AFL could make way for soccer at MCG in future World Cup, as Premier backs stadium for 2034

Daniel Andrews has flagged that the MCG would be an excellent host stadium for a 2034 World Cup in Australia, but the plan could be a potentially big blow to the AFL.

The Premier has no intention of expanding AAMI Park. Picture: Jason Edwards

Premier Daniel Andrews has identified the MCG as a flagship stadium for a 2034 men’s World Cup hosted in Australia – a scenario which would likely force the AFL off the ground for at least two months.

With Football Australia saying Melbourne needs a major rectangular stadium in order to be a key part of a World Cup bid, Mr Andrews says the MCG could easily be transformed.

Asked on Tuesday whether he would be prepared to consider building a bigger soccer stadium to rival AAMI Park and make Victoria more attractive as a city that could host finals, Mr Andrews pointed to the MCG.

“We have a stadium that seats 100,000 (people) and it can be made a rectangular stadium. It’s been done in the past,” he said.

Regarding a potential clash with the AFL season, Mr Andrews said: “All of these issues can be looked at ... There would have to be a national bid and it would be up to FIFA and others to work through lots of different bids and lots of different offerings.”

The AFL could not be reached on Tuesday evening.

The Herald Sun last week revealed Australia was set to bid for the 2034 men’s World Cup in the wake of a “best ever” women’s event.

But without a purpose-built soccer stadium with greater seating capacity, FA chief executive James Johnson warned Melbourne could miss out on key matches if Australia did secure FIFA’s crown jewel – as was the case for the women’s event.

The MCG could be transformed for future World Cup events. Picture: David Crosling

FIFA demands all men’s World Cup stadiums seat at least 40,000 fans, while stadiums hosting key matches must seat at least 60,000 and venues for the final at least 80,000.

AAMI Park has a maximum capacity of just 30,500 and Marvel seats a little over 53,000.

The MCG, however, can accommodate more than 100,000.

But transforming the MCG into a rectangular stadium for the duration of a World Cup – traditionally played across at least a month in June and July – would likely mean it would be out of bounds for the Aussie rules teams for at least eight weeks, unless the AFL season was moved.

The FIFA tournament’s traditional timing would be unlikely to be adjusted greatly, as most of the world’s biggest soccer leagues compete between August to May and there would be an international push to see as little disruption to that schedule as possible.

Last year, the World Cup was moved to mid-November to mid-December as a result of host nation Qatar’s scorching July weather, but the move was almost universally derided.

The Premier also said he did not believe the reputational fallout from the Commonwealth Games’ fiasco would hurt any push from Victoria to host future events such as the World Cup, flagging that a number of world sporting and cultural events had expressed an interest in heading to the state.

“I had a meeting with Visit Victoria’s leadership last week and while I’m not in a position to make any announcements, there are a number of very, very big events – very big global sporting and cultural events – knocking on our door wanting us to bid and wanting us to be part of the running of their events, and we’ll have many exciting announcements to make in due course,” he said.

Melbourne would need a stadium bigger than AAMI park to host finals matches. Picture: Paul Jeffers

It comes as Mr Andrews said he had no plans to follow the Queensland government in honouring the Matildas with a statue.

“I think the greatest monument to the Matilda’s is our continued efforts to promote and support women’s sport, and particularly football at a grassroots level and we’ll have more to say about that soon,” he said.