Football Australia (FA) is “very confident” of hosting the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup, with the announcement just around the corner according to chief executive James Johnson.
Key points:
- Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan have also bid to host the tournament, with a decision expected within months
- The Matildas were quarterfinalists at the last Asian Cup in January 2022
- Anter Isaac was elected as chair of the FA board, replacing Chris Nikou
FA hierarchy continued lobbying to host the cup on Wednesday at its annual general meeting in Sydney, attended by the Asian Football Confederation’s women’s football committee chair, Kanya Keomany.
“This process will be decided very soon by the Asian Football Confederation and we believe we’re in a very strong position to host,” Johnson said.
“You saw what Australia can do when we hosted the Women’s World Cup and we believe we can replicate that in January 2026.
“We had an opportunity to continue to push our merit for our case and we’re very confident that we will be hosting.”
Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan have also bid to host the tournament, with a decision expected within months.
Australia hosted the men’s Asian Cup in 2015, with the Socceroos beating South Korea 2-1 in a thrilling extra-time final.
The fresh lobbying came as FA reported a net surplus of $671,000 for the financial year, a figure forecast by Johnson to grow in coming years.
“We are very happy. It’s a strong financial report … we’re in a good space,” he said.
“What we have focused on in the past 24 months is really growing specific revenue streams.
“Sponsorship has been a focus with both our Matildas and Socceroos, media [broadcast rights] has been a focus, match-day revenue … we’re expecting each of these three revenue streams to increase going forward.”
The FA board elected Anter Isaac as chair, replacing Chris Nikou.
Isaac, a former Football NSW chair, said he was taking over with a mandate to continue the momentum generated by hosting this year’s Women’s World Cup.
Isaac said the Matildas’ performance at the showcase tournament had emboldened Australian football.
“Shifting the mindset from one of hope to belief that we can actually do this, not only off the field but on the field; the Matildas were incredible,” he said.
“Now there’s almost this expectation, as we saw with the Socceroos in Qatar [at the Men’s World Cup] last year, that we need to be achieving that.
“Our expectations have lifted considerably.”
Isaac pledged to continue lobbying the federal government for funds to create an Australian football centre of excellence, a cause championed by Socceroos coach Graham Arnold.
“We see every other sport has something and we don’t,” he said.
“We love the other sports but we have an impact that we believe is greater than most of the other sports can have — not only domestically but globally, and across gender, age, every dimension of characteristic.
“We will be working really hard … we’ll knock on doors and meet with people until that [centre of excellence] happens.”
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AAP
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