Western United won the A-League in 2022. Photo:
While A-League clubs wait to find out the fate of Western United, their thoughts have turned to the players at the embattled club as well as what it means for their own teams for the upcoming season.
Western United on Wednesday night lodged an appeal of Football Australia's decision to withdraw its A-League licence.
Football Australia is expected to announce its decision on the appeal next week.
Western United have been in financial turmoil for months, with the club's current owners unable to satisfy the financial criteria required to maintain their licence
The men's A-League competition is set to kick off on 17 October but until a decision is made on Western United's involvement no draw has been released.
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica has been part of the A-League, firstly as a player then as a coach, for 20 years and has seen clubs come and go in the competition.
"It's obviously not great to lose a club at this time of the season," Corica said of Western United's potential exit.
"You feel bad for the players that are there as well that are preparing for a season and they're not really sure what's happening.
"We hope we don't lose them and we continue as normal but it will be a bit of chaos if we do lose them as well with the draw and everything like that but I'm sure they'll work that out."
Auckland FC manager Steve Corica speaks to Francis de Vries (L) and Nando Pijnaker during the A-League match against Western United. Photo: photosport
Western United joined the A-League in the 2019/20 season as an expansion club and won the grand final two seasons later.
The last club to be kicked out of the A-League was Gold Coast United who were involved between 2009 to 2012. Prior to that North Queensland Fury were around between 2009 and 2011 and the New Zealand Knights had a similarly short stint from 2005 to 2007.
Corica said planning for Auckland FC was impacted by late release of the draw.
"Western is the team we will have to play three times this year so obviously if they disappear then there is no byes anymore and the draw will have to be completely re-done.
"It's just more about the planning side of things for us at the moment, we have to travel a lot and we have to make sure we've got the hotels and the training grounds in place but we can't do that while we don't know the draw."
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