FIFA has written to Anthony Albanese urging the federal government to help support the construction of a permanent home of football as Australia risks losing pace with the world’s leading nations.
AAP understands both FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa have sent letters of support to the federal and NSW state governments backing a Football Australia (FA) bid to help construct a national home.
Australia was one of just four nations, alongside Denmark, Poland and Senegal, who qualified for the men’s 2022 World Cup to not have a national base.
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But there are fears that the Socceroos, who achieved their best-ever result in Qatar four years ago, and the Matildas could slide further down the global pecking order if FA is unable to put bricks to mortar and build a permanent home.
France‘s Clairefontaine and England‘s St George’s Park are the envy of the world and Australia looks like a much poorer relation with the Socceroos forced to train at the antiquated Leichhardt Oval during the March international window.
In 2024, ex-Socceroos coach Graham Arnold described Football Australia as “homeless” after his side prepared for crunch World Cup qualifiers with Lebanon by training at the NSW Rugby League Centre of Excellence.
While Australia lags behind, Asian rivals such as Japan, South Korea, Qatar, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia — and even an emerging power like Indonesia — boast state-of-the-art facilities or are in the process of constructing one.
“A national Home of Football is a long overdue facility that will benefit the entire Australian football community — connecting our senior national teams to grassroots and community football,” an FA spokesman said in a statement to AAP.
“The Matildas and Socceroos and our youth national teams continue to overachieve and make Australia proud on the world stage in the most watched and attended global sporting events.
“We can only sustain this success by keeping pace with international standards, and a national home of football is both critical and overdue.
“The absence of such a facility puts Australia at risk of falling behind the rest of the world.”
FA is understood to have earmarked a potential site at Sydney Olympic Park for the centre and is hoping to attract up to $50 million in federal government funding for its construction.
Such a facility would give national teams access to cutting-edge sport science, training fields and gyms as well as a venue to house FA office staff and run coaching and education clinics from professional level down to the grassroots.
In a statement provided to AAP a government spokesperson said: “The Australian government is a strong supporter of Australian football, providing significant funding to Football Australia and investing in major events like the recent AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 — the most successful women’s Asian Cup ever.
“We continue to support football and grassroots sports through investments like our $200 million Play Our Way program which is the most significant commitment ever to women and girls sporting programs and facilities.
“All investments in capital infrastructure, such as stadiums, are considered as part of the usual budget processes.”
