The first Melbourne Derby Grand Final in the 20-year history of the A-League Men is sold out, and both Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory are bullish they will produce a spectacle that will boost not just their fortunes, but also the competition’s.
More than 16,000 tickets were sold to members on Monday, with all remaining tickets snapped up within hours of being made available to the general public the next day, and it is hoped the attendance can go close to the 29,871 that watched the Wallabies play England in 2016 as the largest in AAMI Park history.
It marks back-to-back sellouts for the Grand Final since the league abandoned a much-derided deal to sell hosting rights to Destination NSW and, with no AFL games in Melbourne that day to vie for the limelight, the fixture already shapes as one of the most hyped fixtures in Australian domestic history.
“There is no better showcase for the game than people actually getting in and around it and seeing what it can produce,” Melbourne Victory managing director Caroline Carnegie told ESPN. “Having a huge crowd here at AAMI Park and being able to watch a huge crowd at AAMI Park on broadcast, you can’t buy that sort of exposure and visibility for our game.
“Having a sold-out crowd, the electricity that will be provided, the full stands, just seeing that — and don’t use this against me — is a bit of a warning to other sports in terms of what football can do when it comes together in the right way. And we’re just really happy to play a part and hopefully a very big part in that.”
And, of course, an opportunity to play in a potentially legacy-defining game has players exhilarated.
“It’s an incredible feeling, I’m so excited to play,” Victory attacker Daniel Arzani told ESPN. “It’s the kind of game that I love playing in. I spoke about egos in the team, and there’s always obviously a negative connotation attached to the word ego, but we speak about it in the change room, and it’s a very positive thing.
“We have egos that are willing to step up in these big games, and we’ve got players that can and have the ability to. I’m excited. I know the boys are excited. We just can’t wait to get out there.”
Almost as soon as the final was locked in, hopes began to rise that it could serve to boost the Melburnian A-League scene. Helped by securing hosting for the Christmas Derby, Victory’s average attendance, per Ultimate A-League, grew 5% in 2024-25, to 12,778. Conversely, losing home status for the Yuletide clash spurred a 27% drop in City’s average, which fell to 6,192.
Both figures represent a decline on crowds logged during the league’s last pre-COVID season, where Victory averaged 20,604 fans and City attracted 8,133, and are well down on the heydays of the 2014-15 campaign, in which Victory — boosted by hosting several major fixtures at Marvel Stadium — led the league with 25,388 average crowds and City drew 10,374.
“If I’m writing a script for a movie, then, clearly, it’s Melbourne Victory against Melbourne City in the Grand Final,” City assistant coach Scott Jamieson told ESPN. “I’m honest enough to say it: [the Melbourne Derby] hasn’t hit the highs it has previously, and that, for whatever reason, has been disappointing.
“Our fan base, the ones that have turned up, have been fantastic, but we need to keep trying to get anyone who hasn’t turned up over the last year to get back and buy back into what the club’s trying to do. And then, hopefully, anyone who wants to be a part of Melbourne City.
“What better way to kick start their Melbourne City fandom, by jumping on a derby Grand Final? There’s no doubt that the game needed it and hopefully it’s a fantastic spectacle — with a Melbourne City win, of course.”
There is also hope that the league will also reap the benefits of Saturday’s fixture as it looks to build momentum heading into the offseason.
Hit by the COVID pandemic and a series of strategic blunders, the A-League has undergone a period of contraction and austerity, the latest example being delivered in April when it unveiled plans, which appear set to be fought by the players’ union, to introduce a hard salary cap and work towards introducing spending limits based on club revenues.
Thus, a derby decider was perhaps the Grand Final the A-League needed.
“I understand the fan’s frustration over the last few years,” Melbourne City attacker Andrew Nabbout told ESPN. “With the Grand Final being sold to Sydney on the back of a really successful World Cup campaign, it sort of deflated things a little bit and a lot of people were angry.
“But this is the game to bring everyone back — I truly believe that. I truly believe that a spectacle like this, the first-ever Melbourne Derby in a Grand Final, in front of a sold-out AAMI Park, can give the fans a cracker of a game to remember.
“I believe all it takes is one game like this to remind everyone what the league’s about and what the league’s capable of. I believe that if it’s a spectacle, I believe it could be, fans could see what they’ve been missing, and hopefully come back to the games next season.”
