Fairytale complete! South Melbourne stuns Victory in historic first after dramatic climax
South Melbourne FC defeated Melbourne Victory in a penalty shootout to win the Australia Cup. This marks the first time a non-A-League club has secured the title.
Why it matters
The victory represents a significant upset in Australian football history, highlighting the competitive gap between professional and semi-professional leagues.
FOOTBALL Fairytale complete! South Melbourne stuns Victory in historic first after dramatic climax Ange fires back over Ronaldo swipe | 01:25 Marco Monteverde from Newswire October 10th, 2026 11:29 pm The fairytale is complete.
South Melbourne has become the first non-A-League club to win the Australia Cup after prevailing 4-3 over Melbourne Victory in a penalty shootout on Saturday night.
In front of a crowd of 29,911 – the biggest crowd for a sporting event at AAMI Park – South was faultless in the shootout, not needing a fifth spot kick after Victory pair Harrison Sawyer and Jason Davidson were both unsuccessful with their penalties.
Sawyer was once a South player, while Davidson’s Socceroo father Alan is a great of South from the club’s National Soccer League days.
Davidson skied his penalty over the crossbar, while Sawyer was foiled by his former teammate, South goalkeeper Javier Lopez.
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