Construction of the home of the Matildas is underway and remains on course for its official opening ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup later this year.
The largest football-specific infrastructure project in Australia’s history is being constructed at the La Trobe University Sports Park.
In addition to the significant progress on the main structure, the facility’s showpiece pitch – a FIFA-standard hybrid – has been laid, with a further hybrid and three FIFA-standard synthetic pitches to be added in the first stage.
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson expressed that the facilities would be comparable to the world’s best facilities available to women.
“All those little details that matter in a high performance environment, they’ve thought about it all. I’m really impressed.”
The new facility will welcome the Matildas ahead of their send-off match being held at Marvel Stadium on July 14 before they embark on their world cup journey.
The facility will also officially host the Jamaican women’s national team during the world cup.
It will then be available for use by Australia’s national teams in the preparation for future tournaments and is equally capable of hosting training camps for elite women’s and men’s representative teams across all age groups.
Football Victoria will also be relocating to the precinct.
As part of the arrangement, Football Victoria and La Trobe University are presently exploring a range of opportunities for collaboration across education, leadership, sports administration, sports science and high performance.
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said it was exhilarating to see the project coming to life.
“This substantial commitment from the Victorian government, combined with the federal government’s earlier $15 million contribution to the project, will have a profound impact on the development and growth of women and girls’ football, and football overall, in Victoria and Australia for decades to come as part of our bold and ambitious Legacy ’23 plan,” he said.
La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar said he was excited to see progress on this major development at the University’s Sports Park.
He said it will offer huge benefits for their students, for sports science research and for the elite athletes and community members who use them.”
