The Socceroos’ unexpected 5-4 win on penalties over Peru gave them a last-minute ticket to participate in this year’s FIFA World Cup, bringing smiles and relief to many in the football industry.
There are many reasons why this qualification was highly desired by so many who are involved in the game – and even some who aren’t. First off, that massive save from Andrew Redmayne (pictured above) to Alex Valera’s penalty was worth $17 million for Football Australia and potentially even more depending on how the team performs in Qatar.
Of course, not all that money will remain in the association’s accounts, as they too have obligations towards sponsors and the domestic A-League clubs who’s players are called up for international duty (any club that has a player in the national team gets compensated, according to the rules set out by FIFA) but also travel fees. Making the trip to Qatar during peak season certainly doesn’t come cheap!
In our centenary year, we’re ready to #GiveIt100 at another @FIFAWorldCup 💯💚💛
The Socceroos have done it. #AllForTheSocceroos pic.twitter.com/eakA3X0SOT
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 13, 2022
Additionally, the federation is rumoured to be investing that amount in the creation of new competitions for both the men’s and women’s competition (although the founding of a national second division is something that has been talked about for the greater part of the last fifteen years, so we’d take that with a grain of salt!)
Plus there’s also investments in grassroots, academies and local playing grounds, so it’s clear to see how far one block of the ball can go for a whole nation.
But it wasn’t just the FA and football fanatics across the country who had more than one reasons to celebrate Redmayne’s historic save. National broadcaster SBS, who recently paid the amount of $20 million for the broadcasting rights to the FIFA World Cup will now be looking at their investment with a more optimistic view.
Media agency Zenith Sydney have said they expect that viewership ratings for the tournament will be far greater than expect now that the Socceroos will be participating. Especially since they’ll be up against such strong competition like world champions France and one of the most talked-about national teams in the world, Denmark and their star Christian Eriksen.
