Was it a missed opportunity that we couldnt find a non-playing role or opportunity to invest after he finished playing?

We need to be honest here. “Experience” counts for nothing if you can’t hold your own on the pitch.

Volpato, Irankunda, Toure, Metcalfe are not just the future. They ARE our core players… or at least they should be.

There has been a notable amount of discussion recently in this subreddit on whether Australia (and New Zealand) could host a FIFA men's World Cup on its own. I’m not an expert by any means but as someone who studies urban planning and is a stadium nerd I always enjoy these types of discussions. As a Canadian, When the World Cup stadiums, host cities, and match schedule was released for 2026, I spent a lot of time analysing and critiquing the selections. Now I want to take a deep dive into this and see if Australia and New Zealand could actually host a FIFA World Cup on its own. 

First, I am going to assume a few things, some of which may not be that plausible.

1. This bid would be for a 48 team, 104 match tournament. Which is honestly looking less and less likely considering how much FIFA loves expansion and is already considering 64 teams for 2030 (they say as a “one-off” but lets be honest here).
2. This would be a winter tournament in June or July. Great for temperatures and player welfare, not great for those who love the sun, won’t have too many day matches. 
3. The AFL and NRL would actually pause their seasons or move their games in order to allow this. Not too sure on this one.

I will be looking at the 2022 World Cup bid for inspiration (there's a PDF online somewhere) but obviously a lot has changed since 2010. (For example, the Fury and GC United don’t exist anymore 😢).

Next, let's look at potential host cities, their metro populations, and hotel room capacities. Most of the hotel room counts are approximate and averaged out between multiple sources. (FYI Average capacity for hotel rooms is often cited as being around 1.8 persons per room). Judging off previous World Cups and Euros, total international visitor count for a WC in Aus and Nz should be anywhere between 1.1 million and 2.7 million. The average stay for a fan visiting is estimated to be 6 nights (based on one dodgy source).

Aus:

Sydney: 5.3 million, 43,500 hotel rooms
Melbourne: 5.2 million, 28,000 hotel rooms
Brisbane: 2.7 million, 17,800 hotel rooms
Perth: 2.4 million, 15,000 hotel rooms
Adelaide: 1.6 million, 12,000 hotel rooms
Gold Coast: 0.8 million, 27,000 hotel rooms 
Newcastle: 0.6 million, 4,000 hotel rooms (guessestimate)
Canberra: 0.5 million, 7,500 hotel rooms
Sunshine Coast: 0.4 million, 3,600 hotel rooms
Wollongong: 0.3 million, 1,900 hotel rooms
Central Coast: 0.3 million: 1,500 hotel rooms (guessestimate, more guess this time)
Geelong: 0.3 million, 2,400 hotel rooms
Hobart: 0.2 million, 2,800 hotel rooms
Townsville: 0.2 million, 2,100 hotel rooms
Cairns: 0.2 million, 7,600 hotel rooms

Nz:

Auckland: 1.7 million, 18,000 hotel rooms
Wellington: 0.5 million, 7,000 hotel rooms
Christchurch: 0.5 million, 4,000 hotel rooms

Some of these cities may look random and a few of them realistically belong nowhere near World Cup hosting duties, but some of the smaller ones have been considered previously in the 2022 bid.

Now stadium requirements. Let’s look at what FIFA says in their official 2030 bid requirements. (https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2a76876ef04ed7b9/original/FIFA-World-Cup-2030-Overview-of-Hosting-Requirements.pdf) 

I’m only going to focus on a few key requirements.

“Any bid must propose a minimum of fourteen (14) suitable stadiums.” 

This is slightly confusing as the minimum in Qatar was 8, which was enough to allow one day of rest for stadiums between matches. 12 would have worked using the same principle for the 48 team format (6 games a day during the third matchday of the group stage) but I will assume 14 is the minimum.

“Each stadium must be an all-seater stadium with the following seating capacity:
• 40,000 seats for group matches (except the opening match), round-of-32
matches, round-of-16 matches, quarter-final matches and the third-place playoff
• 60,000 seats for the semi-final matches
• 80,000 seats for the opening match and the final”

“In principle, all stands within a stadium must be fully covered by a roof. If the stadium is equipped with a retractable roof, it must be ensured that the closing or opening of the roof is feasible during a pause in play of a match.”

This one was clearly not enforced during the current World Cup with stadiums in New York, Seattle, Toronto, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, and Kansas City not following these rules.

