The Western Australian Government’s pursuit of coveted Serie A matches at Optus Stadium ended because of Asian Football Confederation threats to expel the Socceroos and Matildas from the World Cup.
The Australian reports on Monday that Western Australia Treasurer and Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti had disclosed in a parliamentary estimates hearing last week the extent of the penalties the AFC threatened to impose on Australia should they have persisted with their bid to host the first ever Italian top flight fixture, between AC Milan and Como, abroad.
Until now, the AFC’s untenable condition that stopped the fixture happening was described as requiring AFC referees, not Serie A referees, and a rule not to describe the fixture as a Serie A match.
The Australian reports Deputy Premier Saffioti confirming that the Western Australian Government had received a letter from the AFC in December warning Australia’s position at all future tournaments would be at risk if those demands were not met – in addition to a financial penalty.
The AFC controls the qualification path to FIFA tournaments, so expulsion or exclusion from World Cup Qualifying from Asia would effectively render Australia ineligible to qualify for World Cups.
While it wasn’t clear whether that threat was serious, once the state government had to look into indemnifying against being kicked out of the World Cup process, it rendered the Serie A match “just too difficult”, the Deputy Premier of WA told The Australian.
“When there was a threat against our national teams, no government could take on that risk,” she said.
She added: “You never know how serious the threat is, but the threat was there and it was on paper.”
The match was due to be played in February during the Winter Olympics, where Milan’s San Siro stadium was in use for the Opening Ceremony.
The setback hasn’t deterred the Western Australian government from pursuing more football activity, with AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Palermo all heading to Perth for pre-season fixtures in August.