Football Australia flags interest in hosting another major tournament

Football Australia (FA) is exploring the possibility of hosting another major tournament with the 2031 men’s Asian Cup in its sights.

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The Asian Football Confederation recently opened the expression of interest (EOI) process for the tournament with FA submitting a standalone submission on Monday.

“Football Australia is delighted to confirm that it has submitted an Expression of Interest to host the AFC Asian Cup 2031 Finals,” FA said in a statement.

“This important step reaffirms our commitment to advancing the beautiful game in Australia and on the international stage, while adhering fully to the bidding process as set out by the AFC.”

Australia is already set to host the women’s Asian Cup next year where the Matildas will battle for regional silverware. It will be the second time the country has hosted the women’s edition after also doing so in 2006. They lost the final to China 4-2 on penalties before going on to win the tournament for the first time four years later in China.

If this EOI progresses to a bid and is successful it will also mark the second time the men’s event has been played in Australia following the Socceroos successful campaign under Ange Postecoglou in 2015.

On that occasion, just over 76,000 packed into Stadium Australia to see the Socceroos beat South Korea 2-1 in the final thanks to a James Troisi goal in extra time.

There’s already plenty of competition. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have joined forces while the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Indonesia are also keen to each host. The tournament will be played in Saudi Arabia in 2027.

Football Australia has been an active player on the international and continental stage.

Australia and New Zealand set the benchmark for what the women’s FIFA World Cup should be in 2023 and FA has also signalled its intent to bring the FIFA Club World Cup to these shores in 2029.

The inaugural edition of that event will take place in the USA in June and July this year. The new tournament features 32 clubs from across the six confederations, including the best from Europe.

FA CEO James Johnson, told AFP in November 2023, that he believes his organisation could “help build” the Club World Cup and “take it to a new level, like what we saw with the Women’s World Cup in Australia.

“Australia is a great market for European clubs. Every summer, European summer, we have big clubs coming to Australia,” Johnson said.

“We know that we can fill stadiums. We never have problems with selling tickets in any sport. We’re also in a great region for broadcast. It’s an area of the world that is going to work for the clubs in terms of their brand.”

Football Australia is still learning what the bidding process for that tournament entails but remains interested.

Should Australia snare the 2031 men’s Asian Cup and the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup it would mean the country would’ve hosted five major football tournaments from 2023 to the time the flame is extinguished at the end of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.