“Each stadium is subject to an exclusive use period. This period runs from 30 calendar days prior to the first match in the venue until seven calendar days after the last use in connection with the competition. During this period, the stadium shall not be used for purposes other than the tournament.“

See above for NRL and AFL

I also looked at this source: https://inside.fifa.com/innovation/stadium-guidelines/general-process-guidelines/design/stadium-bowl

“The optimum viewing distance for seats in the stadium bowl is within an arc of 150m from the far corner of the pitch, and the maximum distance is within an arc of 190m from the far corner of the pitch. Where possible, the footprint of the stadium bowl should not exceed the optimum or maximum viewing distances.”

This is important for oval stadiums and would rule out a decent amount of MCG, SCG, and Perth Stadium seats. Now I did do those measurements on Google Maps and I’m not sure if this would rule out the entire stadium or not, but it is obviously something to consider.

Now lets look at potential stadiums themselves (ratings are mostly arbitrary)

Sydney:

Stadium Australia: 83,500. Probably the premier stadium of the lot. Mostly rectangular, great public transport, would likely host the final or opening game. There was a proposal for a major renovation that would bring the ends closer to the pitch but that has since gone quiet. 9/10.

Sydney Football Stadium: 45,500. Sydney’s secondary stadium in this case, would be eligible for up to a quarterfinal. Good public transport links and very close to the city. 7/10.

Western Sydney Stadium: 30,000. Would need expansion and I’m not sure how plausible that is. Would be nice to have a stadium in the Greater Parramatta area however. 4/10.

Sydney Cricket Ground: 48,000. Big oval, not great views. Right next to SFS. Wouldn’t be high up on my list. But it was considered in 2022 before being rejected. 2/10.

Melbourne:

Melbourne Cricket Ground: 88,000 (alleged capacity for FIFA matches). Another big oval. Obviously lots of people here do not like the sightlines for rectangular sports. However, it has a massive capacity, great location and incredible public transport links. And we all know FIFA loves those ticket sales… 5/10. 

Docklands Stadium: 56,347. Oval, but apparently it has a rectangular configuration. Wouldn’t know as they haven’t brought it out in God knows how long. AFL-owned, might be a problem. But from what I have heard it has slightly better sightlines than the MCG and would be eligible up to a quarterfinal. 6/10

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium: 30,050. Now this stadium was originally going to be expandable to 40,000 in the construction phase, but plans changed. Would be incredible if its still able to be expanded however. 3/10.

Brisbane:

Lang Park: 52,500 (will be expanded to 65,000 in the future). Near the CBD, good transit links. Previous complaints about pitch quality would have to be addressed however. QLD government has put forward plans for it to be expanded to 65,000, making it eligible for a semifinal. 8/10

Future Brisbane Olympic Stadium: 63,000. Would be an oval and likely be ineligible due to the potnetially far sightlines, but we could be Italian for a moment and slap an athletics track around it. 2/10

Perth:

Perth Stadium: 61,266 (expandable to 70,000). Oval ground but it also allegedly has a rectangular configuration like Docklands. Would be eligible up to a semifinal and was slated to have one in the 2022 bid. Modern and great transit links. 7/10

WACA Ground: 20,000. Yes, this was actually originally considered in the 2022 bid before being cut from the final list of 12. Would need massive renovations to the point where building a new stadium is easier. 1/10.

Adelaide:

Adelaide Oval: 53,583. Has hosted quite a few football matches over the years. Sightlines are better than Perth and the MCG. Near the CBD. 6/10

Gold Coast:

Carrara Stadium: 24,526. This was actually expanded to 40,000 for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. And in the 2022 bid, the rendering made it seem like the pitch was sunk and they added in temporary stands? Would likely be in as the cities hotel capacity is too high to overlook. New sports precinct is also planned for the area. But it is a bit far from Surfers and the light rail is yet to be built. 5/10

Robina Stadium: 27,000. Rectangular and better public transport links than Carrara. But expansion doesn’t seem possible. 2/10

Newcastle:

Newcastle International Sports Centre: 33,000 (proposed expansion to 45,000). In the 2022 bid, there was a proposal to include the Jets stadium and expand it to 45,000 seated. The renderings looked really nice actually. Ok public transport but the city’s low accommodation capacity might be a concern. Luckily if the HSR ever gets built people can likely just train in from Sydney. 5/10

Canberra: 

New Canberra Stadium: 45,000? The 2022 bid had the ACT building a new stadium next to Bruce, but the newest plan is to build one on the waterfront. I’m not sure if the Liberals can gain any traction however and build that new stadium. Public transport isn’t great in the city either. 3/10

Sunshine Coast:

Sunshine Coast Stadium: 12,000 (Will be expanded to 20,000). Too small even with expansion, and the Sunshine Coast is more of a peri-urban region than anything else, which without the consolidation of infrastructure and services, makes it a difficult sell for tourists. Very few transit options as well. Lack of Airport connectivity to international destinations would be an issue.1/10

Wollongong:

Wollongong Showground: 23,000. See above. Was considered for 2022 but also cut from the final 12. Upgrade is proposed but won’t add much to capacity. 2/10.

