A-League 2020-21 season to kick off on December 27

Sydney FC will begin its A-League title defence beginning from late December while former champion Western Sydney Wanderers will see a new head coach in the dugout.

The A-League will be comprised of 12 teams with the addition of southwest Sydney club Macarthur FC for the 2020-21 season. (Representative Image)

The 2020-21 season of Australia's A-League will kick off on December 27 and run through to June next year, Football Federation Australia said on Thursday.

In changes forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the completion of the 2019-20 season until late August, the league will start more than two months later than usual in the middle of the Australian summer.

The league will be comprised of 12 teams with the addition of southwest Sydney club Macarthur FC, bringing Australia's most populous city level with Melbourne with three teams each.

 

Sydney FC is the defending champion after winning a record fifth title with a 1-0 victory over Melbourne City in the championship final played in front of a small, socially distanced crowd at Western Sydney Stadium.

The 13th season of the women's W-League will kick off on the same day and run until April, with Melbourne City defending the title they won after going through the 2019-20 season undefeated.

Robinson confirmed as Western Sydney Wanderers coach

Western Sydney Wanderers Chairman Paul Lederer (Left) and CEO John Tsatsimas (Right) pose alongside newly-appointed head coach Carl Robinson.

 

Former Wales midfielder Carl Robinson was confirmed as the new coach of former Asian champion Western Sydney Wanderers on Thursday, tasked with reviving the fortunes of the A-League club.

Robinson, who won 52 caps for Wales in a playing career which included spells at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland and Norwich City, was released by the cash-strapped Newcastle Jets to allow him to take up the post.

“Sometimes in football you get an opportunity too good to turn down,” said Robinson.

“This is a fantastic football club, a big club in the A-League and one that has set the foundations to be very successful.

 

“There is an expectation of winning that is clear and that is what I am here to do - have success on the pitch and create a pathway for our future players at the club.”

Since the departure of former coach Tony Popovic the club has finished seventh, eighth and ninth in the last three seasons under Spaniard Josep Gombau, German Markus Babbel and, briefly, Jean-Paul de Marigny.

Wanderers announced the shock sacking of de Marigny on Monday, just three months after he was appointed to the role on a permanent basis.

Kenny Miller, the former Scotland, Celtic and Rangers striker, will also move from the Jets where he was Robinson's assistant.