Canberra United Secures Future: New Owners and A-League Men's Team Plans
Canberra United finally has what it has been crying out for: security, money on the table, and a plan that stretches beyond the next pre-season.
Australian Sports Group (ASG) has taken over the club’s licence from Capital Football, ending two years of uncertainty and guaranteeing Canberra’s place in the A-League Women for the 2026-27 season. The deal, believed to be worth about $15 million across both women’s and future men’s operations, includes a commitment to underwrite the women’s side by up to $3 million over multiple years.
On Friday, ASG chief executive Theo Fotopoulos and chairman Morris McAlister stood at McKellar Park and did something Canberra fans had almost stopped expecting: they drew a clear roadmap.
McKellar stays home – and could become much more
First, the basics. Canberra United will stay at McKellar Park, the club’s spiritual home. That was non-negotiable for the new regime.
Fotopoulos confirmed United will continue to play there and revealed ASG is already exploring a full training base on the site. The adjacent Belconnen Soccer Club will become a “strategic partner”, with ASG planning to base its office there.
The ambition is bigger than just a matchday venue. The club wants McKellar to become a genuine football hub.
“It’ll come down to what we can get approved in terms of the facility here,” Fotopoulos told The Canberra Times, noting the ground’s rare status as a private venue in the ACT and its size – about six hectares. He’s already spoken to key stakeholders and says the early signs are “very positive”.
Capital Football and the ACT government once had plans to build a training base at the Throsby Home of Football, only for the project to collapse when Capital Football could no longer afford it. ASG is now running the ruler over options across Canberra, with McKellar firmly at the front of the queue.
“Football needs a home,” Fotopoulos said. “It’d be great to be able to develop that here.”
Coaching, continuity and a race against the clock
Off the pitch, the new owners have wasted no time.
They’ve already met with current coach Antoni Jagarinec, who has taken United to the finals in each of the past two seasons, and are moving quickly to lock down the coaching position and the playing squad. Pre-season is just six weeks away. The A-League Women draw lands next month. The season starts on October 16. There is no room for drift.
“That is our priority to get that finalised,” Fotopoulos said of the coaching and player situation. “We had some recent meetings with the coach. I believe the PFA are also working with all the players at the moment and we’d like to get that wrapped up quicker than later.
“We feel very confident with the reaction we’ve had so far from the players that that will happen in haste.”
On Jagarinec himself, Fotopoulos made it clear where the club is leaning.
“It’s never a no-brainer, but yeah, look, I think his results speak for themselves. We’re looking for continuity and consolidation. We’ll have those announcements out pretty soon.”
A men’s team – finally, with a date attached
The other headline is the one Canberra has waited almost two decades to read: a firm commitment to an A-League Men side.
ASG holds an option, not yet a full licence, for a men’s team to enter the competition in the 2028-29 season. That’s three seasons away – later than many in the capital had hoped – but for once, the promise comes with a timeline and an ownership group already in the building.
Fotopoulos was emphatic when asked whether a men’s team will actually materialise.
“Well, we’re here today, so that’s your best guarantee,” he said. “That is part of our twin strategy. When we started speaking to the APL, that was part of our mix. We believe the strength comes from both.
“It would be almost discriminatory not to work with the men. It’s always been part of our plans.”
APL chair Steve Conroy underlined the league’s backing, thanking the ACT government and local football community and describing the ASG deal as “an exciting next step for professional football in the ACT” and a marker of the code’s growth potential in Canberra.
For long-time bid leader Michael Caggiano, who has spent eight years trying to drag a men’s team into existence, the hope is that this finally ends the saga.
United in name – and maybe something more
One thing will not change: the badge.
Fotopoulos confirmed the club will remain Canberra United for both women and, when they arrive, men. Eighteen years of history, he argued, is not something you toss away.
“You’ve got 18 years of Canberra United. Why would you change it?” he said. “Unless somebody or the general public have got a negative view towards the team – I don’t think that’s the case.”
What he does want is a nickname, and he wants Canberra to choose it. A public campaign – potentially run through The Canberra Times – will invite suggestions. Cosmos. Arrows. Greens. Lakers. Green Machine. The list is already growing.
“If the Canberra community want a nickname for their team, Green Machine, whatever they come up with, we’re happy to look at that,” Fotopoulos said.
New money, old hands
Behind the new ownership are two men with long, if sometimes overlooked, football resumes.
ASG chairman Morris McAlister comes from a commerce background. He is governing director of Petron Plus 7 Australian and New Zealand, supplying engine and machine products such as lubricants and grease, and serves as senior consultant for MEC Team Consultants, which links Australian businesses with markets in China.
Fotopoulos is a marketing executive and chief executive of FOS Group Australia. In football terms, the pair are not rookies. They were involved with the Sydney Cosmos project, where Fotopoulos was chief executive, and with Newcastle Breakers in the old NSL. Fotopoulos also served as Sydney Olympic’s chief executive.
They now have two years to shape the structure that will eventually house a men’s team, while immediately stabilising and growing one of the league’s best-supported women’s clubs.
Pathways, infrastructure and a bigger vision
The takeover is not just about keeping a team on the park.
Fotopoulos has pledged to re-establish Canberra’s academy pathways, three years after Capital Football controversially axed United’s academy. That decision left a gaping hole for local boys and girls with professional ambitions. ASG wants to fill it.
“We’re excited to be part of growing the A-Leagues and building a strong club focused on community engagement, football excellence, commercial growth, new infrastructure and strengthening the football development pathways for boys and girls in the territory and the capital region,” Fotopoulos said.
He has also spoken of investing in football infrastructure in the capital, tying the club’s future to tangible facilities rather than temporary fixes.
For Capital Football, which has run Canberra United since its formation in 2008, the sale ends a costly era. The federation could no longer shoulder the financial burden of an A-League Women licence. Last season was always going to be its last in charge unless a buyer emerged. Now one has, and with it comes the first private ownership in the club’s history.
The pressure, then, shifts. Canberra United has been saved. The women’s place in the league is secure. A men’s team has a date on the calendar. The question now is not whether professional football survives in the capital – it’s how far, and how fast, this new project can push it.
