The World Cup is over. Here's where your football fix comes from next

The World Cup has ended, but star-studded club competitions are within reach.

Football player Kylian Mbappe celebrating on a football pitch.
You can watch two-time World Cup Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappé play as a forward for La Liga club Real Madrid. Source: Getty / Al Bello

The 2026 FIFA World Cup might be over, but the beautiful game lives on, and there's plenty more football to sink your teeth into.

A cumulative 19 million Australians have tuned in to watch the World Cup over the course of the tournament, among them new fans who might be searching for a new team or a new hero player to follow.

Australia's top-flight A League men's competition will resume on 16 October.

Here's what's coming up before then.

EU and US comps underway and to come

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As the northern hemisphere's summer draws to an end, players return to the fields and punters fill the stands in national competitions.

In Europe, Norway's Eliteserien is already in its sixth round and will run until December, with players such as Patrick Berg having almost no time to recover after making the World Cup quarter-finals in a historic run.

Fans hoping to get more of the charismatic Erling Haaland will have to wait until the English Premier League (EPL) kicks off on 21 August.

Haaland plays for Manchester City, along with the World Cup-winning Spanish captain Rodri, who was also awarded the tournament's best player.

Spain's La Liga starts on 15 August.

This star-studded comp is where you can watch 19-year-old Lamine Yamal, crucial goalscorer Ferran Torres, and Pedri take the field for Barcelona off the back of their iconic win against Argentina.

The Socceroos' Mat Ryan is expected to take the pitch with Levante while France's two-time World Cup Golden Boot winner, Kylian Mbappé, plays for Real Madrid.

The Italian Serie A and the French Ligue 1 will both start on 23 August.

In Italy we can expect to see Socceroos Alessandro Circati and Christian Volpato play for Parma and Sassuolo respectively.

The United States' Major League Soccer tournament has already started — tune in there to watch living legend Lionel Messi and fellow Argentine Rodrigo De Paul play for Inter Miami and Australia's Lucas Herrington make an impact with the Colorado Rapids.

Champions League

The European UEFA Champions League is considered the most prestigious annual tournament in international football.

The 36-team league is made up of the best clubs on the continent, and it's one way you can watch all of your World Cup favourites battle it out, even when they play in different national club competitions.

Qualifying rounds are already underway with the league phase starting 8 September.

Women's World Cup countdown begins

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is over, but the build-up to the 2027 Women's World Cup is underway.

Hosted by Brazil, the Matildas have already qualified for a spot in the July 2027 tournament while other qualifying matches are continuing this year.

Women's club competitions start in the US and Europe shortly after the local men's tournaments.

Many of the Matildas including Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler play in the English Women's Super League, which has its first match on 4 September.

Australian Championship

The second season of the Australian Championship is set to kick off in October, with eight foundation clubs and eight NPL premiers from across the country taking part in its second edition.

This is a tournament-style format where four groups of four teams will see the top two from each progress to a sudden-death finals series, with the Australian Championship trophy the grand prize.

The competition is not connected to the A-League Men or any of its associated clubs. The Australian Championship is the national second tier for football in Australia, with no promotion or relegation between the two at this time.

The opening match kicks off on October 16, LIVE in full on SBS and SBS On Demand, with the fixture yet to be announced.


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4 min read

Published

Updated

By Samantha Jonscher

Source: SBS News



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