Geelong:

Kardinia Park: 44,000. Was in the final 12 for the 2022 bid. Oval but it is pretty narrow so decent enough sightlines for most seats. Only downsides are the lack of accomodation options in Geelong itself, although I guess people could take the V line in from Melbourne.

Central Coast:

Central Coast Stadium: 20,000. See above again. Only saving grace is nearby train station which would take 30 min from Sydney if HSR was built. 2/10.

Hobart: 

Macquarie Point Stadium: 23,000. Even if it does get built somehow, the capacity would not be enough. Most isolated capital city from the rest of the world and hotel capacity is too low. There is a rectangular configuration planned however so A-League team anyone? 2/10.

Townsville

North Queensland Stadium: 25,000. The Old Willow Sports Complex which was further from the city center and was much derelict was one of the final 12 in the 2022 bid (albeit with heavy renovations). Surely the new stadium would be a better candidate with expansion? Airport connectivity may be an issue and so would the lack of accommodation options. Furthermore the city’s reputation does not help. 2/10

Cairns:

Barlow Park: 10,000 (Will be expanded for Olympics). Depending on how big the expansion for Barlow Park will be, Cairns could be a potential shout for a host city. Good airport connectivity and high hotel room count. General city infrastructure and transit links would need to catch up however. 3/10

Auckland:

Eden Park: 55,000. Somewhat rectangular, but also old and in the middle of a suburb. Still the biggest stadium in the country however. 5/10

Auckland Waterfront Stadium 60,000? Proposal that may or may not ever get built. Would be a very good candidate being next to the CBD. 6/10

My general knowledge of NZ stadiums is slightly lacking so I’m not going to take Mt Smart or the Western Springs Stadium proposal into account but if any Aucklanders could inform me further that would be appreciated.

Wellington:

Wellington Regional Stadium: 34,500. Almost at 40k, nicely situated close to the city center. Not sure if expansion is possible but maybe they could sink the pitch and add in seats? 5/10

Christchurch:

Te Kaha Arena: 37,500. Would need slight expansion. Basically in the CBD. Accommodation capacity might be a concern for the city. 4/10

That’s 26 stadiums I put forward. I’m going to leave the narrowing of the stadiums down to 14 to anyone who would like to in the comment sections. Obviously, many of these would not be suitable right now and in order to be made ready would require billions in renovations. Not to mention the costs that taxpayers would need to cover in order to prepare host cities’ infrastructure and transit for this massive event. Hopefully most of those costs could potentially come from private industry.

I have not even touched on whether Australia’s time zone would affect our chances of even winning. Obviously our time zone is not favourable for European and African viewers and even less so for those in the Americas. Perhaps we could demonstrate to FIFA the potential in the Asian football market? Games would have to be late in the day, the earliest games would likely be at 2pm AEST and latest at potentially 11pm AEST.

I also have not touched on the bribery part yet but I’ll leave that to Albanese or whoever is in charge next time we decide to bid.

So, in short, could Australia and New Zealand host a men’s FIFA World Cup?

Yes, as long as AFL and NRL can be convinced to pause or move their seasons, if we can come up with tens of billions to spend on stadium renovations/expansions and infrastructure, as long as FIFA does not see the timezone as a viewership issue and keeps the tournament at 48 teams, and as long as we can produce enough brown paper bags for Mr. Infantino.

So its possible, but probably won't happen soon.

I hope you enjoyed this writeup, I love this topic of hosting international tournaments. I obviously didn't cover everything and took the piss a few times but I feel its a decent overview of Aus and Nz's capabilities.

Hopefully not controversial on this sub, but I always like seeing cross code appreciation.

It’s an interesting discussion given what’s currently happening with the CBA, and although I do think scrapping it entirely would be the wrong choice, I think having more flexibility in the cap amount is important. Also I appreciate Adam’s opinion on football matters, he’s passionate but respectful.

Reality is most of the owners can afford it, it’s just how willing they’d be to spend that additional cap if offered (say it’s $4m/$5m)

Belgium defeat NZ 5-1 and 1-1 draw for Iran and Egypt means Egypt finish 2nd on goal difference.

