Brisbane Roar look to kick off the Michael Valkanis era with a win when they face Wellington Phoenix in the Hahn Australia Cup Final Rounds Play Off at Darwin Football Stadium on Wednesday night.
Valkanis along with Assistant Coach, Borja Lema and Head Analyst, Grijia Nektarios will take charge of the team for the first time in Wednesday’s Play Off.
The Australian returns home to the competition to take over the reins of the team, after spending more than seven years in Europe, where he gained invaluable experience at both a domestic and international level.
Valkanis’ 15-year professional coaching career, which began 2010, has seen him work across the A-Leagues with both Adelaide United and Melbourne City in both Assistant and Head Coach roles prior to departing for Europe in 2018.
Here, across the span of seven years Valkanis worked in an Assistant Coach for PEC Zwolle, the Greece Men’s National Team and Ajax Amsterdam as well as Head Coach at Hapoel Tel Aviv, Eupen SC and Adana Demispor.
The once capped Socceroo and his staff took training for the first time last Wednesday and have spent the last week taking a first hand look at the current Roar squad as they prepare to build a side for a big 2025/26 campaign.
Roar finished the 2024/25 Isuzu UTE A-League season in 12th position meaning they have to win their way through a play off with the other sides in the bottom four to qualify for the Australia Cup Round of 32.
The two victorious teams will book their spot in the Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 and join the top nine teams from the Isuzu UTE A-League Men 2024/25 Regular Season, as well as 22 Member Federation clubs from a variety of levels and locations from right across Australia’s football ecosystem.
Standing between Roar and a spot in the Round of 32 are Wellington Phoenix, who finished eleventh, three points ahead of Brisbane.
Wednesday’s Hahn Australia Cup Final Rounds Play Off will be broadcast Live and Free on 10 Play and simulcast on Football Australia’s YouTube channel.
WHAT WAS SAID
“It’s super important when you’re playing in the A-League because it sets out your pre-season in terms of playing really good games and competitive games that mean something.
This is part of next season and the vision is that it’s an important game. We need to play well, we need to perform well and win.” Michael Valkanis
“We want to get into the cup for next year, it’s an important game against Wellington. We played them not too long ago, so hopefully we can go through our game plan and get the result.” Henry Hore
LAST TIME WE MET
Roar defeated the Phoenix 1-0 thanks to a second half Florin Berenguer strike in their penultimate match of the 2024/25 Isuzu UTE A-League season at Suncorp Stadium late last month.
Wednesday’s match will be the first time Roar have faced Wellington Phoenix in the Australia Cup.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 51
Brisbane Roar wins: 22
Wellington Phoenix wins: 13
Draws: 16
AUSTRALIA CUP HISTORY
Brisbane Roar look to reach the Australia Cup Round of 32 for a tenth occasion after missing the Final Rounds for the first time in their history in 2024.
Roar’s best ever finish was in 2023 when they reached the Final, where despite leading early through a Thomas Waddingham goal they were eventually beaten 3-1 by Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
Jack Hingert is the club’s leading appearance holder in the competition with 17 matches to his name, while Thomas Waddingham, Henry Hore and Cyrus Dehmie sit level atop Roar’s scoring charts with four goals each.
MATCH DETAILS
Australia Cup 2025 – Final Rounds Play Off: Wellington Phoenix v Brisbane Roar
Darwin Football Stadium
Wednesday, 14 May (7:30pm AEST KO)
HOW TO WATCH
The Hahn Australia Cup Final Rounds Playoffs will be broadcast Live and Free on 10 Play and simulcast on Football Australia’s YouTube Channel.
