Exciting bid for A-League club in Melbourne’s southeast could net new regional stadium in Dandenong CBD
A $170 million soccer stadium could be built in central Dandenong if the region wins one of the A-League expansion licences up for grabs.
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A $170 million soccer stadium could be built in central Dandenong if the region wins one of the A-League expansion licences up for grabs.
The stadium would seat up to 20,000 fans and be built just 100m from the train station, on a 37,000 sqm vacant block on Cheltenham Rd.
Soccer’s governing body, Football Federation Australia, announced in February the national league would expand to 12 teams by the 2019/20 season, with the two new clubs to be decided this year.
And Team 11, the committee tasked with bringing an A-League club to southeast Melbourne, has announced today if its bid was successful, a modern, regional stadium would come with that.
Greater Dandenong Councillor and Team 11 steering committee member Jim Memeti said as the most multicultural municipality in Australia, “football is the number one sport of choice for our residents and a rectangular venue would sit pride of place in the heart of our CBD.”
Team 11 is facing fierce competition from South Melbourne and the southwest region but momentum is building.
They say a successful bid would continue the revitalisation of central Dandenong and bring the nation’s most popular sport to a rapidly expanding area already bursting with more than 1.2 million people and 89 soccer clubs.
Former Socceroos star and Team 11 ambassador, Dandenong-born Vince Grella said the new club would play at a soccer-specific venue with an intimacy to rival all others in the country.
“Having grown up in nearby Keysborough, I’m very jealous this is only a possibility now and not 30 years ago,” he said.
“This club will make that dream of playing professional football all the more realistic for our boys and girls.”
He said there’s a very real prospect the ground could also host the Socceroos, Matildas, youth internationals and local clubs and schools.
Cr Memeti said a stadium would be about more than the creation of a football club.
“This will be a prized asset for our region, catering for a wide range of sporting events, multicultural festivals, concerts and functions,” he said.
The earmarked site is right next to one of Victoria’s busiest train and bus stations and less than 5km from the Monash Freeway and EastLink.
Private businesses and all tiers of government are likely to fund the stadium and concepts have been developed by AAMI Park designers Cox Architecture. The land proposed for the stadium is owned by Greater Dandenong Council.
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