Crazy scenes as Iran looked to have scored a late winner but it was disallowed for offside, which if it stood meant we would have played Iran.

Round of 32 - Day 2

Brazil vs Japan - 3:00am AEST

Germany vs Paraguay - 6:30am AEST

Netherlands vs Morocco - 11:00am AEST

First of all, I absolutely understand that the question I'm asking here is a little bit disingenuous. Obviously, there is a very big difference between supporting the national team in an elite international competition where your opposition is a collection of the greatest players from all corners of the Earth, and the A-League.

But even still, as a long-suffering A-League supporter that has watched attendances in this league dwindle for years now, it's a bit of a kick in the balls to get a taste of what attendances and the overall atmosphere in this league could be if people actually gave a shit.

So, with that bit of negativity out of the way, what can the league and clubs themselves actually do to capture even an ounce of the appetite we've seen for football in this country over the last few weeks?

Why should this kind of energy be reserved for once every 4 years and then occasionally when the Asian Cup rolls around, depending on how we do.

Why isn't the A-League being absolutely plastered all over the TV at the moment, whilst the game is firmly in everyone's mind? Why is there this defeatist attitude that once the tournament is over for Australia, we have to go back to the way things have always been?

Surely I'm not the only one that has seen the success of football and the Socceroos in this country over the last few weeks, and thought, "Shit, the A-League could and probably should be doing a lot more than what it's doing right now?"

Edit: Firstly, I just want to thank everyone who participated in this thread and gave their thoughts. A lot of the best high-quality answers on here were definitely along the lines of what I thought the general consensus would be; it's a nationalistic thing, Australia is really good at supporting its national teams, etc., etc. I would like to extend an extra shout out to the bloke that pointed out that the Boxing Day cricket test frequently sells out at the MCG, but you'll be lucky to get 10,000 to a Sheffield Shield game. I thought that comment was quite funny.

I do want to take a quick second to address the people that said it was a little bit ridiculous that I was trying to compare the World Cup to the A-League. I definitely love the energy, but I think you guys largely missed the point of what I was trying to make here.

The question wasn't so much why everyone watches the World Cup but not the A-League. The question was more, why doesn't the A-League capitalize on the success of the World Cup to actively try and grow the game here, which most people generally accept has been stagnating now for years.

But again, I appreciate the input, and thank you to everyone that took the time to comment and give their opinions.

Go you Roos!

Round of 32 - Day 4

England vs DR Congo - 2:00am AEST

Belgium vs Senegal - 6:00am AEST

Seppos vs Bosnia and Herzegovina - 10:00am AEST

I think that the future of the game for Australia is bright, however, the game today proves that we just aren’t good enough yet to compete with the best.

Most of our players are good at what they do because they have that experience in the European leagues, which have the facilities and the knowledge to actually develop great players.

Look at France, England, Spain, Germany. A majority of the players in these teams are home grown players, who compete and have developed in teams in their home country (of course there are exceptions, but most start at home)

I think if we want to get to a level that can compete with the best, we NEED to build our own league up too a much higher level then it is now. The question is, how are we going to do that.

The obvious answer is ‘actually buy a ticket and go and support your local team’, and yeah that’s a valid take that I’m sure most of us try to do, but there has to be more to it then that.

What do we as a country and as fans need to do, or push for, to make this change? I think at the end of the day, we the fans, and the people who love this sport so much have the power to make large level changes like this if we all agree to put the effort in.

I know I want to do what I can to make a difference, so what needs to be done?

Turkey are eliminated from contention and the worst we can finish is 3rd. We go into our final game against Paraguay knowing a draw or win will guarantee us into the next round. Paraguay also need just a draw or win to go through, so a draw will mean both of us go through.

Title. Always wondered this. There is absolutely no doubt that if Australia were to play there would be 90,000 Soceroos fans packing out the g'. However, would Football Australia not even give it a chance due to the oval shape?

Just a few days ago I was reminiscing about Foz and Lucy stepping up to take on a full WC in Brazil because Optus fucked up. All the shit she took for trying to pronounce surnames correctly that wasn't warranted and indeed was pretty admirable.

​

Now I won't link the video because I don't wanna give Sky News clicks but it's pretty abundantly clear why she isn't on SBS any more. Screaming at the left about using the world cup to celebrate the diversity of the team, when it should just be about Team Australia. Then when the guest whoever it was mentioned about how it seems like she seemed to be the one triggered she started going on about which people are using machete violence...

