Football Federation Australia (FFA) today launched its new season for the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League with the ‘Where Heroes Are Made’ campaign.

FFA has once again chosen to launch the women and men’s leagues with equal prominence, through one joint integrated campaign.

The campaign focuses on football’s uniting aspect and leveraging off the men’s FIFA World Cup and upcoming AFC Asian Cup, and the women’s FIFA World Cup in 2019, and reminding Australians that their heroes that feature in these global tournaments started in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League.

It places the spotlight on the current and future football stars of today and leverages off the success of the Caltex Socceroos and Westfield Matildas, and encourages our young football families to support the current and next generation of heroes every week around the country.

Following the launch of teaser content on social media, featuring former Socceroo Tim Cahill and former Matilda Amy Duggan, the campaign rolls out with an in-cinema brand film, TV and executions across radio, OOH, social and digital.

The campaign will feature hero players from all Hyundai A-League & Westfield W-League clubs.

FFA head of leagues Greg O’Rourke believes that this new campaign across the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League will appeal to the established football fan and those who are experiencing the competitions for the first time.

“Since their inception, the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League have proven to be ideal competitions to develop our top male and female footballers,” said O’Rourke.

“From the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, 18 of the 23-players in the Caltex Socceroos squad, and all the starting players in our first match against France, had at some time played in the Hyundai A-League.

“Similarly, all the Westfield Matildas at the recent AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan had played in the Westfield W-League.

“Even if our heroes end up overseas playing in leagues around the world, they all start here, in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League.

“We are fortunate that we can see these heroes, week-in, week-out in the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League in our own backyard.

“Make sure you get to a Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League match this season to see your heroes,” concluded O’Rourke.

This campaign is the first work from Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney since the agency won the business in a joint Publicis Groupe pitch with Starcom back in June 2018.

The campaign will be further amplified in conjunction with TLA Worldwide and Switch Digital, FFA’s PR and Digital Agencies respectively.

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney deputy executive creative director, Sesh Moodley, said: “Aussies love to get behind a hero, so it’s time football celebrated its own world-class heroes.

“The fact that so many Matildas and Socceroos end up playing overseas should serve as an inspiration to the quality of both leagues – as they all started here.

“‘Where Heroes Are Made’ is a platform to support all aspects of football in Australia, not just a campaign, so we’re looking forward to continuing to discover and promote new heroes as the season unfolds.”

FFA chief marketing officer, Luke Bould, said: “Where Heroes Are Made celebrates the stars of the game – the players – and promotes the role they play and their commitment to the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League.

“Our brief to Saatchi & Saatchi was to create a platform that has the scope to roll-out different elements at different stages of the season, and even future seasons, and we feel we have delivered that very strongly.

“There’s much more to come from the campaign and we believe it will engage our target audience and get them supporting their heroes at a match in stadium, by watching on FOX Sports and ONE, or streaming via the My Football LIVE app.”