There aren’t many subjects that most passionate Australian soccer fans agree on, but nearly all of them will tell you that the FFA Cup is a Good Thing.

The knockout competition, first held last year, gives state-based amateur and semi-professional clubs the chance to test themselves against A-League opposition.

And more.

Those clubs might earn extra money when hosting FFA Cup games, particularly against drawcard opponents.

Balmain Tigers, who are two divisions below the top level of soccer in New South Wales, had to win four preliminary round matches to qualify for the 32 team competition proper. They were then drawn at home against A-League champions Melbourne Victory.

Before the match, played three weeks ago, Balmain’s coach said a crowd of 1500 was needed to pay for the costs of hosting the game. He hoped that around 2000 people would turn up so the club might make a small profit. The official attendance ended up being 4849.

The match was also on television. Indeed, all these games are either televised or streamed live. The catch is they’re only available to Foxtel customers or News Corp digital subscribers. But that’s still decent exposure for the state-based teams and it might help them attract more spectators and sponsors.

You wouldn’t attempt something like the FFA Cup in other popular Australian sports. A competitive Aussie Rules match between an AFL club and a club from a state league would result in carnage. Teams in our SANFL have enough trouble beating the AFL reserves that were brought in to the competition last year.

But soccer is a low scoring game and that increases underdogs’ chances.

We’ve all seen that match haven’t we? Team A has 20 shots, forces five top saves, hits the post three times, has a goal disallowed incorrectly and loses to Team B … which scored from its only real attack.

Upsets occur frequently in England’s FA Cup. Last season Bradford City, which plays in League One (effectively the third division), knocked Chelsea out. Four months later, Chelsea would win the Premier League and finish 50 places ahead of Bradford in the English league system.

There is, however, an important difference between Chelsea losing to Bradford and an A-League team losing to a club from one of Australia’s state competitions.

Bradford’s players are full-time footballers. They don’t have the quality of Chelsea’s far more expensive squad but they do still have professional levels of fitness.

Players in our state leagues are either semi-professionals or amateurs. Most are training a few nights a week on top of studying or working.

And that might help explain the A-League clubs’ FFA Cup dominance.

For people hoping to see genuine boilovers, the competition began promisingly last year. The first meeting between a state-based club and a team from the A-League saw Adelaide City stun Western Sydney Wanderers.

But since then A-League teams have won all 13 meetings with clubs from state competitions. The difference in goals scored is also emphatic: 47 to 5. Only two of those games were decided by a one goal margin.

State team Bentleigh Greens made the FFA Cup semi-finals last year. AAP image

The Round of 16 in this year’s FFA Cup begins tomorrow night and it offers another three opportunities for part-timers to shock A-League pros.

There will also be at least one quarter-final and one semi-final pitting teams from the different levels against each other because, unlike most sporting competitions which use seeds to keep favourites apart until later rounds, the FFA Cup is organised in a way that guarantees progression for clubs outside the A-League. At least three quarter-finalists will be from state leagues and then two of them will be drawn to play each other to ensure that one makes it to the semis.

This is a well-intentioned arrangement. But if the dominance of A-league teams continues, it will increasingly look like luck of the draw will be essential for the state-based club that reaches the semi-finals.

When Football Federation Australia established the FFA Cup there was always a risk that the A-League brand would suffer if its teams frequently lost against semi-professional opponents.

Instead we may be heading for the second worst outcome – confirmation that the gap between the A-League teams and state based clubs has become an almighty chasm.

That isn’t likely to bother purists but it could turn other supporters off the FFA Cup. And that would be a great shame given the opportunities it provides to state league clubs.

Paul Marcuccitti’s soccer column is published in InDaily on Tuesdays. He is a co-presenter of 5RTI’s Soccer on 531 program which can be heard from 11am on Saturdays.