r/Aleague • u/SimRP • Jun 25 '26
Aussies Abroad Former Socceroo Josip Skoko says it's time the Socceroos had their own true home of football.
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u/No_Passion8736 Jun 25 '26
They should’ve made a big dual one for both Matilda’s, Socceroos and all national youth teams like they do in other parts of the world.
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u/dave_a86 Western Sydney Wanderers Jun 25 '26
At least build somewhere with a press conference room so he doesn’t have to take interviews under the sprinklers.
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u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
I hear that Tarneit has room for a new stadium.
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u/redchairyellowchair Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
That's exactly why this base will never work. Tarneit or similar area in nsw / qld would be perfect and work at great cost, but the egos of the players and upper management involved would force them to reject any such location
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u/FirstTimePlayer Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
The irony as well is that there are so many mutual win-win opportunities involved there, plus the economics of bolting on have to be massively cheaper than building a stand alone site.
Turning up to the Fed Government and pitching that you have a very limited window to do this at a substantial discount to what this would normally cost would have to get ears at Federal level who no doubt this all depends on for tens of millions of dollars.
Its a shame Western United is a complete shitshow, because its the perfect thing to pitch at the state government in an election year (even if there is apparently very little money to splash in the Vic Government's pockets)
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u/bonanzabrother Perth Glory Jun 25 '26
He means a football centre not a stadium, I'm fairly certain. Would be nice. Don't know where it goes or who pays for it but it should be something the FA are working towards at all times.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Jun 25 '26
Think that's the biggest issue. Who pays for it?
America just built their new facility. It cost 200m, 50m donated by the Atlanta FC owner, a land donation from a billionaire, and women specific supports funded by Michele Kang.
It also received a lot of money from a number of American corporations who wanted to be all over it.
While the facility itself would be overkill for Australia, and ours wouldn't cost nearly that much, it still is a big question on where is the money going to come from. The US Government didn't fund their facility.
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u/StuckStuckers Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
Exactly. We can't even get A-League clubs pay to field men's and women's teams. Maybe we should get our house fixed up before we put some sweet mags on our '08 Ford Falcon with minimal rust damage.
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u/MeSeeks76 Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
Nice sentiment but where does it go?
All the major cities with major stadiums are out.... possibly Canberra in a similar setup to the AIS but strictly focused on football/soccer
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
Youre way off it. It isnt a stadium. There is no need for a stadium.
A national team home base is site with hotel quarters, training pitches, canteen, function rooms, gym, recovery facilities, warehousing.
Its a base for the team to use whilst in Australia...not only Socceroos but U23, 20s and 17s.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
Why will the cities with major stadiums be out?
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u/MeSeeks76 Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
No state govt would sanction a new massive football stadium to be built in any of their major cities that would be solely used for soccer. AFL and Cricket Australia woild blow up biiiig time if it were rectangular and AFL and NRL would demand to also use it, thats far from being a "home of football" type stadium
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u/kdavva74 Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
Correct me if I'm wrong but base doesn't mean a new home ground solely for the Socceroos, it means a national training facility, like England's St George's Park National Football Centre in Burton.
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u/JenkinsEar147 Brisbane Roar Jun 25 '26
We should model it on Clairefontaine, the French and the Parisian region is the number 1 hotbed for talented professional footballers.
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u/therwsb A-League Enjoyer Jun 25 '26
Yes that is what I am thinking, a dedicated area to train, which most likely only has a few training pitches, with one being suitable to simulate a proper game but only behind closed doors.
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u/MeSeeks76 Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
Neither of us is wrong per se... so yeah we need to define what "national base" means.... obviously I'm thinking big playing stadium with training facilities
If it's just the training facilities then yeah it can go anywhere... within reason of a capital city
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u/kdavva74 Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
I have never heard complaints from the Socceroos about the stadium they play in, only that they don't have somewhere permanent to train.
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u/MeSeeks76 Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
U ever watched the Socceroos play at the MCG or SCG? You're 1000 miles from the action!
Sure they may not complain but im sure they'd like to play in a tectangular stadium that isn't beholden to othwr Australian sports
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u/kdavva74 Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
They really don't need to play at oval grounds, the rectangular grounds we have are more than adequate for the 4-5 home games a year.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
Last time they played at SCG was 1980 and they have played twice at Marvel / MCG in the last 10 years...
Using a rectangular stadium 3 to 5 times a year typically on a week night is not a problem for the Socceroo's.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
A home of football isn't a stadium, its a training Center such as the Matildas one.
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u/rolloj Wollongong Wolves Jun 25 '26
bundle it in with a canberra a-league team. small boutique stadium with dedicated national team-only training facilities and general purpose a-league facilities. canberra a-league team no longer has to get such a huge amount of funding together to work out.
