Australia confident that stepping in at last moment to host Olympic qualifiers will help World Cup hosting cause
FFA chief executive James Johnson is relishing the chance to show off Australia’s hosting capabilities to the rest of the world after stepping in as a last-minute replacement to host the Olympic women’s football qualifiers.
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Football bosses hope the Matildas’ first competitive games in Sydney since the 2000 Olympics will spark strong crowds across Sydney, despite having a just a few days to organise the games and promote them.
Racing to arrange an Olympic qualifying tournament after the games were switched away from virus-struck China, Football Federation Australia is expected to announce the venues to host six fixtures next week.
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Though final negotiations were ongoing late on Tuesday, it’s believed Australia could play at least one of its games against Chinese Taipei and Thailand on February 3 and 6 respectively at Campbelltown, and then China at Bankwest Stadium on February 9. Leichhardt Oval and Jubilee Stadium have also been mentioned as venues for the six games.
Each game will be part of a double-header involving the other teams, with the top two teams at the end going into play-offs to secure a place at the Olympics in Tokyo.
FFA CEO James Johnson said the challenge of organising six games in a week had left his staff “burning”, though the Matildas themselves will benefit hugely from playing their qualifiers on home soil – the first such since similar games in 2007.
“There was a challenge for the team – they were upset and nervous at the prospect of going to China,” said Johnson.
“Our sole objective initially was to ensure they could focus on the football and could provide a healthy, stress-free environment.
“The next point was, where is the tournament going to go? Now this is a great opportunity for the girls to play in front of a home crowd and really start building a buzz around the team.
“I remember a quote by Winston Churchill: Never let a good crisis go to waste.
“We’d like to fill the stadiums, though there are some challenges as we don't have a lot of time to promote the games.
“I can promise the FFA staff are burning in terms of the work they’re doing.”
Originally published as Australia confident that stepping in at last moment to host Olympic qualifiers will help World Cup hosting cause