Maradona played there. Now Sydney’s iconic stadium may lose its World Cup qualifiers

Football Australia has threatened to take clutch World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers away from Sydney’s Allianz Stadium due to concerns with the surface and congested schedule at the $828 million venue.

Newly released documents reveal a schism between the game’s governing body and Venues NSW about the use of the rebuilt stadium, which only reopened three years ago but has been plagued by turf and drainage issues.

Diego Maradona (right) and Socceroos captain Paul Wade walk onto the Sydney Football Stadium for the first leg of a World Cup qualifying tie in 1993. Credit: Getty

Formerly known as the Sydney Football Stadium, Allianz has a long history of hosting major Socceroos and Matildas matches, among them the World Cup qualifier against Argentina in 1993 when Diego Maradona led the South American team to a first-leg draw before Australian hearts were broken in Buenos Aires.

But FA warned in an email after the Socceroos’ World Cup Asian group stage qualifying game against Indonesia in March that its men’s and women’s national teams may abandon the 42,500-capacity ground if it could not be closed off in the two weeks before their matches.

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