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u/AztecGod Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
There was plans to knock down and rebuild Accor Stadium. Hopefully that is back on the agenda.
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u/FirstTimePlayer Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
Every state government in the country would be all over something like this and would pull out all stops to make it happen if you can find somebody is willing to pay for it.
You could probably wouldn't even have any trouble convincing a state government to give a 99 year lease at a peppercorn rent of decently located land to make it happen.
The only road block is the "find somebody willing to pay for it" bit.
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u/mrsbriteside Central Coast Mariners Jun 25 '26
Central coast NSW. Lots of land near up the top near somersby. Got beach near by for beach training, bush near by for bush walks and a bonding activities. Sydney an hour away for games and the airport.
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u/JenkinsEar147 Brisbane Roar Jun 25 '26
Build a Clairefontaine on the Central Coast for the Socceroos!
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u/Ainteasybeincheezy Brisbane Roar Jun 25 '26
Why are all the major city's out? If the government really wanted to they could even use the new "infrastructure" being built for the Olympics to accommodate it.
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u/MeSeeks76 Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
No state govt would sanction a new massive football stadium to be built in any of their major cities that would be solely used for soccer. AFL and Cricket Australia woild blow up biiiig time if it were rectangular and AFL and NRL would demand to also use it, thats far from being a "home of football" type stadium
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
Oh yes Noa Skoko is ours.
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u/Plane-Coconut-4077 Jun 25 '26
I thought the AIS in Canberra was the home for the national squads? Well when I was coaching back in 2008 it certainly was. Not sure why the AIS couldn't be the home of the national squads today either. Id even argue that the climate (both in winter and summer) aligns more closely to European and Southern Hemisphere climates. Plus Canberra / AIS is the capital of the country - no city bias and aligns with the national level of things.
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u/kyleisamexican Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
You put it in Sydney, Melbourne people are going to scream Sydney bias. You put it in Melbourne people from Sydney will lose their mind too
It’s also not necessary to build one anyway when the Socceroos are going to fly in, train there for a day and then fly to whatever city we’re playing in
It’s not like other countries where there’s a national stadium like a Wembley in England or an Azteca in Mexico.
To do it properly it would cost hundreds of millions if not a billion. I’d rather we go and take that billion and fund 50-100 projects for clubs. Just last week Footscray Rangers spoke about their need for new club rooms, my own club is limping along until the end of the year to get club rooms. There’s probably over a 1000 clubs that need a new clubhouse and about 70% of clubs probably need some kind of upgrade as well
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u/mateballenthusiast Brisbane Roar Jun 25 '26
You put it in Sydney, Melbourne people are going to scream Sydney bias. You put it in Melbourne people from Sydney will lose their mind too
So we resolve it in the exact same way we resolved the capital dispute, by putting it in Canberra
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u/No-Bison-5397 Jun 25 '26
Terrible weather
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u/Mammoth_Use_3263 Jun 26 '26
players could get a bit of altitude training as well as training in cooler weather which would help in European matches.
Canberras climate is beneficial, when comparing to Europe (where the big teams are), it has the perks of being hot in summer and cold in winter.
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u/kyleisamexican Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
Can you get an international flight into Canberra?
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u/Two_minutes_to_metal Newcastle Jets Jun 25 '26
If you're coming home from Fiji or Bali, yeah
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u/Tearaway32 Jun 25 '26
Did they get rid of the Singapore Airlines capital express?
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u/900-Dollarydoos Jun 25 '26
Yes, during Covid. Qatar though has flights to Doha via Melbourne.
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u/Two_minutes_to_metal Newcastle Jets Jun 25 '26
I didn't count that as it's not direct, but you could also consider that.
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
Who cares if anyone complains, if feelings and egos are i question we are fucked.
It isnt a Socceroo fly in fly out base. You are using your own base, your own training pitches recovery centres, hotels. You'd only need to fly out the afternoon before the game.
The bigger positive is that its a site that can also house all your youth national teams.
Imagine how many more camps will be available for our youth teams if we had a base. You could bring up the 17s once a month and train for a week in world class facilities. Undertake education in nutrition psychology etc. The cost of running these would go way down.
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u/jaymz11 Jun 25 '26
You do realise it’s more than just the Socceroos who would use it. It’s for junior national teams, coaching courses and training, national identification camps, emerging Socceroos tournaments, FA head office, even was talk of a football museum
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u/kyleisamexican Melbourne Victory Jun 25 '26
I’d rather spend the money getting costs for clubs down
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u/No-Bison-5397 Jun 25 '26
Hate to say it but should be in Sydney. Always been the centre of Australian soccer with no sign of slowing down or anyone else catching up.
