{"id":5709,"date":"2026-07-30T06:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/?p=5709"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:43:14","slug":"season-opening-sydney-f3-derbies-headline-2026-27-a-league-rivalry-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/season-opening-sydney-f3-derbies-headline-2026-27-a-league-rivalry-dates\/","title":{"rendered":"Season-opening Sydney, F3 derbies headline 2026\/27 A-League rivalry dates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026\/27 A-League Men season will begin with not one but two of Australian football&#8217;s fiercest rivalries, with the Sydney Derby and F3 Derby selected to headline the opening weekend following the release of the full fixture list.<\/p>\n<p>Sydney FC host Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium on October 16 to open an A-League Men season, while Central Coast Mariners welcome Newcastle Jets to Polytec Stadium the following day.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bSeeW9m4GZg?si=XShAXhvc0MJSgI86\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Those matches are just the start of another rivalry-filled season, with the likes of Melbourne Derby and New Zealand Derby all returning across the 26-round regular season campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The Big Blue between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory remains one of the competition&#8217;s marquee fixtures, while Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City continue their battle for supremacy and local pride in Victoria.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e4FZR9m1Gpw?si=u2TwGM7dqOXXypOr\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory also renew the Original Rivalry, one of the A-League&#8217;s oldest contests dating back to the league&#8217;s inaugural 2005\/06 season.<\/p>\n<p>Across the Tasman, defending champions Auckland FC renew their rivalry with Wellington Phoenix in the New Zealand Derby after the fixture was introduced following Auckland&#8217;s arrival two seasons ago.<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; width: 25%; text-align: left; padding: 8px;\">Notable Rivalry<\/th>\n<th style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; width: 35%; text-align: left; padding: 8px;\">Match-up<\/th>\n<th style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; width: 13.33%; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">\u00a0Date 1<\/th>\n<th style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; width: 13.33%; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">Date 2<\/th>\n<th style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; width: 13.33%; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">Date 3<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Big Blue Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">6 Dec 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">26 Jan 2027<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">10 Apr 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Original Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">8 Nov 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">6 Feb 2027<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">17 Apr 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Melbourne Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">24 Oct 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">19 Dec 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">6 Mar 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Sydney Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">16 Oct 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">30 Jan 2027<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">3 Apr 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">F3 Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Central Coast Mariners vs Newcastle Jets<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">17 Oct 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">23 Jan 2027<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">25 Apr 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">New Zealand Derby<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Auckland FC vs Wellington Phoenix<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">7 Nov 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">19 Dec 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">13 Feb 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Battle of the West<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px;\">Macarthur vs Western Sydney Wanderers<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">31 Oct 2026<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">1 Jan 2027<\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #fff; text-align: center; padding: 8px;\">18 Apr 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3KvHV98GrrU?si=FQFan34KjiGp56Wo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026\/27 A-League Men season will begin with not one but two of Australian football&#8217;s fiercest rivalries, with the Sydney Derby and F3 Derby selected to headline the opening weekend following the release of the full fixture list. Sydney FC host Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium on October 16 to open an A-League Men &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/season-opening-sydney-f3-derbies-headline-2026-27-a-league-rivalry-dates\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Season-opening Sydney, F3 derbies headline 2026\/27 A-League rivalry dates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,5],"tags":[301,127],"class_list":["post-5709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular","category-top-stories","tag-a-league","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5709"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5715,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5709\/revisions\/5715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}