The Football South Australia Federation Cup, commonly known as the Federation Cup, is an annual single-elimination cup competition in South Australia, run by Football South Australia. The competition is the second longest-running cup competition in Australia, only behind the Football West State Cup, founded 8 years earlier.

Quick Facts Organising body, Founded ...

Football SA Federation Cup

Organising body	Football South Australia
Founded	1907; 117 years ago (1907)
Region	South Australia
Number of teams	46 (in 2023)
Qualifier for	Australia Cup
Current champions	North Eastern MetroStars (6th title)
Most successful club(s)	Adelaide City (18 titles)
Website	Football SA
2024 FSA Federation Cup

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The competition includes all clubs from the top three tiers of South Australian soccer, as well as numerous clubs from level four and outside the pyramid.

Since 2014 the Federation Cup has been incorporated as one of the qualification tournaments to determine participants in the national Australia Cup. Adelaide City are the most successful club in the competitions history, winning the competition a total of 18 times, including a run of five in a row from 1969 until 1973.

The competition was founded as the Webb-Harris Cup in 1907, named after Charles Webb and Mr. J Harris, with six teams participating, Cambridge, North Adelaide, Norwood, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide and West Adelaide. The cup would become the permanent property of the first team to win it three times, which Cambridge did so, winning the inaugural competition in 1907, and winning back-to-back in 1910 and 1911. From 1912 onwards it was known as the Cambridge Cup, despite Cambridge disbanding and merging with Sturt shortly after. Following a hiatus during World War I, the competition resumed in 1919, with Hindmarsh and Sturt sharing the cup, as the teams drew in the final, and couldn't organise a replay.^[1]

In 1926, the cup was presented by Victorian clothing brand Pelaco, and thus the cup was renamed. It would remain under the Pelaco name until The Advertiser, an Adelaide newspaper presented the cup from 1955. In 1961, when the South Australian Soccer League was formed as a breakaway league from the South Australian Soccer Football Association, the 8 breakaway teams participated in the Jaxen Cup. Following the amalgamating of the two competitions and the renaming of the federation to the South Australian Soccer Federation, the cup was renamed as the Federation Cup. In between the name, various sponsors have had the cup named differently, including Willis, PGH, Dairy Vale, Mutual Community, West End, Best Pavers, Top Corner and Coca-Cola.^[2]

Since 2014, the competition has also decided the South Australian representatives in the Australia Cup. From 2014 until 2019, the Federation Cup winner would qualify for the competition, but since 2021, the two finalists have qualified.

The competition is a single-elimination tournament. Depending on the number of teams that enter the competition, it may begin from various stages. The first round of the competition includes all teams excluding the 11 eligible National Premier Leagues South Australia teams. The teams who are drawn last receive byes to the second round. All teams play from the second round onwards. The semi-final and final are played at a neutral venue, as decided by Football South Australia.

The 2024 competition began from the 2023 Australia Cup third preliminary round, with 52 teams participating, and the 11 eligible National Premier Leagues South Australia teams entering in the following round.^[3]

All teams that play in Football South Australia sanctioned competition are required to participate. Teams outside of FSA competitions may apply to enter. Adelaide United Youth are ineligible to participate, as youth teams cannot play in the Australia Cup preliminary rounds.

• National Premier Leagues South Australia
• State League 1 South Australia
• State League 2 South Australia
• South Australian Regional Leagues
• South Australian Amateur Soccer League

All matches are played at the venue of the home team, who is always the team that is drawn first. The semi-finals and final are played on a neutral ground, which since 2022, has been the State Centre for Football. Excluding 2015 and 2021, which used The Parks Football Centre as the neutral venue, the cup final was historically played at Hindmarsh Stadium.