FOOTBALL Federation Australia plans to be more flexible with its fixture scheduling next season to help the plight of A-League clubs also contesting the AFC Champions League.

Matters came to an ugly head on Tuesday when Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers were thrashed away from home by their respective South Korean and Chinese opponents just three nights after playing A-League matches.

The Roar were humiliated in losing 6-0 to Ulsan Hyundai, and it wasn’t much better for the Wanderers, who were spanked 5-1 by Shanghai SIPG.

Brisbane’s match was their ninth in 32 days in a gruelling schedule that has included trips to South Korea, China, Perth and Melbourne.

Players’ union Professional Footballers Australia gathered data which revealed the Roar squad have undertaken more than 37,000 air miles of travel in the past month.

The PFA also raised concerns about four of Brisbane’s past five matches not having been in accordance with the union’s match scheduling policy, which “promotes competitiveness and health and safety”.

Brisbane Roar’s Thomas Broich (left) competes with Muangthong United player Chanathip Songkrasin during their Asian Champions League clash. Source: AAP

The match scheduling policy requires a minimum of 72 hours between matches when long-haul travel is not undertaken, and as close to 96 hours as possible between games when long-haul travel is required.

“I’m sure that the FFA will look into it and make sure this doesn’t happen in the future. It’s only hurting the A-League and it hurt us definitely (against Ulsan),” Roar coach Aloisi said.

“It’s nearly impossible if they (FFA) don’t help with the scheduling of the league. They have to sit down with coaches and clubs and make sure that they learn from these mistakes because we will.”

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke said FFA was “working to make it a bit easier next year” for Australian clubs juggling domestic and continental commitments despite the difficulties of drawing up a fixture list that satisfied everybody.

“Without flexible scheduling, what we’ve got is a challenge of when the season starts, when the season finished and also venue availability,” O’Rourke said.

“The (Champions League) schedule and the draw is not released until six months after we publish ours (for the A-League).

“The next thing is we don’t know who we’re going to be playing in what country … and then if we were to move our games, we would have to take into account not only the date that would satisfy the (Champions League) team, but in many cases their opposition.

“Then we’ve got the overlying complications of the venues, but … I’d like to think that everyone believes we’re doing our best but we’ve still got some challenges to overcome and we’ll continue to work on those for the whole season.”

PFA chief executive John Didulica said the Roar had “been dealt an impossible hand and are paying for last season’s success”.

“Until we focus on building a flexible schedule and enhancing resources available to clubs who fight on multiple fronts, Roar and other teams will continue to have challenges with competitiveness and player fitness,” Didulica said.