Football Australia chief executive James Johnson says Australia would have to “footballise” oval stadiums or significantly upgrade existing rectangular grounds to have any hope of hosting a men’s World Cup.
Buoyed by the Matildas reaching the semi-finals of the best-attended Women’s World Cup yet, Johnson’s FA is ambitiously eyeing off bringing a trio of blue ribbon events to the country.
The Women’s 2026 Asian Cup is top of that list, while tentative discussions have taken place surrounding the revamped 2029 Club World Cup and the men’s World Cup in 2034.
At this year’s Women’s World Cup, three of Australia’s five biggest cities have been denied the chance to host games beyond the round of 16.
Perth Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium and Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium do not meet FIFA’s requirements to host games from the quarter-final stage onwards, and each city’s respective oval stadiums were unavailable due to the AFL season.
The criteria is even stricter for the men’s World Cup, with FIFA demanding stadia at the group stage, semi finals and final have a minimum net seating capacity of 40,000, 60,000 and 80,000 respectively.
To make a bid viable, Johnson is hopeful larger oval stadiums could be reconfigured to play host to the world’s best male players.
“If you want to be a part of a bid and get the best content, do you build a new rectangular stadium or do you ‘rectangularise’ a cricket or AFL stadium?” Johnson told AAP.
“Bids occur eight years or so before a tournament, so I think that thinking will happen before we even put a bid forward.
“We’ve got some opportunities with the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. Football is the biggest sport at the Olympics and it’ll be played in and outside of Brisbane.
“Should the infrastructure discussions going on right now around the Olympics include a consideration to gear up for a World Cup bid, that would be sensible to me because it reduces potential wastage.”
Johnson said any potential Australian bid would likely involve New Zealand, with the FA boss also not ruling out the potential to team up with neighbouring Asian countries to make it a reality.
Australia’s failed 2022 men’s World Cup bid was derided by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter because location and timezones made it an unattractive option for football’s global governing body to sell rights to broadcasters.
But Johnson said new FIFA boss Gianni Infantino had shown an openness to spread the game around the world.
“His (Infantino’s) vision is to truly globalise football and I think we are in an excellent timezone for that vision to be realised,” Johnson added.
“Beijing is in the same timezone as Perth, Delhi is three hours behind and if you play in Sydney in the afternoon you hit the west coast of the US in primetime.
“We’re in a region that’s really going to help unleash the power of football in the biggest and most populous markets around the world.”
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
fair enough, if they have the stadiums.
Chuq
Roar Pro
Seriously... I remember having these arguments on this website in this very comments section over a decade ago. The WWC was successful beyond our wildest expectations. We've now proven ourselves. We just need to sort logistics with larger stadiums now.
Chuq
Roar Pro
The problem with including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia is you have 3x the number of football governing bodies, governments and overheads and potentially hours of extra travel time and time-zone adjustments to the teams and all their staff. We've demonstrated the ability to manage and host a hugely successful event. Qatar showed that the "8 different cities" requirement is flexible. Maybe with 48 teams, meaning a larger number of lower drawing teams, they will be flexible and allow a limited number of 25-30k capacity stadiums. (I honestly don't think that will happen, but worth thinking about)
Chuq
Roar Pro
The problem with that is you eliminate most locations in AFL dominated states. It becomes the NSW/Qld World Cup.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Yes, you are right, However, lets see the population in Europe.our region If Australia, NZ, Malasia and Indonesia are to host, many people will be attacted to watch. Population: Europe: 746 millions ******************** Australia - 26 millions Malaysia - 34 millions Indonesia - 274 millions Singapore - 5.5 millions NZ - 5 millions Just for the hosting countries, the total population size is = 344.5 millions, which is already half of the European population. If we consider the population of the whole of South East Asia (11 countries), we get the size of the population = 687 millions. Should we add the popultion of China, Korea and Japan, the population size is = 1412 + 52 + 126 = 1590 millions. That says that the whole population of South East Asia together with China, Korea and Japan (excluding the populations of Central Asia) is double the whole population size of the whole Europe. If a match starts at 8:00 pm in Australia, the Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean, etc, can watch TV at 6 pm of their time. If a match starts at 5:00 pm in NZ, Asians can watch TV at 10:00 pm of their time. If seems that Sepp Blatter had a pretext when FIFA chose the hosting right in the past. Should FIFA wants to promote soccer and get more TV revenue, hosting in Asia region is the better choice. Futhermore, if Australia is to host with Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapor and NZ, the grand final should be in Australia because Australia has highest soccer ranking among these hosting countries.
