The number of fixtures for each round, and the match dates for each Federation, were as follows.
Round |
Number of fixtures |
Clubs |
ACT[1] |
NSW |
NNSW |
NT |
QLD[2] |
SA |
TAS[3] |
VIC[4] |
WA[5]
|
Qualifying round |
32 + 11 byes |
781 → 749 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
10–17 Feb |
–
|
First round |
57 + 16 byes |
749 → 692 |
– |
– |
24 Feb–14 Mar |
– |
28 Feb–24 Mar |
– |
– |
23–25 Feb |
–
|
Second round |
171 + 80 byes |
692 → 521 |
– |
9–13 Mar |
23 Feb–15 Apr |
– |
15 Feb–11 Apr |
22–28 Mar |
– |
2–6 Mar |
11–18 Mar
|
Third round |
189 + 4 byes |
521 → 332 |
18 Mar–3 Apr |
14–28 Mar |
24 Mar–21 Apr |
27 Mar–17 Apr |
10 Mar–22 Apr |
9–14 Apr |
3 Mar |
8–11 Mar |
23–29 Mar
|
Fourth round |
154 + 2 byes |
332 → 178 |
18 Apr–1 May |
3–11 Apr |
1–12 May |
1–8 May |
17 Mar–25 Apr |
25 Apr |
2 Apr |
17 Mar–2 Apr |
2 Apr
|
Fifth round |
83 + 1 bye |
178 → 95 |
15–31 May |
2–9 May |
13–16 May |
9–22 May |
24 Mar–22 May |
5 May |
28–29 Apr |
11–24 Apr |
25 Apr
|
Sixth round |
42 |
95 → 53 |
5–7 Jun |
15–23 May |
9 Jun |
5 Jun |
5 May–5 Jun |
22–23 May |
19 May |
1–9 May |
19–20 May
|
Seventh round |
21 |
53 → 32 |
16 Jun |
30 May |
13 Jun |
23 Jun |
9–10 Jun |
11 Jun |
11 Jun |
23–30 May |
4 Jun
|
- Some round dates in respective Federations overlap due to separate scheduling of Zones/Sub-Zones.
The preliminary rounds structures were as follows,[4][6] and refer to the different levels in the unofficial Australian association football league system :
- 9 Queensland clubs level 4 and below entered this stage.
- 66 Victorian clubs level 7 and below entered this stage.
- 19 Northern NSW clubs level 4 and below entered this stage.
- 16 Queensland clubs (7 from the previous round and 9 level 4–5) entered this stage.
- 95 Victorian clubs (36 from the previous round and 59 level 6–7) entered this stage.
- 120 New South Wales clubs level 6 and below entered this stage.
- 60 Northern NSW clubs (16 from the previous round and 34 level 4 and below) entered this stage.
- 83 Queensland clubs (9 from the previous round and 74 level 4 and below) entered this stage.
- 42 South Australian clubs level 3 and below entered this stage.
- 84 Victorian clubs (48 from the previous round and 36 level 5–6) entered this stage.
- 32 Western Australian clubs level 5 and below entered this stage. For matches where the scores were equal at full-time, they went straight to penalties.[7]
- 14 Australian Capital Territory clubs level 3 and below entered this stage.
- 114 New South Wales clubs (88 from the previous round and 26 level 4–5) entered this stage.
- 42 Northern NSW clubs (31 from the previous round and 11 level 3) entered this stage.
- 8 Northern Territory clubs level 2 and below entered this stage.
- 58 Queensland clubs (52 from the previous round and 6 level 4) entered this stage.
- 32 South Australian clubs (21 from the previous round and 11 level 2) entered this stage.
- 12 Tasmanian clubs level 3 entered this stage.
- 66 Victorian clubs (42 from the previous round and 24 level 4) entered this stage.
- 32 Western Australian clubs (16 from the previous round and 22 level 3–4) entered this stage.
- 16 Australian Capital Territory clubs (7 from the previous round and 9 level 2) entered this stage.
- 80 New South Wales clubs (57 from the previous round and 23 level 2–3) entered this stage.
- 31 Northern NSW clubs (21 from the previous round and 10 level 2) entered this stage.
- 5 Northern Territory clubs progressed to this stage.
- 50 Queensland clubs (31 from the previous round and 19 level 2–3) entered this stage.
- 16 South Australian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 16 Tasmanian clubs (6 from the previous round and 10 level 2–3) entered this stage.
- 64 Victorian clubs (33 from the previous round and 31 level 2–3) entered this stage.
- 32 Western Australian clubs (19 from the previous round and 13 level 2) entered this stage.
- 8 Australian Capital Territory clubs progressed to this stage.
- 40 New South Wales clubs progressed to this stage.
- 16 Northern New South Wales clubs progressed to this stage.
- 7 Northern Territory clubs (3 from the previous round and 4 clubs from the Alice Springs zone) entered this stage.
- 32 Queensland clubs (25 from the previous round and 7 level 2) entered this stage.
- 8 South Australian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 8 Tasmanian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 32 Victorian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 16 Western Australian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 4 Australian Capital Territory clubs progressed to this stage, and also got a home fixture when they entered the 2019 FFA Cup preliminary rounds.[8]
- 20 New South Wales progressed to this stage.
- 8 Northern New South Wales clubs progressed to this stage.
- 4 Northern Territory clubs progressed to this stage.
- 16 Queensland clubs progressed to this stage.
- 4 South Australian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 4 Tasmanian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 16 Victorian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 8 Western Australian clubs progressed to this stage.
- 2 Australian Capital Territory clubs progressed to this stage, which doubled as the Final of the Federation Cup.
- 10 New South Wales clubs progressed to this stage. The 5 winners also participated in the final rounds of the Waratah Cup.
- 4 Northern New South Wales clubs progressed to this stage.
- 2 Northern Territory clubs progressed to this stage – the winners of the Darwin-based and Alice Springs-based knockout competitions – which doubled as the final of the Sport Minister's Cup.
- 8 Queensland clubs progressed to this stage.
- 2 South Australian clubs progressed to this stage, which doubled as the Grand Final of the Federation Cup.
- 2 Tasmanian clubs progressed to this stage, which doubled as the Grand Final of the Milan Lakoseljac Cup.
- 8 Victorian clubs progressed to this stage. The 4 winners, plus Heidelberg United, also qualified to the final rounds of the Dockerty Cup.[9]
- 4 Western Australian clubs progressed to this stage. The 2 winners also played in the Final of the Football West State Cup.
Note: Heidelberg United did not participate in the Victorian qualifying rounds, as they already qualified into the FFA Cup as 2017 National Premier Leagues champions.
Note: A-League Youth teams playing in their respective federation leagues are specifically excluded from the preliminary rounds as their respective Senior A-League clubs are already part of the competition.[10]