Football Australia put hand up for 2031 Asian Cup

A decade on since Ange Postecoglou’s Socceroos claimed Australia’s first Men’s Asian Cup on home soil, Football Australia (FA) will bid for the chance to repeat history, formally announcing they have submitted and expression of interest in hosting the 2031 edition on Tuesday.

Off the back of hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, FA under the leadership of James Johnson have been pushing hard to bring more major football tournaments to Aussies shores.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 is already locked in, and despite an extremely well organised Saudi Arabia stymying any chance of a Men’s FIFA World Cup bid for 2034, a benefit of that process seems to be increased support for a future bid for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.

Add in a bid for the ’31 Asian Cup and FA are attempting to assemble quite the portfolio of major footballing tournaments.

The FIFA Men’s World Cup remains the elusive goal, but being able to prove a past record of successfully hosting every other major tournament available to them is surely the ace-in-the-hole that FA are chasing when it comes to their next attempt at a bid in the next 10 to 15 years.

The opposition for the ’31 tournament at this stage are independent bids from Indonesia, Kuwait, UAE and a joint bid between Central Asian nations Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

If FA’s bid is successful, the tournament would be played 16 years after the Socceroos captured the imagination of the nation, as they went on to defeat South Korea in extra-time of the 2015 final, claiming a first men’s major trophy.

It is a feat that is largely considered the greatest in Socceroos history, and one that will look to be replicated if Australia get the chance again to host the tournament, on home soil.

Australia’s bid is standalone, so it would not be jointly hosted by any other nation.

Watch Lachie and Christian’s instant reaction to the news on the Round Ball Australia YouTube channel.