Football SA Federation Cup

The Football South Australia Federation Cup, more commonly known as the Federation Cup and referred to as the Australia Cup South Australian preliminary rounds until the semi-finals, is an annual knockout cup competition in South Australia by Football South Australia. The competition is the second longest-running cup competition in Australia, only behind the Football West State Cup, founded 8 years earlier.

Football SA Federation Cup

Organising body	Football South Australia
Founded	July 1907; 117 years ago (1907-07)
Region	South Australia
Number of teams	46 (2023)
Qualifier for	Australia Cup
Current champions	Campbelltown City (3rd title)
Most successful club(s)	Adelaide City (18 titles)
Television broadcasters	YouTube (Semi-finals and final only)
Website	Football SA
2024 FSA Federation Cup

The competition includes all clubs from the top three tiers of South Australian soccer, as well as numerous clubs from level four and outside the pyramid.

Since 2014 the Federation Cup has been incorporated as one of the qualification tournaments to determine participants in the national Australia Cup. Adelaide City are the most successful club in the competitions history, winning the competition a total of 18 times, including a run of five in a row from 1969 until 1973.

History

In July 1907, the Webb-Harris Cup was presented by Messrs. Charles Webb and J Harris as an annual competition with the stipulation that the first team to win the tournament three times would become the outright winners.^[1] The first edition consisted of six teams: Cambridge, North Adelaide, Norwood, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide and West Adelaide, and was won by Cambridge, who defeated Hindmarsh 2–0 in the inaugural final.^[2] Hindmarsh won the 1908 and 1909 finals, defeating Port Adelaide and Sturt, and Cambridge won the 1910 and 1911 finals, becoming outright winners in the competition's fifth year. After becoming the permanent owners of the trophy, the Cambridge club presented it to the South Australian British Football Association for it to be contested perpetually and to be known as the Cambridge Cup.^[3]

From 1926, the cup was presented by Victorian clothing brand Pelaco until 1954, when South Australian tabloid newspaper The Advertiser took over. In 1961, eight clubs broke away from the federation and contested their own version of the cup, known as the Jaxen Cup. Following the reamalgamation of the South Australian Soccer Federation, the cup was renamed as the Federation Cup, and has since has had different sponsors since, including Willis, P.G.H., Dairy Vale, Mutual Community, West End, Best Pavers, Top Corner and Coca-Cola.

Since 2014, the competition has also decided the South Australian representatives in the Australia Cup. Adelaide City qualified for the inaugural season of the competition after defeating rivals West Adelaide 4–1 in the final.^[4] Since 2021, the two finalists have qualified for the Australia Cup after South Australia earned a second slot due to an increase in preliminary round participants.^[5][6]

Format

The competition is a single-elimination tournament. Depending on the number of teams that enter the competition, it may begin from various stages. The first round of the competition includes all teams excluding the 11 eligible National Premier Leagues South Australia teams. The teams who are drawn last receive byes to the second round. All teams play from the second round onwards. The semi-final and final are played at a neutral venue, as decided by Football South Australia.

The 2024 competition began from the 2023 Australia Cup third preliminary round, with 52 teams participating, and the 11 eligible National Premier Leagues South Australia teams entering in the following round.^[7]

2024 Format

Federation Cup	Australia Cup	No. of teams
First round	Third preliminary round	52
Second round	Fourth preliminary round	32
Third round	Fifth preliminary round	16
Quarter-finals	Sixth preliminary round	8
Semi-finals	Seventh preliminary round	4
Final	—	2

Eligible teams

All teams that play in Football South Australia sanctioned competition are required to participate. Teams outside of FSA competitions may apply to enter. Adelaide United Youth are ineligible to participate, as youth teams cannot play in the Australia Cup preliminary rounds.

• National Premier Leagues South Australia
• State League 1 South Australia
• State League 2 South Australia
• South Australian Regional Leagues
• South Australian Amateur Soccer League

Venues

All matches are played at the venue of the home team, who is always the team that is drawn first. The semi-finals and final are played on a neutral ground, which since 2022, has been the State Centre for Football. Excluding 2015 and 2021, which used The Parks Football Centre as the neutral venue, the cup final was historically played at Hindmarsh Stadium.

