Olympic send-off in Sydney shapes as Matildas’ 14th straight sell-out

The Matildas are set for their first match in Sydney in almost a year, locking in Accor Stadium for an Olympic send-off match which is in line to become their 14th consecutive sell-out on home soil.

Tony Gustavsson’s side will play host to China, the reigning Asian champions, on June 3, marking their return to the venue where they opened last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup against Ireland, beat Denmark in the round of 16 and met England in the semi-finals.

Coming three days after another friendly at Adelaide Oval against the same opponents, it will be the team’s last game in Australia before the Paris Olympics – and therefore the last chance fans will get to see them in the flesh before their medal tilt.

Last week, the Matildas secured qualification for Paris 2024 after steamrolling Uzbekistan 13-0 on aggregate, with 10 of those goals coming in a ruthless second-leg performance at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. That match was sold out, continuing a remarkable streak which has seen ticket allocations completely exhausted for every match they’ve played in Australia stretching back to their final World Cup warm-up against France, just days before the tournament kicked off and transformed the Matildas into the country’s No.1 sporting team.

There is little reason to doubt that, like the purple goalkeeper jerseys which Nike recently manufactured to meet overwhelming public demand, tickets for both the Adelaide and Sydney matches will be snapped up in quick time.

“As we have seen over the past 12 months, the CommBank Matildas are a box office entertainment juggernaut,” said Football Australia chief executive James Johnson.

Michelle Heyman, Caitlin Foord and the Matildas are coming back to Sydney.

“This speaks to the incredible appeal of the team where over 600,000 fans have attended the last 12 home matches which have all been sold-out affairs. We are thrilled that the next set of home matches we will continue to open the door for all Australians to connect and witness the team live.”

Given the proximity to the Olympic Games, Gustavsson is expected to roll out his first-choice team in Sydney. The game in Adelaide will be the team’s first in the city in almost five years, and their first ever at Adelaide Oval.

World No.19-ranked China missed out on Olympic qualification, but beat South Korea in the 2022 Asian Cup final to win their second continental crown after Australia was eliminated in the quarter-finals of that tournament.

The Matildas and the ‘Steel Roses’ last met in February 2020, when an injury-time strike from Emily van Egmond was needed for Australia to secure a nervy 1-1 draw in qualifiers for the last Olympics in Tokyo – a series of matches that were originally due to be played in Wuhan, China, just as COVID-19 was starting to spread around the globe.

Australia’s last match at Accor Stadium was the World Cup semi-final against England, when Sam Kerr scored this miraculous goal.

The Matildas will return to action next month for a friendly against Mexico in San Antonio, Texas, and have one other window just before the Olympics in July, which is likely to be spent in Europe, although no matches have yet been confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Australian players’ union has slammed the Asian Football Confederation for forcing the Young Matildas to play in ankle-deep snow in Tashkent, conditions they described as “unacceptable and dangerous”.

The Young Matildas – the national under-20s women’s team – came from behind to beat South Korea 2-1 on Sunday night at the under-20 Asian Cup, which is being held in Uzbekistan. But Professional Footballers Australia said it was a “miracle” no players were injured after playing on a pitch at Do’stlik Stadium which was covered in a thick layer of snow. While efforts were made to clear parts of the surface to ensure that field markings were visible, there was so much snow that it stopped the ball from rolling dead in its tracks, while players had to dig it away with their bare hands just to place the ball for free kicks.

Current and former Matildas, including Amy Chapman and Alex Chidiac, questioned why the match was allowed to go ahead in such circumstances on social media.

Kate Gill, the PFA co-chief executive who played 86 times for Australia, referred back to the 2010 Asian Cup – where Australia played every match on the same deteriorating pitch, and with minimal rest and recovery in between fixtures – and said nothing has changed when it came to the AFC’s policies more than a decade later.

“The AFC’s approach to pitch safety and fixturing … continues to risk the players’ health and safety, and undermines their ability to be at their best on the region’s biggest stage,” Gill said.

“Until the AFC recognises that their unilateral approach is to the detriment of their football product, the AFC will continue to fall significantly short of other confederations that have recognised the need to improve the conditions and regulations of their women’s continental championships, for the betterment of all involved.”

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