SA's Daniel Elder appointed to Australia Cup Final

Football South Australia is pleased to announce that South Australian Match Official Daniel Elder has been appointed to the Australia Cup Final this weekend between Sydney United 58 and Macarthur FC.

Following very successful 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 A-League Men’s Seasons which saw Daniel being appointed to the A-League Men’s Grand Final as the Fourth Official in two consecutive seasons and appointed to the Semi-Final of the previously named The FFA Cup, Daniel has earned himself another final with his appointment to the 2022 Australia Cup Final. Daniel has had a great build up to this match, being the man in the middle for the blockbuster Round of 16 Adelaide City v Adelaide United Local Derby clash at ServiceFM Stadium.

This will be a special occasion for Elder, as the Australia Cup 2022 Final is the only time he will be able to perform the central referee role at an Australia Cup Final. As introduced by the Football Australia Referees Committee when the then named FFA Cup was created, each match official could only be appointed to each officiating role at the Australia Cup Final once. This was to establish a tradition of prestige with being appointed to an Australia Cup Final once in the match official’s career.

Daniel will be will be assisted by Andrej Giev (NSW) and Andrew Meimarakis (VIC), with Kurt Ams (NSW) and Brad Wright (NSW) selected as the Fourth and Fifth Official respectively.

Locally in South Australia, Daniel is an active referee in the Senior Mens Competitions taking charge of matches across our top competitions. Additionally, Daniel is also the Lead Instructor of the Football SA Referee Academy, formed in 2020 to provide promising and dedicated young match officials with the opportunity to receive specialised training and coaching. Daniel is also a member of the Football South Australia Referee Coaching Advisory Group. 


Football SA CEO Michael Carter praised Daniel, remarking:

It is fantastic to see South Australian match officials such as Daniel being appointed to matches at the highest level in Australian Football. Daniel has been an excellent ambassador and role model for refereeing here in South Australia and he should be proud of his achievements. We wish him all the very best for this historical match.

Michelle Smith, Chair of Football South Australia’s Referee Committee and Senior Referee Development congratulated Daniel on his upcoming appointment for Saturday, having this to say:

We are incredibly proud of Daniel’s continued hard work, dedication and persistence as a match official which has again culminated in another prestigious appointment at a national level. We wish Daniel and the rest of his team all the very best for Saturday’s match.

The match will be able to viewed on Network 10 and 10 Play.

If you would like to become a referee yourself, you are able to register for the upcoming Football SA Refereeing Course here: https://www.footballsa.com.au/referee-resources

Australia Cup 2022 Final – Sydney United 58 FC vs Macarthur FC

Date: Saturday, 1 October 2022
Location: CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Kick-Off: 7:45pm AEST
Broadcast: Network 10 and 10 Play.