Another big-name European club will head to Australia for an exhibition match against the A-League All Stars next year, FFA chief executive David Gallop has confirmed.
A year to the day since Gallop began his tenure at the governing body, he recalls the debut of the All Star concept last July as one of the highlights of his first 12 months on the job.
A capacity ANZ Stadium crowd of more than 83,000 turned up to watch the A-League’s finest take on Manchester United in July.
Four days later, an even bigger crowd poured into the MCG to witness fellow English Premier League giants Liverpool play Melbourne Victory.
On the back of such success, Gallop confirmed the All-Star event would return next year with an opponent of a similar calibre.
Gallop would not confirm which club the FFA was already negotiating with but Alessandro Del Piero’s former Italian club Juventus is reported to be the frontrunner.
“One of the highlights of this last year was the visits of those two big clubs and the creation of the All Stars – that’s something that we see as an important new initiative,” he told AAP on Tuesday.
“We’re currently looking at locking down a good opponent that will excite fans for next year.
“We’re looking at a big European club and it would happen after the World Cup.”
Gallop said he was delighted with the growth he had witnessed in the A-League during the past 12 months and said the FFA Cup, due to kick off next year, would give the league another boost.
He cited record crowds and TV ratings as a clear indication the competition was on track, but ruled out any plans for expansion any time soon.
“We don’t see expansion on the agenda in the short to medium term,” he said.
“Huge investments have been made by individuals into A-League clubs and we need to protect those investments and make sure that the competition is in the best shape possible before we consider expanding it.
“The good news is that off the back of a number of commercial deals, the financial picture of the A-League is much, much healthier than it ever has been but we need to continue to protect the investment that our current owners have made.”
Twice, a second team in Queensland has failed with North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast folding.
And while Canberra has been thrown up as an option, Gallop all but ruled out the nation’s capital, based on it’s relatively small population.
“We haven’t identified what our target zones would be,” he said.
“Certainly the experience in Australian sport generally is that you need to be looking at areas with millions of people not hundreds of thousands if you’re going to really have a viable crack at it.
“It is something we need to do at some point but not necessarily right now.”
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