An end-of-season “boys’ trip” to Las Vegas for a team of semi-professional Australian footballers has derailed Auckland FC’s pre-season, and the A-League high-flyers are blaming Football Australia for the mix-up.

Auckland FC coach Steve Corica has slammed the “poor planning” of Football Australia, after its last-minute schedule change in the Australia Cup – which has caused considerable dramas behind the scenes for the A-League Premiers.

Their semifinal has been brought forward by two weeks – after a scheduling error behind the scenes – while Football Australia refused to consider alternative future dates because Auckland FC’s opposition had an end-of-season “boys’ trip” to Las Vegas already booked.

It might sound hard to believe – but it’s true.

Auckland FC will face Victorian NPL team Heidelberg United in the last four of the Australia Cup on Saturday (9.30pm NZT).

The Australia Cup semifinals were meant to be staged in two weeks – on the weekend of September 13-14 – but were suddenly rescheduled at short notice, with the new dates confirmed only last Monday. The late change has caused considerable disruption to Auckland FC’s pre-season schedule.

Auckland FC's incredible debut season was one of the A-League's key narratives last season. Photo / Photosport

Originally, Auckland FC were set to play a pre-season friendly against Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney on Wednesday, before returning to New Zealand, where the squad had a four-day break, with some players already booked on trips away with families and partners.

That has all been cancelled, while the club has scrambled to find suitable training venues and accommodation in Melbourne.

Privately, the club is fuming, especially given the rationale.

The Herald understands:

• The semifinals were initially moved because Football Australia had double-booked the dates. The original dates of September 13 and 14 would have potentially clashed with Australia’s National Premier League finals, which are due to be staged that weekend. There are two NPL clubs still in the Australia Cup (Heidelberg United and Avondale FC), along with Auckland FC and Newcastle Jets. Not anticipating that potential clash is hard to understand, given Football Australia oversees both competitions.
• Given that news, Auckland FC pushed for a number of alternative dates for the semifinal, including the following two weekends (September 20-21 and 27-28), plus numerous midweek dates in the same period.
• Despite some frank conversations, the A-League club was told that none of those was possible, partly because Heidelberg United have already booked an end-of-season jaunt to Las Vegas.

An Auckland FC club insider described the process as a “shambles and thoroughly unprofessional”. There is also a feeling that Football Australia has devalued the Australia Cup by giving precedence to the NPL arrangements.

It creates an unusual scenario, with a massive five-week gap between the semifinals and the final. Last year, there was only one week, while the buffer in 2022 and 2023 was a fortnight.

It’s also less than ideal for the five-strong All Whites contingent in the squad. Those players, who have already been in Australia for more than a week, will have no opportunity to return, given the national team assemble in Canberra on Monday, September 1.

Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker: 'Obviously very frustrated.' Photo / Photosport

“We’re obviously very frustrated with how this has played out,” Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker told the Herald.

“We worked back from the advertised, publicly available, semifinal date if we did progress, and we had a whole preseason training programme in place.

“We’re a professional club and we have staff who are preparing for not only the Australian Cup, but also the A-League. So to drop these changes on us at the last minute was far from ideal.

“We thought it would have made more sense to move to after the proposed date, but the solution that they found really only suited one team and not both.”

It’s certainly a boost for Heidelberg United, given Auckland FC are coming off a 120-minute battle with Sydney FC in their quarter-final last Saturday.

The National Premier League is a semi-professional competition, the second tier of Australian football, below the A-League.

Football Australia did not respond to questions from the Herald about the Australia Cup schedule change.

Auckland FC's head coach Steve Corica: "We had made our plans." Photo / Photosport

Coach Steve Corica said: “It is what it is.”

But he acknowledged it had been a chaotic time behind the scenes.

“We had made our plans – you have to,” said Corica. “Last week, we thought the semifinal was going to be in three weeks’ time. We planned to play Wanderers on Wednesday, then head back to Auckland. Pre-season is so long I like to give the boys a break halfway through it. Some had planned to go away.

“We weren’t expecting [the switch], but in the end we had no choice. They decided to play it [this] Saturday, because Heidelberg had some stuff going on with the finals coming up, and then [they] are going away on an end-of-season trip, that’s the reason we can’t play them later.

“So we got the raw end of the deal, especially after the big game against Sydney. I felt a bit sorry for the players, they had to tell their families they were not coming back for another few days. I would say it is unlucky, but it’s not – it is poor planning really, the decision Football Australia has made.”

Corica said the players were initially disappointed but have since switched into game mode. There was some soreness and injury niggles from the Sydney match, but the squad are in a good space, heartened by the penalty shootout success.

“Full credit to [goalkeeper] Michael Woud and the boys who took the penalties, they held strong,” said Corica.

Auckland FC, the A-League darlings of last season, are braced for an intense challenge on Saturday, given Heidelberg have enjoyed a great run, eliminating Western Sydney Wanderers (3-0) in the round of 16, then the Wellington Phoenix in the last eight (4-0).

“They have beaten two A-League teams,” said Corica. “You can’t take them lightly; they are on a roll. They are a big team, a strong team, but have plenty of quality as well. They will be going into the game confident. We don’t want to be the third A-League team beaten by them. We respect what they have done this season, and we will need to be at our best.”

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.