Football Australia chief executive James Johnson has issued a plea for bigger venues to be used for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane and upgrades to be made to help boost the country’s bid to stage the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Johnson claimed that football grounds are "not big enough" to host matches at Brisbane 2032 and warned that "hundreds of thousands of fans" will miss out on watching the national team play if changes are not made.
His comments came at a Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee meeting where he urged Australian Members of Parliament to take action.
The Toowomba Sports Ground, Barlow Park and Sunshine Coast Stadium are among the venues that are being earmarked to stage football matches during Brisbane 2032.
But with all three currently only able to hold a capacity crowd of 20,000 or less, Johnson has urged the Government to review the stadia chosen in order to meet demand.
"The question for us is can some of the decisions that are being taken right now with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games - can they be taken with a future men’s FIFA World Cup in mind so that there is no leakage of investment?" said Johnson.
"We have not had any consultation with 2032 to this point, and we hope that we will in the months and years to come.
"In my view, the stadia available are not big enough for football.
"I can categorically say that.
"If this is what is the case for 2032, there is going to be hundreds of thousands of fans and community members that are not going to be able to watch the CommBank Matildas or the Olyroos.
"They’re not going to be able to watch great global teams like the US women’s national team, or the Lionesses or Brazil, or Argentinian men’s team."
His appeal comes just weeks after Australia co-hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup which broke attendance and viewership records.
More than 1.9 million fans flocked to venues to watch the tournament across Australia and New Zealand - breaking the previous record of 1.35 million set at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.
Johnson said Football Australia was forced to move the opening group match from the Sydney Football Stadium to the 75,000-capacity Stadium Australia to provide an extra 30,000 seats for spectators.
"We would have sold even more than the 75,000 capacity if we had a venue like the Melbourne Cricket Ground made available," said Johnson.
"So I hope there is an opportunity to look at playing in bigger stadiums at this tournament, because we are going to need them."