Finals

No.	Year	Cup Name	Date	Winner(s)	Score	Runner-up	Venue[8]
1	1907	Webb-Harris	24 August	Cambridge	2–0	Hindmarsh	Hindmarsh Oval
2	1908		15 August	Hindmarsh	4–1	Port Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
3	1909		28 August	Hindmarsh	4–1	Sturt	Hindmarsh Oval
4	1910		8 October	Cambridge		South Adelaide
5	1911		12 August	Cambridge	2–0	Port Adelaide	Alberton Oval
6	1912	Cambridge	7 September	Adelaide	2–1	Tandanya	Jubilee Oval
7	1913		6 September	Adelaide	3–0	Hindmarsh	Hindmarsh Oval
8	1914		19 September	Adelaide	2–1	Hindmarsh	Hindmarsh Oval
9	1915		4 September	Hindmarsh	4–1	Cheltenham	Park 18
	1916–18	No competition due to World War I
10	1919	Cambridge	23 August	Hindmarsh Sturt[a]	1–1	—	Hindmarsh Oval
11	1920		4 September	Cheltenham	2–1	South Adelaide	Hawthorn Oval
12	1921		17 September	South Adelaide	3–2	Cheltenham	Hindmarsh Oval
13	1922		16 September	Cheltenham	1–0	Sturt	Kensington Oval
14	1923		13 October	Prospect	2–1 (rep.)	South Adelaide	Jubilee Oval
15	1924		18 October	Holdens United	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Prospect	Camden Oval
16	1925		19 September	West Torrens	3–1	Sturt	Jubilee Oval
17	1926	Pelaco	25 September	Port Adelaide	2–1	Sturt	Jubilee Oval
18	1927		1 October	West Torrens	4–3	West Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
19	1928		15 September	West Torrens	2–1	West United	Hindmarsh Oval
20	1929		14 September	West Torrens	3–2	Railways	Mortlock Park
21	1930		13 September	Railways	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Port Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
22	1931		3 October	Lancashire	4–2 (rep.)	Port Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
23	1932		1 October	Lancashire	2–0	Railways	Jubilee Oval
24	1933		16 September	Port Adelaide	2–1	West Torrens	Hart Street Reserve
25	1934		15 September	Port Thistle	3–2	West Torrens	Hindmarsh Oval
26	1935		14 September	Kingswood	4–2	Port Thistle	Hindmarsh Oval
27	1936		12 September	Sturt	4–2	Port Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
28	1937		11 September	Sturt	3–2	Port Thistle	Hindmarsh Oval
29	1938		24 September	Birkalla Rovers	2–0	Kingswood	Hindmarsh Oval
30	1939		30 September	West Torrens	2–0	Birkalla Rovers	Hindmarsh Oval
31	1940		28 September	West Torrens	5–1	South Adelaide	Hindmarsh Oval
32	1941		27 September	Sturt	3–1	Birkalla Rovers	Hindmarsh Oval
	1942	No competition due to World War II
33	1943	Pelaco	25 September	Northumberland & Durham	2–1	British Tube Mills	Mortlock Park
34	1944		16 September	Birkalla Rovers	2–1	Northumberland & Durham	Allenby Gardens Reserve
35	1945		29 September	Port Adelaide	3–2	Birkalla Rovers	Allenby Gardens Reserve
36	1946		28 September	West Torrens	4–3	Kingswood	Railway Oval
37	1947		11 October	Cumberland United	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Port Adelaide	Rowley Park
	1948–49	Not held
38	1950	Pelaco	7 October	Birkalla Rovers	4–1	Port Adelaide	Mortlock Park
39	1951		29 September	Birkalla Rovers	1–0	Juventus	Mortlock Park
40	1952		27 September	Polonia Adelaide	3–1	Beograd Woodville	Norwood Oval
41	1953		3 October	Juventus	4–3	Prospect United	Alberton Oval
42	1954		9 October	Polonia Adelaide	3–1	Juventus	Mortlock Park
43	1955	The Advertiser		Juventus	2–1	Polonia Adelaide
44	1956			USC Lion	3–2	Cumberland United
45	1957			Juventus	5–1	USC Lion
46	1958		27 September	Juventus	1–0	Polonia Adelaide
47	1959			Juventus	1–0	Adelaide Croatia	Norwood Oval
48	1960			Adelaide Croatia	4–0	Cumberland United	Hindmarsh Stadium
49	1961	The Advertiser (SASFA) Jaxen (SASL)	7 October (SASFA) 30 September (SASL)	Victoria (SASFA) USC Lion (SASL)	2–1 3–2	Enfield City (SASFA) Orange (SASL)
50	1962	Federation		Adelaide Croatia	2–1	Burnside Budapest
51	1963		14 September	Adelaide Juventus	5–1	West Adelaide Hellas
52	1964		24 October	West Adelaide Hellas	6–2 (rep.)	Polonia Adelaide
53	1965		25 September	Adelaide Juventus	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Enfield City	Olympic Sports Field
54	1966		24 September	Polonia Adelaide	1–0	Victoria	Hindmarsh Stadium
55	1967		23 September	West Adelaide Hellas	3–0	Adelaide Juventus	Hindmarsh Stadium
56	1968		28 September	Polonia Adelaide	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Adelaide Juventus	Hindmarsh Stadium
57	1969		20 September	Adelaide Juventus	4–1	USC Lion	Hindmarsh Stadium
58	1970		29 August	Adelaide Juventus	3–2	West Adelaide Hellas	Hindmarsh Stadium
