Gungahlin United Football Club to fold after losing NPL licence, leaving 2,000 grassroots players club

Just a year after winning the competition, a community football club whose president stole more than $20,000 from the organisation is folding after their licence was revoked.

More than 2,000 junior and senior players have been left without a club for the 2026 football season after Gungahlin United Football Club (GUFC) in the ACT announced in a social media post today that they were folding.

Last year, former president Aaron Alexander was given a suspended prison sentence for stealing $23,546 from the club while in charge of its finances between September 2016 and July 2018.

The club now owes more than $200,000 to a number of creditors, including $180,000 to ACT Sportsgrounds.

In a statement on social media, the club said: "The executive committee under [Alexander's] leadership failed to implement adequate governance controls … This mismanagement directly contributed to the club's deteriorating financial position and its inability to meet key obligations."

The club faced controversy earlier this season after threats of a player boycott in the men's first-grade team.

Just five weeks ago, the club took to social media to insist "All contracted payments are currently up to date."

Preparing for 2026 season

GUFC had already begun preparations for the 2026 season.

According to their statement, these included issuing pre-offers to players, and submitting a recovery plan to Capital Football and the ACT government, proposing improved financial management and stricter, regular financial reporting.

However, Capital Football did not issue a 2026 licence for the club to play in the men's and women's National Premier Leagues (NPL) — the highest level competition in the ACT.

"The interim executive determined that GUFC's only viable future was contingent upon retaining an NPL licence."

The statement said the club was "left with little or no alternative".

However, in a statement, Capital Football said GUFC declined the opportunity to submit financial documents that could have seen the club continue with grassroots community teams and no NPL teams.

That was in response to the Capital Football board issuing GUFC correspondence on October 15 about their concern that the club appeared unable to maintain operations within the NPL.

Finding new clubs for budding footballers

In a statement, Capital Football said it was deeply saddened by the announcement.

The statement said Capital Football's priority was to ensure all players associated with GUFC had an opportunity to keep playing football in the ACT.

The club was founded in 1963 and has held an NPL licence in the men's and women's competitions since 2015.

The men's team won the competition in 2019 and 2024.

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