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FFA 'disappointed' with ABC football coverage

The ABC has squandered whatever chance it had of snapping up the A-League's free-to-air broadcast rights thanks to its calamitous coverage of Sydney FC's friendly with Liverpool.

The national broadcaster has come under heavy fire over Wednesday night's coverage, described by viewers on social media as cringeworthy and embarrassing.

It is believed to have left Football Federation Australia (FFA) highly alarmed.

“Like many fans, FFA is disappointed with some aspects of the ABC’s broadcast of the Sydney FC v Liverpool FC match last night,” a tweet by the A-Legue’s official twitter account read.

“Pre-game, halftime & post-game coverage wasn’t to standard expected by FFA and football fans. We’ve made that point to ABC management.

Shown on ABC2, the pre-match, halftime and post-match segments were hosted by comedians Jules Schiller, Tegan Higginbotham and Steen Raskopoulos, who embarked on a series of skits including one that involved texting Harry Kewell.

The trio also mispronounced names and used a tacky whiteboard with cutouts of players in lieu of formation graphics.

At halftime, they crossed live to comedian Aaron Chen, who conducted a peculiar interview with Sky Blues fans, asking one to name his favourite "possession" before snatching back the microphone and exclaiming "I've been possessed with the spirit of football".

The whole saga drew a deluge of online criticism, led by former Socceroo and current Fox Sports pundit Robbie Slater, who tweeted it was "unforgivable" for the game to be "bagged and disrespected" in front of a global audience.

The ABC responded on Thursday, stressing it was proud to have broadcast the ANZ Stadium friendly at very short notice.

"While the game coverage and commentary was excellent, our decision to create a different offering for the pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage was not supported by all football fans and we will consider this feedback for any future sporting events," an ABC spokesperson said in a statement.

It will be too late if the broadcaster had hoped to show the A-League next season.

FFA is still hunting a free-to-air partner to supplement its its six-year, $346 million A-League TV deal with Fox Sports.

Although the ABC had not been top of the pecking order, it's understood Wednesday night's approach has ruled it out of calculations, despite its excellent W-League coverage.

Viewers variously described the overall coverage as an "embarrassment", "cringey" and "just about the worst sports coverage ever", while one lamented that "footballs were actually crying".

Other viewers, however, thought the ABC team did a good job.

FFA did not criticise the commentary during the game.