After World Cup success, Australia looks to grow women’s soccer as host of the Asian Cup

If you were to define the term “feel-good factor” in August 2023, you would have honed in on the Australia women’s soccer team.

Although the Matildas bowed out to England in the semi-finals at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosting the tournament with New Zealand had a transformative effect on women’s soccer across the country.

National TV viewership peaked at 11.15million when Australia knocked France out in a quarter-final penalty shootout in Brisbane. It sparked joyous reactions, even at venues hosting Australian rules football matches on the same day.

Goosebumps.

From all corners of the country 🫶🇦🇺#Matildas#FIFAWWC#TilitsDonepic.twitter.com/ERIusC7HEZ

— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) August 13, 2023

The Matildas had broken barriers before. In 2015, the team took strike action to demand a minimum wage from their governing body, Football Australia. With the help of the players’ union, they reached an agreement to close the pay gap with the men’s team in 2019.

This month, Australia host the 2026 AFC Asian Cup, continuing the momentum started a decade ago. The semi-finalists will secure a place in the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. The four teams defeated in the quarter-finals face off to determine the two remaining automatic qualification places, with the losers settling for the consolation prize of dropping into FIFA’s inter-confederation play-off spots.

The tournament starts today (Sunday) when Australia host Philippines at Perth Stadium. It is the opening night of what the country hopes will be a second Asian Cup title. Record goalscorer Sam Kerr, now 32, scored her first international goal when they won in 2010 and is the only remaining member of that squad.

Twelve teams, including the hosts, are divided into three groups of four teams for the three-week tournament. Japan have the highest FIFA ranking (No 8, ahead of Australia in No 15) and are the tournament favourites.

Now household names across the country, some commentators feel the Matildas have only one more shot at glory before the next transition between player cycles takes hold — specifically, moving on from Kerr.

“If there was a time to win it, it would be this one,” Matildas and Chelsea defender Ellie Carpenter, 25, told the Sydney Morning Herald in January. “It’s time for some silverware for this team. It’s the perfect opportunity for some of the more experienced and older players to leave on a high.”

The expectations are there for a first major international soccer trophy on home soil, but the moment has also brought reflection on the legacy of the 2023 World Cup. After initially seeing a World Cup boost, the domestic competition is in danger of being left behind, despite the Matildas’ success.

Will the hype around Australia trickle down and last at a domestic level this time?

Clare Wheeler is excited — just as she was this time three years ago.

Becoming a permanent signing for Everton at the start of 2023, the midfielder watched from the bench as her Australian team-mates pushed for World Cup glory. Her first international goal came a few months later, in an Olympic qualifier against the Philippines at Perth Stadium, an 8-0 win.

Now, Wheeler will hope to get on the same pitch against the same opponent to kick off the Asian Cup.

Her soccer journey is typical for a Matilda. While Australian rules football, cricket and both rugby codes regularly lead the way as spectator sports, soccer is the most played in Australia — the government’s national participation report published in March 2025 recorded 1.9million people taking part, noting a 16 per cent increase in women and girls playing football since the 2023 World Cup.

“I got into it because a friend was playing,” said Wheeler during a pre-Asian Cup press call in January. “I was 10 playing in the under-12s. Football isn’t something I went into obsessed with, but I came out of it obsessed. Being able to go to nationals and all different tournaments, to get exposure for the youth teams, was really important, having a strong pathway into the women’s A-League (ALW, Australia’s domestic competition).”

The Matildas’ World Cup run and the consistent exposure of the players through and beyond that tournament had the desired effect.

ALW attendances for the 2023-24 season increased 108 per cent on the previous campaign, topping 300,000 by the end of the season. TV viewership increased 133 per cent, and club memberships by 611 per cent. Government data also stated 21,000 additional women and girls had taken up soccer.

But fast forward to the Asian Cup now taking centre stage, and the feeling is very different.

The Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) has released two reports in the space of a few months. The first, a review into the 2024-25 ALW season, noted a 26 per cent drop in attendances, with 62 per cent of players needing to work a second job alongside their playing commitments.