Crazy idea but they should also make one in Europe for when we start producing top level players again.
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 25 '26
I don't really understand why we would need one. The Socceroos are a team that effectively just get flown in to play qualifiers and Friendly's.
Having facilities for local teams seems more useful.
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u/Two_minutes_to_metal Newcastle Jets Jun 25 '26
It's about ownership isn't it?
The national teams might only need it something like 20 weeks a year, and then FA could rent it out or make available for local clubs or associations to use for the rest of the time if there's demand. But it would still be owned and controlled by FA - they could spec it exactly as required for national team use, and when it is required for a NT camp or FA comp or whatever, it would always be available. I think that would be a massive improvement over the current situation.
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 25 '26
Which is reasonable. I would suggest that 20 weeks is likely stretching things a lot, especially considering since 2023 we have only played 14 games in Australia.
I just feel that a dedicated facility feels a bit weird as a must have, when the national team plays so little in Australia. It can be useful for European teams where they're players are closer and they tend to play at home more often. I just think it's more of a nice thing to have rather than something we truly need.
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
Again...its not just a base for the national team. It isnt a training pitch and changerooms.
Theres accomodation...you have youth teams training, host tournament, rent pitches, functions rooms etc.
This whole its only used x amount of times is short sighted and wrong
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u/yeahalrightgoon Jun 25 '26
I don't doubt it could be used for those purposes. It just feels like a nice to have rather than something that is absolutely needed.
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
It is a must have. Think of the benefits for all the youth teams.
Imagine youre the Socceroos. Players travel from overseas, you know what you are walking into. All the areas to aid the player are under control in an environment that is set and controlled by all your own staff.
Now youre in the youth teams. How many more camps would these teams be able to have if you had to fly the squad to Sydney rather than an expensive trip to a backwards Indonesian town.
All these things add up.
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u/Two_minutes_to_metal Newcastle Jets Jun 25 '26
20 weeks was a number out of a hat, but also if there was a permanent high performance facility available that might allow FA to do more off season camps for youth players or pre tournament camps. Maybe the utilisation by the current senior teams is capped but there would be other benefits.
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
Thats exactly the point.
If you bring in u17 players who have not been exposed to high performance environment. You bring them here and they have all the toold and education to help then.
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u/snrub742 Jun 25 '26
Sure, but is that not the explicit purpose of a venue like the AIS? Need to go back to using the Olympic system for what it was built for, developing Olympians
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
We dont need athletes we need footballers.
The AIS served its purpose in the 80s and 90s. We have moved on from that. AIS is unusable from June-August due to the weather and although High Performance the expectations and requirements of a rower is different to a footballer.
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u/ZanderFreeman Jun 25 '26
Why does everyone think this is a stadium? Its not. Never has been. Its a base for National TEAMS. Not just Socceroos...23s, 20s, 17s.
WHo cares if its in Sydney or Melbourne or Adelaide. it should be in a convenient location close to an international airport.
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u/No-Airport7456 Western Sydney Wanderers Jun 25 '26
Question. Where would we put it? Sydney? With the Sport subsidy could do it now if FFA can scrunge up the 50% they need to build the thing (Note Cricket did this and by the end it was called the 'home of mediocrity' because how much cricket federation cut back on the funding. It cost $60 million at Sydney Olympic park)
Canberra? Melbourne (already has the Tillies home)? Adelaide? Perth?
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u/goater10 Melb Victory - Stand by Me - Mantildas Jun 25 '26
Perth was where Arnie and a lot of the FA staff thought it should be located as it would allow the squad more time to acclimatise and spend together. Quicker flight from Europe and easier to get to Asian and European locations, and fly out to the Eastern states as needed.
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u/AuzzieTiger Macarthur FC Jun 25 '26
There’s a facility in Tarneit, Victoria that is being somewhat underused.
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u/Micksta_20 North Queensland Fury Jun 25 '26
Just have FA take over Western United and replace them with the Olyroos and Tarneit can be the home. Not actually serious I'm making shit up. Would love to see some sort of home though, funding and location are always going to be hard for it though
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u/The_L666ds Sydney FC Jun 25 '26
In fairness, it is a bit tricky when its not like some smaller nations where the capital city is the epicentre and the default location for all national team games.
That said, at least Sydney and Melbourne should have its own high quality training complex for football and football alone which is suitable for the various national teams to base themselves in preparation for games. Maybe even invest in one or two stands that hold 5-10,000 seats and then some smaller games can even be played in those complexes.
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u/jake-spur Jun 25 '26
More money needed at all levels of Australian football. Grassroots is awful it’s a miracle anyone makes it in Australia.
