Football
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A-League clubs demand solutions following Champions League disaster

Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat says it shouldn't have taken Australian football's worst-ever night in Asia for Football Federation Australia (FFA) to act on A-League scheduling.

The horrendous Asian Champions League results on Tuesday night -- Brisbane were battered 6-0 by Ulsan Hyundai and Western Sydney Wanderers lost 5-1 to Shanghai SIPG -- prompted Roar coach John Aloisi to complain FFA's inflexibility had made it "virtually impossible" for them to compete on the continent.

Both sides played after long flights to Korea and China on a three-day turnaround from A-League games. The scorelines were labelled by pundits as the "darkest day" in Australian club football, then Adelaide United fell 2-1 to Jiangsu Suning on Wednesday night.

It appeared to galvanise the governing body, who within a day had pledged to give clubs what they've campaigned for the past several years - an A-League draw moulded around the ACL.

"I've been speaking to a couple of others about making sure that we have some flexibility around the ACL draw for next year," A-League boss Greg O'Rourke said on Wednesday.

"The only constraint around that will be venue availability."

O'Rourke said the biggest issues centred on the NRL and AFL using common venues from March, and that A-League fixtures were completed six months before the ACL draw.

Muscat, who has ACL experience with Victory as a player and coach, said change must happen now if A-League sides were to have a chance against their Asian counterparts.

"I certainly know what they're going through, and it's not easy," Muscat said.

"We shouldn't be making excuses. They reality is the Asian teams are getting better.

"Not only are they bringing the quality of foreign players, but the domestic players are getting better.

"I noticed Greg O'Rourke made some comments overnight in relation to supporting the teams better.

"Why did we have to wait for someone to get beat 6-0 to react? I've been saying it for years now."

A scheduling conflict broke out during last season's finals when Victory tried to have a potential semi-final with the Reds moved because it clashed with their ACL campaign.

FFA said it would cater for the ACL commitments of the Wanderers and the Roar when scheduling this season's finals, should they qualify.

"Absolutely. We confirm their scheduling will be factored in and we've done some work already in regards to kick-off times and days," O'Rourke said.

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