
WA Premier Mark McGowan has announced a huge boost for football in Western Australia, with the state government pledging $16.25 million towards a State Football Centre.
The facility will be built at Queens Park, in the City of Canning, giving the sport a ‘Home of Football’ base for the first time in WA.
Mr McGowan said in an announcement on Sunday: “The World Game has been without a ‘home’ for too long here in Western Australia.
“The facility will cater for all levels of football, from grassroots community programs to high-performance games and be the best place for elite training.
“When complete, this Centre will help develop WA’s next stars of the game, like Trent Sainsbury and Sam Kerr.
“We look forward to collaborating with Football West, the Federal Government and the City of Canning, to get this project under way as soon as possible, to help support WA jobs and the COVID-19 economic recovery.”
The Centre will be able to host state, national and international competitions, as well as providing a location for high performance training, community programs and accommodating Football West’s administration facilities.
Yesterday’s announcement outlined a provision that the facility can house an A-League franchise in the future.
The project is set to be completed in time for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, with FIFA recently stating the Australia-NZ bid is the leading contender to host the tournament.
Speaking about the importance of the facility in regards to the Women’s World Cup bid, Football West CEO James Curtis said: “Perth will be at the forefront to host matches (for the World Cup) simply because we’ll have the Home of Football.
“You can only imagine how many millions a World Cup in our own backyard will inspire.
“On the back of this announcement, a strong bid and only days away from kicking-off for our competitions across Western Australia, it’s a great time to be involved in football in Western Australia,” he concluded.