The majority of players labelled the ALW as less desirable than overseas competitions.

Then, in January, a second report titled “Ready for Takeoff — The players’ vision for the A-League Women” outlined its vision for the professionalisation of the league.

The PFA believes such a switch would reverse the league’s talent drain, after last season saw a 28 per cent increase in match minutes from players aged 21 and under. But it also pays the lowest minimum salaries of any major Australian women’s sport.

The average ALW salary is just over $30,000 AUD, which at current exchange rates works out at $21,150 or £15,540.

The issues underpin a growing gap to rival leagues and a failure to capitalise on the growth of women’s soccer in Australia.

“Women’s leagues around the world are grabbing hold of that potential and moving forward — refocusing so that they are taking those opportunities when presented to them,” said PFA co-president and Brisbane Roar midfielder Tameka Yallop, on the release of the second report. “We had that massive opportunity with the World Cup and we saw a little bit of growth, but there wasn’t any hard platform laid down for it to continue. It was just piggybacking rather than laying the foundations to elevate this league.”

 

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New Zealand Football, Australia’s 2023 co-hosts, has seen its investment produce a clear improvement in facilities across the country, including the availability of floodlights, and played a significant role in the development of an entirely new A-League club, Auckland FC.

With the global trend in women’s soccer of clubs and leagues seeking independence from their male counterparts, some officials feel the ALW could benefit from a similar move — freeing the sport from the governance of Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and creating an independent, fully focused commission overseeing the development of domestic women’s soccer in Australia.

“There’s a very genuine belief through the players that this league has so much potential, and it has the potential to be one of the best leagues in the world, and the best league in Asia,” said Adelaide United midfielder and PFA executive committee member Dylan Holmes.

“But the consensus among the players is that there’s not enough being done to realise that potential when the opportunities are clearly there.”

Wheeler hopes the girls coming through the system do not have to face the same difficult decisions she had to deal with.

“My first season, I earned AU$500 — just petrol money, basically,” she said. “To see where it is now is great but we want to keep pushing that bar to, hopefully, girls not going through what I was doing: my HSC (secondary education), working at Kmart and trying to do football, making time for when I was getting called in for the Young Matildas as well. It was really stressful.

“A lot of people got to their mid-twenties and had to make a choice: do they pursue their career after football and leave, or do they stay in it and make a financial sacrifice?

“It’s hard that, with the rest of Europe and parts of America and Asia going professional, we’re lagging behind. We’re so isolated and that doesn’t help in getting players over to our league. Unfortunately, sometimes these things take time, but we’re only going to be a better national team if we can progress the domestic league and keep players in it. That’s the next step.”

The last time Australia hosted the Women’s Asian Cup was 2006, when all but two matches were hosted at Adelaide’s 16,500 capacity Hindmarsh Stadium.

A crowd of 5,000 watched the final, as China secured their eighth Asian Cup with a penalty shootout victory over the hosts.

This Asian Cup carries a prize pot of $1.8million, the same as that offered at the previous tournament four years ago. The world’s oldest women’s national team competition is now also the lowest-paying continental championship.

Some things have improved. The tournament has its first mascot, a bespoke ball and VAR officials for every match. More than 150,000 tickets had been sold over a month before kick-off and there are hopes of filling 79,500 seats at Sydney’s Stadium Australia for the final.

The tournament also offers a pathway for future success, with places up for grabs at next year’s World Cup in Brazil and the AFC’s 2028 Olympics qualifying tournament.

“The World Cup is only in 2027, so I’d hope the same desire (in the squad to play at it) would be there for that too — but in terms of our next tournament being the Asian Cup, we want to win it,” added the Everton player. “Being at home just by itself lights a fire. The fact we haven’t won it for several years lights a fire.

“The support during the World Cup was incredible and something I’ve never actually experienced at that scale,” Wheeler said. “We really hope we garner that support for this and make everyone proud that comes out and supports us.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Australia, Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup

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