Socceroos staff have begun scouring North America for the best hotels and training facilities, as coach Tony Popovic plans the personnel and preparation needed to “do something special” at next year’s gargantuan World Cup.
Australia booked their place at football’s 2026 showpiece in the US, Mexico and Canada without having to progress through the playoffs, affording them more lead-in time than previously, as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
“Our goal has to be to try and do something special, and something special is to go further than we’ve ever done before,” Popovic said. “If we don’t think that way, then I think we’re selling ourselves short in terms of expectation.”
Although the location of the Australian team’s matches and their opponents won’t be known until the draw in December, the coach said by then they will be ahead of other nations in terms of their logistics.
“We’ve got a head start and we’ve got to make the most of it, we’ve got assistant coaches going to look at the football aspect in terms of hotels and training pitches and we’ve got [team manager] Joel Freeme heading a team as well that will go look at the hotels and what we need,” Popovic said.
Fifa has expanded the tournament in 2026 from 32 to 48 teams, and 16 cities will host matches across the three countries, stretching from Mexico City and Guadalajara in the south, Vancouver and Seattle in the north-west and New York and Toronto in the north-east.
Matches in individual pools will be loosely grouped into three regions aligned with time zones, although long travel – for example a near four-hour flight from Boston to Miami, or five hours from Kansas City to Mexico – may still be required.
The recently concluded Club World Cup, hosted in the US, has given Popovic “good lessons” to consider.
“There’s been some discontent a little bit from the players and the coaches about the state of the pitches, how heavy they are and how tough it’s been on their bodies, [there’s] the time of the kick-offs,” he said.
“We may be playing in the heat and we have to think about that in terms of for how long can you go at that [high] tempo.”
The Socceroos have scheduled internationals against Canada in Montreal and the USA in Colorado in October, in addition to a two-match series against New Zealand in September, as they seek to gain experience against a range of playing styles.
In planning for his squad for the New Zealand matches, Popovic said overseas players who have already played competitive football may be “a little bit ahead” of the contingent from the A-League, which doesn’t begin until October.
The coach is also likely to welcome back fullback Jordan Bos and captain Jackson Irvine, who missed the last window due to injuries. However, he said the return of defender Harry Souttar will be longer after his achilles injury in December: “Harry’s on the pitch, which always a player’s happy when he’s doing that, still a long way to go.”
Several emerging Socceroos have been on the move this off-season, including forward Nestory Irankunda who appears set to join Watford in the English Championship from Bayern Munich after a loan in Switzerland with Grasshopper. “Hopefully this next move can develop him further, and whether that’s an immediate impact with us or not, it gives him a better chance of course,” Popovic said.
Another Championship club, Portsmouth, have gone on an Australian signing spree in the past year, recruiting A-League products Adrian Segecic, Jacob Farrell, Hayden Matthews and Thomas Waddinghan, while striker Kusini Yengi was let go in May and has signed for Aberdeen.
Popovic said it was positive that Portsmouth had recognised there was value in the Australian market.
“Them being successful can really shape the future a little bit of other clubs taking a chance,” he said. “And maybe more coaches will do that, or more sporting directors and clubs will do that, so we’re very hopeful they do well.”
