Mirabella Cup

Mirabella Cup

Founded	2011
Region	Victoria
Number of teams	119 (24 Seeded, 11 Un-Seeded)
Current champions	Northcote City SC
Most successful club	Northcote City SC (1 title)
Website	FFV
2011 Mirabella Cup

The Mirabella Cup is a football (soccer) knockout-cup competition held between men's clubs in Victoria, Australia. It was to be unique in Australian Football in that the competition was to integrate clubs from the national top level league, the A-League, with the state system below. However, the Football Federation Australia later withdrew their permission for Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart to take part in the competition while the first rounds of the inaugural competition were already ongoing, citing confusion of fans in marketing and as yet unannounced national knockout cup competition.^[1]

Format

The Mirabella Cup is a knockout competition, open to all Football Federation Victoria (FFV) men's clubs and to the two Victorian Hyundai A-League clubs, Melbourne Heart FC and Melbourne Victory FC.^[2]

The stage one of the cup is a knockout stage for Victoria's amateur clubs, and takes place within the FFV’s Zone structure (8 metropolitan and 4 regional Zones). Victoria's semi-professionals leagues, the Alanic Victorian Premier League and State League One clubs, join the competition in the second stage, with Heart and Victory entering in the quarter final stage.

Matches are drawn randomly within the Zone structure.

Home teams are responsible for paying the referee's fees and for arranging the event day requirements when fixtured at their ground. Teams reaching the semi finals share in a $50,000 prize pool.

The 2011 competition began on 19 March and finished prior to the start of the A-League season.^[3]

Regional Challenge Cup

The highest finishing two regional teams play off for the Regional Challenge Cup, played as a curtain-raiser to the final.

Registration

There is a sliding fee for teams to enter the competition.

Team	Entry fee
Clubs from State League 2 and down	$200
State League 1 and Alanic VPL teams	$500
Hyundai A-League clubs	$2,000

Only one team may be entered from each club. Registration for the 2011 competition closes on the 4th of March.

History

The previous club knockout cup in Victoria, the Dockerty Cup, ran from as early as 1909, when it was first won by Carlton United. It has been in recess since 1996, except for the year 2004. Victorian clubs from all divisions were eligible to participate, however, unlike the Mirabella Cup, clubs from the then national top league, the NSL, were excluded between 1977 and 1984.

The competition was announced on the 14th of February 2011 by FFV President Tony Dunkerley at the PFA's Alex Tobin Medal ceremony, and was held for the first time in 2011.

The competition's naming rights were given to its sponsor, Mirabella International, which has signed up for the sponsorship rights for 10 years.^[4] Sales and Marketing Manager of Mirabella, Joe Mirabella, is also a member of the Melbourne Heart board.^[5] Mirabella was previously an investor for Melbourne Victory.^[6]

In May 2011, with the first rounds of the inaugural competition already underway, the FFAreversed its decision to allow Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart to take part, citing confusion of fans in marketing and as yet unannounced national knockout cup competition, which the FFA described in a press announcement announcing their reversal as still being in a stage of consideration, and not yet having a viable plan.^[1]

Original Intended Format (2011)

Round	Clubs remaining	Clubs involved	Winners from previous round	New entries this round	Leagues/Teams entering at this round
Zone Playoffs	130	104	n/a	104	Victorian State League Division 2 Victorian State League Division 3 Victorian Provisional Leagues Victorian Metropolitan Leagues Regional Leagues
Zone Semi Finals	50	48	24	24	Victorian Premier League Victorian State League Division 1
Zone Finals	26	24	24	none	none
Super 12	14	12	12	none	none
Quarter-Finals	8	8	6	2	Melbourne Heart Melbourne Victory
Semi-Finals	4	4	4	none	none
Final	2	2	2	none	none

References

1. ^ ^{a b} [1], FFA order Victory, Heart out of Mirabella Cup.
2. ^ [2], Official announcement by Football Federation Victoria.
3. ^ [3], Mirabella Cup comes alive.
4. ^ [4], Moonee Ponds Weekly.
5. ^ [5], Melbourne Heart official site.
6. ^ [6], Victory blow: Mirabella turns on Heart light.