A-LEAGUE side Melbourne City will move to the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne next year.

The club has announced plans to move into Casey Fields in Cranbourne. The facility will serve as the team’s new training ground.

The Melbourne City academy will move into Casey Fields in February, taking advantage of the already constructed facilities. The club will take full occupation of the site in early 2022.

The Melbourne City W-League side will play four games at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex in Dandenong this season.

Melbourne City FC CEO Brad Rowse said “Football is the number one participation sport in south-east Melbourne, with 115 grassroots clubs and 23,000 registered players across the wider region. There are 1.9 million people living in the region, and this move creates a fresh street-to-stadium pathway for all the boys and girls who have been desperate for a professional team on their doorstep. 

 “The opportunity presented at Casey Fields is clear – a brand-new purpose-built facility with bigger capacity, more pitches and right in the heart of a diverse and growing community with a deep footballing tradition. Today’s announcement marks the end of an extensive process and the beginning of an exciting journey. We are delighted to call south-east Melbourne our new home,” he said.

The move has been backed by the Team 11 group, which unsuccessfully bid for an A-League license for a new south-east Melbourne based side.

Team 11 chairman Ghadir Razuki said “the Team 11 movement was never about one person, nor even one group. It was a collective push by individuals and organisations committed to delivering a professional football club to a region within which football already plays such a big part at grassroots level.

“And while [the Melbourne City] announcement may not have been foreseen when we started on this journey, it is nonetheless a fantastic outcome for a region that deserves a club to represent it on the national stage.”

First published in the Frankston Times – 22 December 2020