May 6 – Having missed out painfully on the 2022 World Cup, Australia are to bid for the women’s version the following year as part of a 20-year vision to boost the sport in a country dominated by rival football codes.
Under its Whole of Football Plan blueprint, Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop (pictured) said: “We have a firm conviction that football’s best years are ahead of us.”
Although Australian Rules Football (ARL) and rugby league dominate the sporting landscape in terms of crowds and revenue, Australia’s hugely successful hosting of the Asian Cup restored a sense of pride after the country’s costly failed World Cup bid drew fierce criticism at home, and was highlighted during the recent Soccerex Asian forum in Jordan.
Building on the Asian Cup, the FFA said on its website that hosting the Women’s World Cup “would provide a great showcase for the women’s game in Australia and empower a generation of women to take up football.”
Another element of the blueprint is a plan to build better training academies for players and coaches to try and stem the flow of the best moving overseas.
“The more immediate need for me is talent ID,” Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said. “The reality is that they’re out there anyway – we just don’t know them.
“If at the age of 15 or 16 they’re getting encouragement from within our system through academies maybe there won’t be the need to go overseas.”
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