Maradona played there. Now Sydney’s iconic stadium may lose its World Cup qualifiers

Football Australia has threatened to take clutch World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers away from Sydney’s Allianz Stadium due to concerns with the surface and congested schedule at the $828 million venue.

Newly released documents reveal a schism between the game’s governing body and Venues NSW about the use of the rebuilt stadium, which only reopened three years ago but has been plagued by turf and drainage issues.

Diego Maradona (right) and Socceroos captain Paul Wade walk onto the Sydney Football Stadium for the first leg of a World Cup qualifying tie in 1993.Credit: Getty

Formerly known as the Sydney Football Stadium, Allianz has a long history of hosting major Socceroos and Matildas matches, among them the World Cup qualifier against Argentina in 1993 when Diego Maradona led the South American team to a first-leg draw before Australian hearts were broken in Buenos Aires.

But FA warned in an email after the Socceroos’ World Cup Asian group stage qualifying game against Indonesia in March that its men’s and women’s national teams may abandon the 42,500-capacity ground if it could not be closed off in the two weeks before their matches.

“Moving forward, Football Australia would be hesitant to book Allianz Stadium for high-stakes international fixtures unless greater assurance is provided around pitch protection, turf preparation windows, and warm-up zone quality,” FA chief corporate affairs officer Peter Filopoulos wrote to Venues NSW general manager for event acquisition Stephen Saunders on March 26.

Filopoulos said players had reported the Allianz surface was “the worst pitch they’ve played on in some time”, describing it as well below international standard. He even suggested it cost the Socceroos winning by more than the 5-1 margin they did against Indonesia, “which could be crucial given the tightness of our qualification group”.

Martin Boyle scores from the penalty spot for the Socceroos against Indonesia at Allianz Stadium in March.Credit: Getty Images

FA chief executive James Johnson, who has since left the role, followed up with an email to Venues NSW chief Kerrie Mather on April 17, saying the conditions hadn’t improved when the Matildas played at Allianz Stadium on April 4 and football authorities had “significant concerns”.

Johnson told Mather the goal conceded by the Socceroos against Indonesia was “directly influenced by an uneven bounce, undermining the integrity of play”, while also reporting safety concerns from players’ slippage, an “unacceptable” strip of ready-to-play turf in a goalmouth, and below-standard warm-up areas.

Blaming excessive pre-match traffic from rugby league, rugby union, as well as the A-League and Asian Champions League soccer, he called for a minimum window of 10 to 14 days in which there would be no training or games at Allianz Stadium before international soccer fixtures.

Mather disputed the scathing assessment of the surface, telling Johnson it had been rated as good to excellent by Venues NSW and FA’s independent turf consultants and rated as safe for play by FA pre-match inspections.

Sydney FC line up against the touring Wrexham AFC at a packed Allianz Stadium last week.Credit: Getty Images

“If, in Football Australia’s view, the standards provided and verified are still considered insufficient, perhaps the FIFA/AFC guidelines need to be reviewed by Football Australia given the subjective nature of the condition of the field of play?” she wrote back.

Mather said Venues NSW did its best to manage the use of the stadium by multiple codes and to lessen the load where it could but could not commit to keeping Allianz Stadium free of games and training for so long before Socceroos and Matildas matches.

“Given the lateness and inconsistency from year to year in international football scheduling relative to other codes, it is not possible for Venues NSW to provide the pitch protection windows football may be seeking,” she wrote.

The emails were made public under the powers of the NSW Legislative Council among a trove of Venues NSW documents sought by controversial upper house MP Mark Latham after criticism of the surfaces at Allianz Stadium and the Sydney Cricket Ground this year.

A review of the drainage system at Allianz Stadium is soon due to be handed to the Venues NSW board and NSW Sports Minister Steve Kamper.

“We have been clear the quality wasn’t good enough which is why we directed Venues NSW to launch an independent review,” said a spokesperson for Kamper.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with Football Australia. We have had meetings as recently as last week with FA, where we agreed to work together to bring more content to NSW.”

In a statement, FA said it had always enjoyed playing Socceroos and Matildas matches in NSW.

“Football Australia has a positive and constructive relationship with Venues NSW, Destination NSW and the NSW government and our confidence in them to deliver world-class conditions is demonstrated by our recent discussions with them to bring additional content to NSW before the end of the year,” FA interim CEO Heather Garriock said.

“We intend to showcase more Socceroos and Matildas games and to bring major football tournaments to Sydney, and any suggestion to the contrary is not correct.”

It is anticipated the Allianz Stadium review will recommend the venue be shut for repair work for 10 weeks after the completion of the NRL season.

Soccer would be the sport most impacted by the closure, with Sydney FC facing being locked out of their home ground until next year.

Other tenants at the Moore Park stadium include the Sydney Roosters and NSW Waratahs. The South Sydney Rabbitohs also want to move there, but they are contracted to play at Accor Stadium until 2031 and their request to relocate has been declined by Kamper.

Venues NSW is in the midst of a tender process for the supply of turf across its stadium network, which takes in Accor Stadium, CommBank Stadium and Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium, as well as Allianz Stadium and the SCG.