February 28 – Two years ago Australia co-hosted the biggest Women’s World Cup to date. This month marks a year to go before the country hosts the expanded 2027 Women’s Asian Cup, a tournament that once again will break all preceding records.
It is a milestone and another stage of the country’s ambition to build in the hosting expertise of 2023 to bring more major events to Australia.
“We are very honoured we are hosting the Women’s Asian Cup. It is a big opportunity to continue the wave of transformation we saw leading up to and beyond our hosting of the Women’s World Cup in 2023,” said Football Australia CEO James Johnson (pictured).
“It is a chance to captivate the audience in Australia and abroad. To bring our country and connect to the rest of Asia.”
Johnson says that hosting the 12 best team in Asia is very exciting, pointing out that women’s football in Asia is very competitive.
See Venues unveiled for the Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026
“I think we have seen since 2019 the (competitive) gap closing between teams. If we look at teams ranked 24 to 32 the difference between top and bottom is quite small. Between 23 and 26 the gap closes up more,” he said.
Football in Australia has been growing at increasingly fast rates. Participation in 2024 grew by 11% and 16% in the women’s game. Attendance at Matildas games are growing year-on-year and Johnson says he expects that to continue in 2026.
The success of hosting the 2023 World Cup has not just boosted participation levels, it has also raised the level of corporate support for the game in Australia.
“The corporate support we saw in the World Cup was first class and since then we have renewed sponsorships with Nike, Allianz and Coles Supermarkets, all are major sponsorship,” said Johnson.
Similarly there is an ambition to build football infrastructure, and with the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032, Football Australia has submitted plans for a boutique stadium in the city of 20-25,000 capacity.
While the bulk of Australia’s national team players ply their trade in the professional leagues in Europe, Johnson says the growth in participation at home will increase domestic opportunity and competitiveness.
“We are seeing a lot of players coming through the men’s and women’s A Leagues. A strategic focus of ours has been to develop younger players,” he said.
“The majority of players in our national teams are playing abroad in particular in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Our goal is to have more Australia-based players.”
Right now the focus is on delivering 2026. “We are a very proud member of the AFC. We have different roles and responsibilities for 2026. Our job is to deliver on the ground,” said Johnson.
But there is also ambition to do more. “Looking ahead we want to build on our hosting capacity. We have submitted an expression of interest to bring the 2031 Asian Cup here and are exploring that opportunity. We are also open to bringing the Club World Cup to Australia,” he concluded.
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