59	1971		18 September	Adelaide Juventus	1–0	West Adelaide Hellas	Hindmarsh Stadium
60	1972		2 September	Adelaide Juventus	2–0	West Adelaide Hellas	Hindmarsh Stadium
61	1973	Willis	1 September	Adelaide Juventus	1–0	West Adelaide Hellas	Hindmarsh Stadium
62	1974		7 September	Adelaide Croatia	4–3	Cumberland United	Hindmarsh Stadium
63	1975		6 September	Polonia Adelaide	2–0	USC Lion	Hindmarsh Stadium
64	1976		18 September	Adelaide Juventus	4–0	Campbelltown City	Hindmarsh Stadium
65	1977		3 September	Adelaide Croatia	1–0	Campbelltown Budapest	Hindmarsh Stadium
66	1978	Federation	2 September	Cumberland United	3–0	Campbelltown Budapest	Hindmarsh Stadium
67	1979		9 September	Port Adelaide	2–0	Eastern Districts Azzurri	Hindmarsh Stadium
68	1980		27 September	Beograd Woodville	4–0	Enfield Victoria	Hindmarsh Stadium
69	1981			Eastern Districts Azzurri	3–0	Polonia Adelaide	Hindmarsh Stadium
70	1982			Adelaide Croatia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Para Hills	Hindmarsh Stadium
71	1983	P.G.H.	17 September	Beograd Woodville	1–0	Salisbury United	Hindmarsh Stadium
72	1984			Eastern Districts Azzurri	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Campbelltown City	Hindmarsh Stadium
73	1985		7 September	Campbelltown City	3–2 (rep.)	Cumberland United	Hindmarsh Stadium
74	1986		6 September	Eastern Districts Azzurri	0–0 (5–4 (p))	Para Hills	Hindmarsh Stadium
75	1987		5 September	West Torrens Birkalla	1–0	Campbelltown City	Hindmarsh Stadium
76	1988			Adelaide Croatia	3–2	Polonia Adelaide	Hindmarsh Stadium
77	1989		2 September	Modbury Jets	2–0	Para Hills	Hindmarsh Stadium
78	1990		31 August	Adelaide Croatia	4–2	West Adelaide Hellas	Hindmarsh Stadium
79	1991			Adelaide Croatia	1–0	Salisbury United
80	1992	Federation		Adelaide Croatia	3–1	Eastern Districts Azzurri
81	1993			White City Woodville	1–0	Olympians
82	1994	Dairy Vale		Campbelltown City	3–0	Salisbury United
83	1995			Adelaide Blue Eagles	4–2 (a.e.t.) (rep.)	Port Adelaide Lion
84	1996	Mutual Community		White City Woodville	3–0	Croydon Kings
85	1997		9 June	Adelaide Blue Eagles	2–1	West Torrens Birkalla	Thebarton Oval
86	1998		7 June	Adelaide Blue Eagles	3–1	Adelaide Raiders
87	1999	West End	17 October	West Adelaide	2–1	Elizabeth City	Hindmarsh Stadium
88	2000		22 July	Croydon Kings	1–1 (7–6 (p))	North Eastern MetroStars	Marden Sports Complex
89	2001		1 September	Playford City Patriots	3–0	Adelaide Blue Eagles	Hindmarsh Stadium
90	2002		26 June	Adelaide Galaxy	3–0	Croydon Kings	Hindmarsh Stadium
91	2003	Federation	5 July	Adelaide Raiders	5–2	North Eastern MetroStars	Hindmarsh Stadium
92	2004		2 October	North Eastern MetroStars	5–2	Modbury Jets	Hindmarsh Stadium
93	2005		20 August	White City Woodville	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Adelaide Raiders	Hindmarsh Stadium
94	2006		24 September	Adelaide City	4–1	Adelaide Blue Eagles	Hindmarsh Stadium
95	2007	Best Pavers	25 August	Adelaide City	1–0	North Eastern MetroStars	Hindmarsh Stadium
96	2008		23 August	North Eastern MetroStars	1–0	Adelaide City	Hindmarsh Stadium
97	2009	Top Corner	15 August	Cumberland United	0–0 (5–4 (p))	Campbelltown City	Hindmarsh Stadium
98	2010	Federation	21 August	Adelaide Blue Eagles	3–2	North Eastern MetroStars	Hindmarsh Stadium
99	2011	Coca-Cola	20 August	Western Strikers	1–1 (6–5 (p))	Adelaide Blue Eagles	Hindmarsh Stadium
100	2012		25 August	North Eastern MetroStars	3–1	Para Hills Knights	Hindmarsh Stadium
101	2013		10 August	Adelaide City	1–1 (5–4 (p)	White City Woodville	Hindmarsh Stadium
102	2014		31 June	Adelaide City	4–1	West Adelaide	Hindmarsh Stadium
103	2015	Federation	28 June	Croydon Kings	2–0	Adelaide City	The Parks Football Centre
104	2016		25 June	North Eastern MetroStars	1–0	Adelaide Comets	Hindmarsh Stadium
105	2017		24 June	North Eastern MetroStars	2–0	Adelaide City	Hindmarsh Stadium
106	2018		11 June	Adelaide Comets	2–1	Croydon Kings	Hindmarsh Stadium
107	2019		22 June	Adelaide Olympic	3–2	Adelaide City	Hindmarsh Stadium
	2020	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia[9]
108	2021	Federation	14 July	Adelaide Olympic	2–1	Adelaide City	The Parks Football Centre
109	2022		16 July	Adelaide City	5–0	Modbury Jets	State Centre for Football
110	2023		24 June	North Eastern MetroStars	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Campbelltown City	State Centre for Football
111	2024		6 July	Campbelltown City	3–0	Modbury Jets	State Centre for Football