pacman
Roar Rookie
Population wise, we are a tiny, tiny, part of the world. Add to that we are in an unfriendly time zone. The solution, and it is unpalatable, is to have kick-offs during our sleep hours. Unlikely to ever happen.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Firstly, for a 48 teams tournament, the number of matches for group stages is (12 x 4 + 8 x 3) = 72 matches. This calculation is based on 12 groups of 4 teams for the first round and 8 groups of 3 teams to end up with 16 teams in elimination stage. If it takes 20 days to finish the 1st and 2nd phases of group stages, to accommodate 72 matches, the number of stadiums required is around 14 (assuming turn around to be 5 days). Referring to the 2026 WC, the number of stadiums is 16. Once reaching the eliminating stage, the number of stadiums and turn-around of use is much easier to manage. With the 2023 women world cup in Australia and NZ model, Aus and NZ can share 32 teams of the 48 teams in total. Thus, 16 teams (4 groups of 4) are to be shared by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. This can mean 2 groups by Indonesia, 1 group by Malaysia, and 1 group by Singapore. If the above is not convinced by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the following can be considered. Singapore, National Stadium – rectangular, capacity = 55k Malaysia, there are 9 stadiums with capacity >= 40k Indonesia, there are 10 stadiums with capacity >= 40k Should Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and NZ take 1 group, 2 groups, 2 groups and 1 group respectively, Australia has 6 groups to deal with only. Thus, only 6 stadiums may be enough. Currently, there are three good stadiums in Australia. They are Stadium Australia, Sydney Football Stadium and Brisbane Stadium. The stadium in Newcastle, Perth and Adelaide should be upgraded to a capacity of 40+k and it may be enough.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Start by building a 30k rectangular stadium in Canberra with a modular plan that can add 10k at a time. Get the Govt to embargo the MCG and include Malaysia or Indonesia – the idea of Singapore seems stupid to me, only really adds 1 stadium and more hassles. Then look at if Hindmarsh can be increased. ps I know the MCG aint that good for soccer but it would seem silly to waste it.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Maybe in Thailand. You already have MCG, OLympic Stadium Homebush, Perth and the Gabba coming all 60k plus. You can do the quarter finals onward 60k, 80k semi finals min. My proposal would be a choice of Manus Island, or Nauru for the rectangular stadium mafia which is the better resort island. They can then discuss which is better. AFL give them the MCG back after the semi finals so they can stop whinging, and have the final in Sydney though. FIFA will prefer the MCG for its bigger size.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
The estimation for building a 60000 seats rectanglar stadium is around 120 millions. So, if governments support, it is possible.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
For the world cup final you put it in the middle of a raceground and couple of hundredk will turn up who cares if they need binoculars this is all nonsense Australia have two bigger stadiums already. No one should trust this stooge an inch, already he is a failure on this world cup. Blatter put a world cup in this time zone. Infantino made sure the world cup stayed in Qatar after the corruption was uncovered by their bid. That he is talking Infantino up is a clear indication he is part of the middle east stooge network. The main issue with a world cup is NZ need to build another big stadium , Australia is building big stadiums for no reason at the moment like confetti. The Olympics is throwing 15 billion down the drain to get 1 billion in benefits. Commonwealth games is a couple of billion with no return. NZ look how they dodge the Commonwealth games. The world cup is perfect for Australia its in winter, in the same way they ship out the homeless for an Olympics , the country needs to be prepared to do what needs to be done for the event.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Can't see the cricket grounds ever being suitable. They're cricket grounds. But upgrade existing stadiums, not discounting regional stadiums like Gold Coast, Newcastle and Townsville, we can do it. Link with Brisbane 2032 Olympics is also a smart idea.