Three out of the four Croatian backed soccer clubs that have qualified for the Round of 32 stage of the Australia Cup, have been allocated home fixtures. This follows Wednesday night’s draw.
Gold Coast Knights will host A League minor premiers Auckland FC at the Croatian Sports Centre on the Gold Coast. Meanwhile, Adelaide Croatia will entertain Northern NSW NPL outfit Cooks Hill United. In addition, Canberra Croatia will play host to South Australian side North Eastern Metrostars at Deakin Stadium.
Only Sydney United 58 have drawn an away fixture. The Edensor Park side, however, won’t be required to travel outside of the city. This is after drawing NPL NSW second tier club Northern Tigers.
Tough home assignment for Canberra
Canberra Croatia has been handed a tough assignment against South Australia’s NPL competition frontrunners Metrostars. This follows the Australia Cup Round of 32 draw held on Wednesday evening.
According to Capital Football’s official website, this will be the third foray onto the national stage of the competition for the twenty times Federation Cup winners. They are still waiting for a victory in the tournament proper. This is something they will be keen to ensure occurs on this occasion.
The Dean Ugrinic coached Croatia qualified for the national stage with an epic 2-1 Cup Final victory over Queanbeyan City at McKellar Park earlier this month. The team was drawn against the current NPL South Australian league leaders. Canberra’s Deakin Stadium is set to host the clash.
Home Cup debut for Adelaide
As for Adelaide Croatia Raiders, it will be the very first time the Croatian community backed club from South Australia appears in the Round of 32 stage of the Cup.
Club president Ian Krivicic is hoping the club’s supporters will savour every single second of being in the national spotlight.
“As a club, against all the odds we were very excited to qualify for the last 32 of the Australia Cup for the very first time,” Krivicic told the Hrvatski Vjesnik immediately after Wednesday night’s draw.
“The home tie draw against Cooks Hill United gives us as an opportunity to keep building the momentum we started. This follows the memorable Cup qualifier win over FK Beograd,” he added.
“It will also be an opportunity for us to fill the hearts of our beloved supporters. It’s been a really tough year to date,” concluded the Raiders’ president, Ian Krivicic.
The Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 will be played over two weeks in July. It spans from Saturday, 19 July to Wednesday, 30 July.
It’s anticipated that venues, dates, and timings for the Round of 32 will be made available by Monday, 30 June. Football Australia works with participating clubs and Member Federations to navigate existing match schedules and ground availability.
Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 Fixtures involving the Croatian community backed clubs):
ADELAIDE CROATIA RAIDERS v Cooks Hill United
GOLD COAST KNIGHTS v Auckland FC
CANBERRA CROATIA v MetroStars
Northern Tigers v SYDNEY UNITED 58