A letter to Members and Fans

As the curtain closes on our 2024/25 season, on behalf of everyone at Melbourne Victory, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for standing by the Club and playing such an important role in our 20th Season.

Whether you were in the stands, watching from afar, or participating in one of our programs, this season has been about belief, progress and a real sense of pride in what we’re building together.

Our commitment to you

Before we talk about the achievements of this season, we do want to take a moment to let all our members and fans know, we are and will continue to address the treatment of football fans in this country. The scenes we saw prior to the Grand Final on Swan Street were overwhelming and unacceptable. Instead of promoting a fun and exciting spectacle of football, the extent of the police presence created fear amongst families and football fans alike.

Over the past few days, while we haven’t spoken publicly, we have certainly been addressing this privately, while also collecting more information about individual and collective experiences to both shape our response, and to help us form a strategy to make sure we don’t see this in football again. We need to create and demand long-term change.

There is a line between keeping people safe and creating fear in the first place, and we believe the latter is what occurred. This is not acceptable. We will not allow our members and fans to continue to be treated this way, and we have called on the Victorian Government and Victoria Police, along with all football stakeholders, including the APL and Football Australia, to work with Melbourne Victory to investigate how this occurred and to support us in making the changes we expect to the football narrative in order to support the safe and sustained growth of our sport and our Club. 

While we would never accept anti-social behaviour, the disproportionate deployment only served to justify a narrative about football fans in this country, one that allows a handful of people that do the wrong thing to overshadow the celebration, enjoyment and good behaviour of the vast majority.

The celebration of the world game that should have occurred on Saturday night was certainly marred by the scenes we saw around the precinct. Over the course of the off-season, as we get ready to launch our fan engagement strategy, we will continue to work through the events prior to the Grand Final to avoid a repeat of this happening.

We have our eye firmly fixed on exhibiting genuine care and concern for the lifeblood of our Club, our members and fans to provide an inclusive, safe, considered and exciting environment for them pre, during and post all our matches at AAMI Park next season and beyond. In doing so, we want to thank each of you that have written in to share your pre-Grand Final experiences so that we have the information and feedback we need to perpetuate strong and strategic change.

As the responses of stakeholders continue to be collected and the path forward to change solidifies in the off-season, we will keep our members and fans updated.

A-League Men

Now, we turn to matters on the pitch. It is clear the Grand Final result on the weekend did not provide the ending we all dreamed of, but now a couple of days later, the dust has settled, and we hope you can reflect on what a journey it has been.

On Saturday, we took to the field in our eighth A-League Men’s Grand Final, a Melbourne Derby in front of a sold-out AAMI Park. Moments like that don’t happen without the dedication, passion and commitment of our entire Victory family.

Under Arthur Diles’ leadership this season, the Men’s side played an attacking style of football, the Victory way. Arthur and the team were able to overcome adversity at the start of the year, before giving us some fantastic performances that showed true strength in both Western Sydney and Auckland to get into the Grand Final for the second consecutive season.

We loved watching the dynamic midfield duo of Jordi Valadon and Ryan Teague, the breakout performances of Nishan Velupillay, the fancy footwork of Daniel Arzani and of course our solid goal keeping duo of Jack Duncan and Mitch Langerak. Throughout this season we saw the boys light up the pitch, which resulted in 10 of our players receiving national team call-ups, a strong sign that our football is turning heads both here and abroad.

A-League Women

Our A-League Women’s side delivered a record-breaking season of their own, and we couldn’t be prouder of their achievements. Led by Jeff Hopkins, the team recorded the most points in Club history, the most clean sheets in the league, the longest unbeaten run in Club history, and again reached the Grand Final. While we didn’t lift the trophy this time, the fight and belief shown throughout the season was remarkable.

At this year’s Dolan Warren Awards, Alana Jančevski was awarded the Isuzu UTE Goal of the Year, while Alex Chidiac claimed her second Julie Dolan Medal, a rare honour in Australian football. Claudia Bunge and Geo Candy earned international call-ups with the Football Ferns, while Alana Murphy debuted for the Matildas squad.

General wrap

Across the Club, it’s been a season of growth and genuine momentum:

• Our Senior Academy side returned to the top tier of NPL Victoria, playing an exciting brand of football under Boris Seroshtan, with players such as Josh Inserra, and Kasey Bos progressing from our NPL pathway to the Senior Men’s team throughout season 2024/25;
• We announced our infrastructure strategy along with our first campus in Mitchell Shire, the Northern Campus, which will be a world-class facility that will strengthen our Women’s and Academy programs and connect us more deeply with the football community across Victoria; and
• We welcomed Tony Bloom as a shareholder in a landmark moment for our Club. As Chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion and a respected voice in global football, Tony’s investment and belief in our direction is a huge endorsement of what we’re building, both on and off the pitch.

Finally, to our members and fans, thank you.

You drove us forward every step of the way. The noise, the colour, the belief — it’s what makes our Club special.

The foundations are strong. The momentum is real. And we can’t wait to take the next step with you in season 2025/26.

Warm regards,