As they settle into the Illawarra community, Wellington Phoenix head coach Ufuk Talay hopes local football fans will embrace his side during their upcoming A-League campaign.
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The 2020/21 season draw was released on Tuesday, which confirmed the newly-dubed "Wollongong" Phoenix will play all home games at WIN Stadium.
Football Federation Australia's announcement ended weeks of speculation about their future after it was revealed in late October that the Phoenix would be based somewhere in NSW due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The team arrived in Wollongong early November to undertake a three-week pre-season training camp at the University of Wollongong campus. They now look likely to stay until at least May 2021, when the home and away season ends.
And Talay hopes the Phoenix can gain some new fans over the coming months.
"Now that we've found our feet in our new surroundings, we'll be doing what we've done previously in Wellington where the players will go out to the clubs and some community stuff with Football South Coast, and hopefully before school finishes, we can get out to some school visits as well. We want the community to embrace us, but we need to get out there and show our faces as well," the coach said.
"I believe that Wollongong has always been a footballing community. It goes back to the old NSL days and they still have a very good team that plays in the NPL1 and has been very successful the last couple of seasons.
"I think that the set up we currently have with the university and playing out of WIN Stadium is great for us. It's great to be in NSW as things change very quickly with COVID."
The season will start with Western Sydney Wanderers facing newbies Macarthur FC on December 27.
It will be a revamped competition, with several mid-week matches to take place throughout the competition. Despite the impact of COVID-19, Wellington will be the only club to remain in a hub.
The Phoenix start their A-League campaign with a trip to Queensland to face the Brisbane Roar on December 29. However, all eyes will be on their first home fixture at WIN Stadium against Sydney FC on January 2, 2021.
"I think it's a great first opponent to play your first game at home. You have last year's champions to our first home game in Wollongong and I hope we turn a few of those Sydney FC fans into Wellington Phoenix fans," Talay said.
"I hope the Wollongong community can embrace Wellington Phoenix playing out of WIN Stadium."
However, Talay does hold out hope for a return to New Zealand during the season, if travel restrictions ease. For now, he is happy to focus on one positive.
"I think the biggest thing is we've taken travel out of the way. It's going to be a shorter distance to play these games," he said.
"But we love playing at home at Sky Stadium. If things change very quickly and the bubble does happen, we hope we can get back there and play in front of our home fans as well."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
