![]() | |
![]() | |
Address | Sports Dr, Bundoora VIC 3083 |
---|---|
Location | Bundoora, Melbourne |
Coordinates | 37°43′24″S145°02′31″E / 37.72320°S 145.04198°E |
Public transit | Tram route 86 |
Capacity | 3,000 (800 seated) |
Record attendance | 2,588 (Melbourne Victory v Brisbane Roar, 15 October 2023) |
Field shape | Rectangular |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Built | 2023 |
Opened | 3 July 2023 |
Years active | 2023–present |
Construction cost | $57 million |
Tenants | |
Australia women's national soccer team (2023–present) Melbourne Victory (A-League Women) (2023–present) |
The Home of the Matildas is a soccer stadium in Melbourne, Australia. It is the home base of the Australia women's national soccer team, and the home of Melbourne Victory in the A-League Women in Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia. It has an 800 capacity grandstand, and a total venue capacity of 3,000. [1] [2] [3]
La Trobe University had been the host of Melbourne City FC's City Football Academy, the club training facility in the southern edge of the University precinct at a cost of $15 million. They remained there until moving to a new facility at Casey Fields, with the Bundoora facility demolished at the closure in 2021.
In 2019 Football Victoria proposed a home base for the Australia women's national soccer team, The Matildas to be built in Victoria after attracting interest from municipalities across the state. [4] A $200,000 grant from the Andrews Government was funded into the establishment of the venue and state-of-the-art facility to host training camps and elite pathway programs for national teams, representative teams and coaching/development programs. The bids to host the venue were short-listed on 19 June 2019 and were between Brimbank, Casey, Darebin, Maroondah and La Trobe University (Bundoora). [5] The Victorian Government further provided $1.5 million into plan and design for The Home of the Matildas on 30 August 2020. [6] The host was announced as Bundoora and La Trobe University on 16 May 2021 and allowed the beginning of construction onwards, [7] with construction due to be completed prior to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. [8]
The facility cost of $42.29 million was funded within the grants for the wider La Trobe University Sports Park precinct. Government grants for the precinct included $15 million from the Federal Government, $101 million from the Victorian State Government and $5 million from the City of Banyule Council. The first two stages of the Sports Park precinct were funded by the University at a cost of $80 million. [9] and the Victorian government allocating $101.5 million towards the project, alongside the $1.5 million that was spent on planning. The upgrades include a marquee pitch with grandstand seating; four other pitches (Hybrid, natural grass, synthetic), a futsal court, and high-performance facilities including a gymnasium and wet recovery area, medical and rehabilitation centre, meeting areas and player lounge.
The Home of the Matildas was officially opened on 3 July 2023 by Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos as the first and biggest soccer infrastructure projects in Australian history. [10] On 31 August 2023, the venue was selected to host Melbourne Victory's stand-alone A-League Women matches. [11]
The Victory played their first home match at the venue on 15 October 2023, with the match attracting an attendance of 2,588.
Described as a "world-class facility" by Football Victoria, The Home of the Matildas features a FIFA and AFC compliant elite training facility with an extra five pitches involving two Premium pitches and three standard FIFA pitches. [12] The grandstand features 800 seats along with a terrace/balcony for standing rooms and overlooking the main pitch. The indoor interiors of the venue features a high-performance gym, sports science/high performance with also an elite-level recovery area, multiple change rooms including a circular locker room for the Matildas and a referee change room, function spaces, public cafe, dining room for players, lounge, study spaces, 2 sleep rooms, property office, and administration office for Football Victoria.
The pitch is expected to be utilized by the Matilda's for 140 days each year, [13] with the pitch being used for 6000 hours annually by La Trobe University students for around 20 hours a week, grassroots clubs, and training for volunteers and administrators. These new upgrades are expected to encourage research collaboration between high-performance expects and academics at La Trobe University. [14]
This area will also incorporate the Victorian State Rugby centre, which will possess a show pitch with grandstand seating, two additional pitches, and high performance facilities including a gymnasium, sport science, medical and recovery areas and a training and match day home for the Melbourne Rebels’ Super W team.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as The 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the 11th largest globally, and the second-largest cricket arena by capacity. The MCG is within walking distance of the Melbourne CBD and is served by Richmond and Jolimont railway stations, as well as the route 70, 75 and 48 trams. It is adjacent to Melbourne Park and is an integral part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct.