1. Hindmarsh and Sturt shared the cup in 1919, with both teams holding it for 6 months each, as they were unable to organise a replay.

Statistics

Teams

Most successful teams
Rank	Team	Wins	Last
1	Adelaide City	18	2022
2	Adelaide Croatia Raiders	10	2003
3	Adelaide Blue Eagles	7	2010
	West Torrens		1946
5	Croydon FC	6	2015
	North Eastern MetroStars		2023
	West Torrens Birkalla		2002
8	FK Beograd	5	2005
9	Hindmarsh	4	1919
	Port Adelaide Pirates		1979
	Sturt-Orange		1941

Most finals appearances
Rank	Team	Apps	Last
1	Adelaide City	27	2022
2	Croydon FC	15	2018
3	Adelaide Croatia Raiders	13	2005
4	Adelaide Blue Eagles	12	2011
	Port Adelaide Pirates		1995
6	Campbelltown City	10	2024
	North Eastern MetroStars		2023
	West Adelaide		2014
	West Torrens Birkalla		2002
10	Sturt-Orange	9	1941

Venue

Finals hosted
Rank	Venue	No.	Last
1	Hindmarsh Stadium[a]	64	2019
2	Jubilee Oval	5	1932
	Mortlock Park	5	1954
4	State Centre for Football	3	2024
5	Alberton Oval	2	1953
	Allenby Gardens Reserve	2	1945
	Norwood Oval	2	1959
	Olympic Sports Field[b]	2	1965
	The Parks Football Centre	2	2021
Unknown		16

1. Includes Hindmarsh Oval.
2. Includes Kensington Oval.

References

1. "The Observer, Adelaide". The Advertiser. 27 July 1907.
2. "South Australia Webb-Harris Cup 1907 – Results". Socceraust. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022.
3. Harlow, Denis (2003). History of Soccer in South Australia. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0975060902.
4. "Adelaide City claim 2014 Coca-Cola Federation Cup Final". Gameday. Football South Australia. 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024.
5. "Football South Australia secure a second FFA Cup spot". Football South Australia. 17 December 2019. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019.
6. "FFA Cup 2020 preliminary rounds to commence this weekend alongside regular live streaming initiative". Australia Cup. 14 February 2020. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020.
7. "Last chance to enter the 2024 Australia Cup South Australian Preliminary Rounds". Football South Australia. 15 January 2024.
8. Peppas, Dimitri (15 October 2023). "South Australian Football Honours". Internet Archive.
9. "Coronavirus forces FFA Cup to be cancelled". The World Game. SBS. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.