Racism accusations mar Australia Cup play-off between Canberra Croatia and Canberra Olympic at Capital Football Federation Cup final

The game had plenty of controversy with accusations of racist slurs towards Croatia's Lukman Ahmed-Shaibu which will be reviewed by Capital Football, and a red card to Olympic's Nathan Megic in the second half.

"He just called me a black n-----," Ahmed-Shaibu was heard telling referees after a foul committed against his teammate.

Player of the match Francisco Greco, Ahmed-Shaibu and Stephen Domenici put Croatia in the driver's seat with a big first half lead.

Olympic's Luca Florez and Max Mellick put a challenge to Croatia in the second half but a 91st minute Daniel Barac strike ended comeback hopes.

Canberra Croatia will now take on the nation's best, including A-League teams, in the Australia Cup in August.

Unlike the men's Federation Cup where the winner makes the Australia Cup knockout tournament, the journey goes no further for the women.

That won't be the case for long though with Football Australia planning to launch a Women's Australia Cup next year, following a similar model to the men.

Belconnen United claimed the women's Federation Cup in a dramatic final against Gungahlin in the earlier match at Deakin Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with a 94th minute header by Talia Backhouse sealing a thrilling 3-2 victory.

Just last week in the NPL Women's competition Gungahlin had beaten Belconnen 2-0. But the script was flipped this time around.

"It's been a couple of years without a major trophy and we can't go too long without having one. We're too competitive," Belconnen coach Scott Conlon said.

"If we're in the same position next year then we get to go into the Australia Cup which would be incredible."

Gungahlin had better chances in the early stages of the first half, and were rewarded with the opening goal through Ginger Oliver.

When the rain finally cleared after a deluge at kick-off, the game opened up and Belconnen wrestled back control. They equalised through Lisa Cary, and Pearl Tein then put them in front.

Gungahlin came out of the halftime break on fire and within seconds of the referee's whistle they had scores locked at 2-2 after a long ball was poorly defused by Belconnen, allowing Oliver to score her second.

Belconnen piled on the pressure in the final 15 minutes but they kept coming up empty-handed, courtesy of a brave effort by player of the match, Gungahlin goalkeeper Emily Kelly.

It wasn't until an injury-time header off a corner that they got the breakthrough, and a minute later Belconnen could finally celebrate.

Capital Football chief executive Ivan Slavich was excited by what the future holds for the women's game in Canberra with a new Australia Cup in the works and a World Cup just next month.

"In an Australia Cup for the women, I have no doubt Canberra will punch above its weight and be very competitive," Slavich said.

"At Capital Football we've received funding from Football Australia to enhance our women's program, registrations are up on last year and it's fantastic women's sport is improving like this.

"Some people still don't get the momentum behind it and I genuinely think that will change at the Women's World Cup."

Men: Canberra Croatia 4 (Greco 21', Ahmed-Shaibu 23', Domenici 31' P, Barac 91') bt Canberra Olympic 2 (Florez 52', Mellick 86')

Women: Belconnen United 3 (Cary 26', Tein 29', Backhouse 94') bt Gungahlin United 2 (Oliver 19' 46')

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