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria and the twelfth university in Australia. La Trobe is one of the Australian verdant universities and also part of the Innovative Research Universities group.
Bundoora is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km (9.3 mi) north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Banyule, Darebin and Whittlesea local government areas. Bundoora recorded a population of 28,068 at the 2021 census.
Thornbury is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Darebin local government area. Thornbury recorded a population of 19,005 at the 2021 census.
Kardinia Park is a sporting and entertainment venue located within Kardinia Park, South Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium, which is owned and operated by the Kardinia Park Stadium Trust, is the home ground of the Geelong Football Club, an Australian rules football club who compete in the Australian Football League (AFL). Kardinia Park can accommodate 40,000 spectators, making it the largest-capacity Australian stadium in a regional city, and the third largest-capacity stadium in Victoria behind the Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,024) and Docklands Stadium (56,347).
Punt Road Oval, also known as the Richmond Cricket Ground or known by naming rights sponsorship as the Swinburne Centre, is an Australian rules football ground and former cricket oval located within the Yarra Park precinct of East Melbourne, Victoria, situated a few hundred metres to the east of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Parkville Stadium, also referred to as Melbourne Sports Centres – Parkville and previously known as the State Netball Hockey Centre, is a multipurpose sporting facility located in Melbourne, Australia. It is the administrative headquarters for both Netball Victoria and Hockey Victoria and features two outdoor hockey fields and eleven indoor netball courts, with the main hockey field capable of seating up to 8,000 and the main Netball court seating up to 3,050 spectators. National Basketball League club Melbourne United played home matches at the venue in the past, as well as Super Netball team Melbourne Vixens, though both clubs have shifted home matches to larger-capacity arenas. Hockey Club Melbourne of the Hockey One league play home games on the main hockey pitch.
Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a historic venue, having been Carlton Football Club's VFL/AFL home ground from 1897.
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, referred to as AAMI Park due to a sponsorship arrangement, is an outdoor sports stadium situated on the grounds of Edwin Flack Field within the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the heart of the Melbourne central business district.
Blacktown International Sportspark (BISP) (formally known as Blacktown Olympic Park) is a multi-sports venue located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The venue includes two cricket grounds, which have also been used for Australian rules football, an athletics track and field, three baseball diamonds, two soccer fields, four softball diamonds, administration centers and park land.
Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East, a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, soccer, tennis, cycling, golf, and rugby football.
Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval-shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association football club South Melbourne FC, Athletics Victoria, Athletics Australia, Victorian Institute of Sport and Australian Little Athletics.
The Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility, also referred to by its location as Morshead Park Stadium, is an association football-specific stadium in Redan, a suburb immediately to the south of central Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It is the home of the Ballarat City FC, who play in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second tier of Australian football, after the A-League.
Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East but playing matches in Melbourne CBD, that competes in A-League, the highest division of soccer in Australia, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL).
The Etihad City Football Academy, Melbourne, named after the Etihad airline and located in Melbourne, Australia, was the training and administrative headquarters of professional football club Melbourne City FC between 2015 and 2022. The club has been based at two of these facilities, originally at in the northern Melbourne suburb of Bundoora, and later at the Casey Fields sports precinct in Cranbourne East.
Western United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Tarneit, the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the regional cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong; and regional and country towns in western Victoria.
Springfield Central Stadium is an Australian rules football venue located in Springfield, a suburb of Ipswich, approximately 30 km south-west of Brisbane.
Wyndham City Stadium is a proposed soccer stadium in Tarneit, Victoria, Australia. It is scheduled to open in 2026 as the home ground of Western United FC.
The Deakin University Elite Sports Precinct is a series of sports venues located on the campus of Deakin University in Waurn Ponds, Victoria. The precinct's Australian rules football oval is used as a training facility by the Geelong Football Club's Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) teams, and as a secondary home ground by its VFL Women's (VFLW) team.