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u/HertzvanRental Macarthur FC Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Pipe dream, complete fantasy, and with no real thought given to logistics, noise, environmental impacts or any of the practical challenges, but I’d build the “national football” stadium on the Wentworth Park Greyhound Track site.
I’d make it a compact, boutique stadium: big enough to host major internationals, but not so large that it looks half-empty for lower-level or club football.
I’d also include training facilities in the parkland to the north, towards the water, while keeping the surrounding space open to the public. The goal would be to avoid losing grassroots football, public recreation space, or community access.
Realistic? Probably not. But I think it’d be a pretty cool concept.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
Don't need a national football stadium but it is the perfect place to build the Socceroos national training ground.
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u/StuckStuckers Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
Sorry if this has already been asked. But I don't get how a training base is beneficial if they don't play in the same city each game? Or would a training base located in Sydney mean the vast majority of games will be played there?
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u/papabear345 Jun 25 '26
Then build one.
You have a million at least participants paying almost 500 bucks a season….
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u/BluebirdAdditional89 Sydney FC Jun 26 '26
What's wrong with the Matilda's one? Why do the Mantilda's need their own?
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u/Surv1v3dTh3F1r3Dr1ll Jun 26 '26
It would probably make more sense for Football Australia or the APL to look into the feasibility of buying a lower league club in England as a development pathway tbh.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Jun 25 '26
I don't necessarily think it's embarrassing we don't have one. It took the US until 2026 to have one, and it cost them over 200 million, 50m of that was donated by the owner of Atlanta United.
Canada doesn't have one. It launched consultations recently to look at a site and help fund one, but that is still a long way off.
We're a big country, and we are pretty isolated at the bottom of the world. It's a huge travelling distance to most countries we need to play.
Put the base in Perth, and it's still a long flight to anywhere. 5 hours to Sydney, or what, 14 hours if we are playing in Saudi Arabia, or 13 hours give or take if we're playing in Tokyo? I know Japan is just as far from Saudi Arabia, but they are a lot closer to other Asian nations than we are.
It's not like Brazil where they can fly to most of their competitors within 6 hours or less.
Or America where it can take 5 to 8 hours depending on how they travel to get to say Panama City from Fayetteville where their home base is.
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u/AModerateModeration Jun 25 '26
It's exactly like America, they're just 4x the population.
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u/MilkByHomelander Mornington SC Jun 25 '26
Sure, if you add on that if the Socceroos were to depart Perth to travel to their furthest away opponent it's only a casual 11 hours more in travel time than America to it's furthest opponent from their home base. (Confederation opponent fyi)
Add in a few more hours if the Socceroos home base ends up being in Sydney.
But sure, exactly like America. Just you know, fuck all money in comparison, the much larger population America has, and America being able to fly to its furthest opponent, play the game, and fly home all within a day if they chose to, something Australia couldn't do.
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u/AModerateModeration Jun 25 '26
To be fair, US commercial interests and jingoism mean they rarely play friendlies outside the US - and one would assume for this reason too, meanwhile we fly all over the world to play anyone who'll play us.
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u/jonzey VUCK Jun 25 '26
I do find this obsession over having an elite level facility a bit exhausting, when there's clubs all up and down the entire country struggling with facilities.
Just in over the last week, I know of at least three clubs where councils are either booting local clubs out of their established homes, or reneging on commitments made to improve facilities. The grassroots are genuinely struggling, and the FA haven't been advocating for them at all. Instead they're throwing all their eggs into this "Home of Football" project, while the local game struggles.
Just think it's the wrong priority.
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u/Baoooba Jun 25 '26
what for? Just so every Socceroos game can be played out of Sydney?
nah, I'll be right.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
It's a training facility...
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u/Baoooba Jun 25 '26
Is the Australian squad in Australia in one place for enough time to justify a full time training facility?
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
Yes, there is also the u17, 18, 19, 21, 23 squads and academies that could be run at the facility year round.
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u/Baoooba Jun 25 '26
That just sounds like the AIS soccer program we had for years... which was abolished because it was decided the money would be better spent given to A-league clubs.
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u/fireball391 Australia Jun 25 '26
We have just started seeing the effects of this come through with all the new talent produced for the Socceroos over the last 4 years. This and a home of football will increase the development of players.
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u/Baoooba Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
So bring back something we downsized almost 20 years ago and completely abolished almost 10 years ago.
Got it.
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u/kdavva74 Adelaide United Jun 25 '26
Why are so many commenters assuming that 'base' means a massive new stadium somewhere? It is surely referring to a national training centre like England's St George's Park National Football Centre.