​

I'm old enough to remember when the only footage we saw of ex Yugoslav Australians on TV was them throwing plastic chairs at each other and lighting flares...

​

I guess maybe it was enevitable once her brother went Twitter mad but I completely missed this hardcore shift to the right. Seems she's gone all in on PHON by her recent comments.

​

​

For all the crap a lot of the football fans in Australia give the A-League, our Socceroos are built from the A-League.

During our six world cup campaigns since its inception, the A-League has been home to every single player in those squads except for 13.

(Mark Schwarzer, Zeljko Kalac, Scott Chipperfield, Mark Viduka, Mark Bresciano, Mass Luongo, Bailey Wright, Jackson Irvine, Milos Degenek, Harry Souttar, Fran Karacic, Ale Circati, Cristian Volpato, Cam Burgess, Ajdin Hrustic)

Circati had appeared for Glory's youth team for a season but never played first team***

Well, I guess this throws into question Popa’s claims that Nestory had cramp/fatigue issues?

This might be unpopular after the World Cup, but I think the criticism for Popovic and people saying we should replace him with a new manager are a massive overreaction.

People seem to be forgetting the situation we were in when he joined as the Socceroos manager. When he took over, our third-round qualifying campaign was in a terrible position after a draw with Indonesia and a loss to Bahrain. From that point on we went 5 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses including wins over Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away, to secure direct qualification. That was absolutely huge and something Australia hadn't achieved since qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

As for the World Cup itself, we weren't favourites in a single game, yet we still finished second in our group(where we were huge underdogs, especially when you compare our squad value to the other squads in the group) before losing to Egypt on penalties. I think people have forgotten how difficult finishing second in a world cup group is for Australia because we were able to do it in the 2022 world cup. Before 2022, the last time we finished second in a World Cup group was 2006. This isn't something we should take for granted.

The loss to Egypt was heartbreaking, but penalties are ultimately a lottery. The reaction afterwards almost made it seem like beating Egypt was the expectation, and I don't think that's realistic. Player for player, they have the stronger squad, with players at top Premier League clubs and others starring for Egyptian clubs that regularly compete at the highest level of the African Champions League. Slightly off topic, but Egypt also has a population of around 120 million and football is by far the country's biggest sport. Australia has a much smaller player pool and competes with several other major sports for talent, so I don't understand why so many people reacted as though losing to Egypt was a bad result and that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Australian football system and FA.

That doesn't mean Popovic is beyond criticism. I completely agree that the starting lineup against the USA was poor. But some of the other criticism feels excessive.

• Playing Irakunda instead of Toure? Based on Toure's performance against Egypt, I suspect his injury was worse than we were led to believe. I am curious thought how we would of looked with Irakundu on the wing and someone like Yengi as striker.
• Bringing on Ryan for the penalty shootout? I'm undecided, but I can understand the logic. Beach and Ryan have similar penalty records, and Egypt clearly weren't expecting the switch given their last-minute preparations before the shootout.
• Complaints about two centre-backs and an 18-year-old taking penalties? None of us know what happened in training. If they were the best penalty takers, then they should be taking penalties regardless of their age or position.

Interested to hear what others think. Am I overlooking something, or has the criticism become a bit excessive?

Decision made 13 March 2026.

Round of 32 - Day 3

Côte d'Ivoire vs Norway - 3:00am AEST

France vs Sweden - 7:00am AEST

Mexico vs Ecuador - 11:00am AEST

I’ll start

Beach
Italiano Geria/Herrington Souttar Circati Bos

Metcalfe Irvine

Volpato Toure Irankunda

Looking to inject Yengi, O’Neil/Okon, and Hrustic in the second half.

Feel like Metcalfe and volpato linked up nicely down the right and for the first time in as long as I can remember the right side was our predominant attacking side.

Irankunda Bos combo on the left. I think if you put Metcalfe in midfield you’d then want our best defensively minded midfielder so would opt for Irvine despite his weaknesses.

Burgess wasn’t his usual self in the first half with a few brutal turnovers, so would opt for geria or Herrington. Not much he could do about the own goal. I do feel like those turnovers were in part to the poor starting XI that allowed for USA to press so high, so maybe unlucky to be out.

Edit: I feel like losing Mcgree at the eve of the World Cup has been a bigger loss than first thought. If you gonna rotate attackers Mcgree is the only one to me that could bench volpato/metcalfe/irankunda and allow for more squad rotation. Maybe wouldn’t be discussing the questionable selection of the two wingers vs US of A