Sunday grand finals until 2017

Spectacular ... A-League showpiece will remain a Sunday event. Source: Jono Searle / News Limited

The A-League grand final will be a Sunday showpiece at least until 2017.

The clubs have been told that this year's grand final will be held on Sunday April 21, with a 5pm kick-off.

It's understood that the success of previous years when it has been held on a Sunday - especially Brisbane's two consecutive home successes in 2011 and 2012 - mean it will be locked in for the duration of the new TV deal.

Sunday grand finals for the A-League have always rated more strongly than Saturday games.

The finals of 2009 and 2010 were both on Saturdays and the latter, a clash between Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC which should have rated highly, struggled for viewers.

Those Saturday games struggled against both NRL and Super Rugby games, though ironically this year the weekend of the A-League grand final is a rugby league representative round, with a Test on the Friday and City v Country on the Sunday.

Former FFA CEO Ben Buckley was an advocate of a Saturday showpiece for the season, but under David Gallop the Sunday model has prevailed.

The venue for the final won't be known until the previous weekend, with any one of the top five in theory able to host it.

Under the new format, the third-placed team plays the sixth, and fourth v fifth, in the first round of finals, the winners then going forward to face the first and second placed teams a week later.

The highest-ranked winner from that second weekend of games will then host the grand final, which is increasingly likely to be held at Allianz Stadium or AAMI Park if the host is a Melbourne or NSW team.

FFA has put holds on those stadiums after missing out on ANZ Stadium, the MCG and Etihad Stadium to a rock concert and AFL games.

The most difficult scenario for FFA would be for Sydney FC to fight their way to a grand final against the Wanderers, with uproar likely at the prospect of such a game being played at Allianz, the Sky Blues' home ground.

Meanwhile Parramatta Stadium is understood to have missed out on the possibility of hosting games in the Asian Cup, due to the prohibitive cost of bringing it up to international standard.

Two stadia from NSW will be chosen, with those still on the short list including ANZ Stadium, Allianz and Hunter Stadium in Newcastle.

The semi-finals and final will be held in Sydney, with a decision likely on the exact venues by the end of the month.

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