A revamped FIFA tournament could bring the world’s top club teams to Australia after Football Australia’s boss confirmed it was considering a bid to host the 2029 Club World Cup.
FA chief executive James Johnson and New Zealand Football Chair Johanna Wood have had discussions about a trans-Tasman bid to follow the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The tournament will adopt a new 32-team format, played every four years, with the revamped competition set to begin in June 2025, with the United States receiving the inaugural hosting rights by FIFA last week.
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High-performing teams will be selected from across six football confederations, with 12 European clubs – including 2023 UEFA Champions League winners Manchester City, and the winners of equivalent tournaments in Africa, Asia, CONMEBOL (North and Central America) and CONCACAF (South America), competing for the coveted trophy.
A-League teams can qualify for the event by winning the AFC Champions League, a feat that’s only been achieved once, by the Western Sydney Wanderers in 2014. However, if Football Australia wins the bid one trans-Tasman team will automatically qualify for the tournament in 2029.
Johnson, who was involved in planning for the new Club World Cup between 2015 and 2018, believes the tournament will grow in the coming years under the guidance of FIFA boss Gianni Infantino.
“Gianni really grew the Champions League at UEFA, he knows what it takes to do that. To one day have the best club teams coming to our shores [would be] only good for Australian football,” Johnson said.
“That’s something we could look at, as well as the men’s World Cup – but that’s [for after] we’ve delivered the best Women’s World Cup.”
Paving the way for future trans-Tasman bids for other tournaments, Wood, who sits alongside Johnson on the FIFA council, said the upcoming Women’s World Cup has brought the Australian and New Zealand federations closer together. The competition has opened opportunities for youth leagues, the men’s competition and the possibility for the women’s futsal World Cup to be hosted on Australian soil.
“There are going to be multiple opportunities for collaboration around co-hosting, I think, moving forward,” she said.
“We are working a lot more closely. I talk with my counterpart Chris [Nikou], and I know that Andrew [Pragnell, NZF chief executive] and James are in constant contact. We’re always sounding out what we can do together and that will only strengthen.”
The final Club World Cup under the existing format will take place in December this year in Saudi Arabia, but for now, the trans-Tasman executives are focused on hosting and delivering the 2023 Women’s World Cup set to begin next month.
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“Ultimately, if we go for another major tournament, my philosophy is we’ve just got to focus on what we do well and less on our competitors. If we can prove that, through the Women’s World Cup, we’ve done a great job. That would be a concrete example of what we could do,” Johnson said.
“The focus right now is on hosting and delivering the best Women’s World Cup that we’ve ever seen – I think we’ll do that, and I really believe that, and I think that gives us a good springboard for another discussion about what’s next, and that is a discussion that starts between Australia and New Zealand.”
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