Melbourne football fans risk missing out on Men’s World Cup matches as part of an Australian bid unless Victoria can solve its rectangular stadium conundrum. The warning comes as Football Australia (FA) seeks to leverage the success of the Women’s World Cup into an imminent bid for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and another try for the Men’s World Cup in 2034.
The FA chief executive, James Johnson, said there were three options for Melbourne to be part of a 2034 bid. “There would have to be investment into a stadium like the MCG to ‘rectangulise’ or ‘footballise’ it,” he said.
“Or there would need to be an upgrade to AAMI Park because it’s not big enough to host even a group stage match of a Men’s World Cup, or there needs to be a new rectangular stadium built.”
Asked if the Victorian government would consider building an 80,000-seat rectangular stadium, the…