","tag-new-opportunity","tag-oceania-club","tag-other-traditional-clubs","tag-our-supporters","tag-papastergiadis","tag-recent-months-south","tag-semi-professional-athletes","tag-sir-alex-ferguson","tag-socceroos-paul-trimboli","tag-some-a-league-clubs","tag-south-co-president-bill-papastergiadis","tag-south-melbourne","tag-south-melbourne-hellas","tag-south-melbourne-united","tag-suit-south-melbourne","tag-the-2000-fifa-club-world-cup","tag-the-20th-century","tag-the-a-league","tag-the-a-leagues","tag-the-australian-professional-leagues","tag-the-club","tag-the-club-in","tag-the-coffin","tag-the-competition","tag-the-crowds","tag-the-fan-base","tag-the-game","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-merger","tag-the-nail","tag-the-national-soccer-league","tag-the-newly-created-australian-championship-competition","tag-the-ring","tag-the-sport","tag-the-supporter-base","tag-the-technical-base","tag-the-top-tier-competition-south","tag-the-wyndham-based-club","tag-this-week","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-giant-south-melbourne-hellas","tag-western-united","tag-yarra-park-and"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}