Perth Glory’s first home game of the Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season this weekend will kick-off with more than just three points on the line.
Glory faces off against New Zealand rivals Wellington Phoenix at nib Stadium and both teams will be playing for a new trophy.
The two clubs have joined forces to form the ‘Long Distance Derby Cup’ which acknowledges the 5255 kilometre trek between the two cities- the longest road trip in world football.
Glory captain Richard Garcia applauded the move, saying the initiative had been a long time coming.
“We have derbies in AFL, State of Origin and in the A-League all mainly on the East Coast. The distance between our two teams is something that needs to be honoured and celebrated in the competition and I think it’s fantastic both teams have put their heads together and have come up with something like this the players and the fans can get excited about”.
Glory and the Phoenix will play each other three times during the season. The Cup trophy winner will be decided by the team which gathers most points over the three rounds. If the points are equal after the series, goal difference will be used to determine the winner.
Phoenix captain Andrew Durante also praised the Cup concept.
“You have the Sydney Derby, the Melbourne Derby and the F3 Derby between Central Coast and the Newcastle Jets,” he said.
“In the tradition of derbies those clubs are close together and this will be a derby with a difference. We might be over 5000km apart but there is a bit of a bond between us and Glory because of it” he said.
The match kicks-off at 4pm.
Tickets to the match, can be purchased HERE
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