In a blow to soccer fans in Western Australia, the much-anticipated Serie A game between AC MIlan and Como will not go ahead in Perth next year.
The match had been pencilled in for February 8, with the game moving to Perth due to AC Milan being unable to play at the San Siro Stadium while the Winter Olympics were on.
The clash had been billed as a chance for WA to make “international football history”, as it would have been the first time a major European league game for points was played outside its national borders.
AC Milan and French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, the team’s current captain, will not be playing in Perth. (Reuters: Jennifer Lorenzini)
In a joint statement between the WA government and Serie A, the sides said they had “exhausted every viable option” to bring the historic game to WA, but ultimately, it was decided the cost would be excessive.
“The onerous conditions from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to sanction the fixture could not be implemented without financial risks to the State Government and Serie A that could not be mitigated,” the statement read.
‘Unacceptable demands’
WA Sport and Recreation Minister Rita Saffioti said it was a tough decision, but ultimately the right one.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s the right call — we were not willing to expose Western Australia to an unacceptable level of risk,” she said.
While Ms Saffioti said the financial risk was significant, she also blamed excessive bureaucracy for sinking the deal.
Rita Saffioti had been pushing to bring AC Milan and Como to Perth. (Facebook: Rita Saffioti)
“This project has been many months in the making, and we did everything we could to get it across the line, but football politics, legal issues and bureaucracy have got in the way,” she said.
“There was no guidebook for this; this has never happened anywhere in the world before.
“We embarked on this project because of the huge economic pay-off for our state and how it would help grow the world game in Australia.”
The game was scheduled to be played at Perth Stadium. (ABC News: Cason Ho)
Serie A president Ezio Simonelli said in the joint statement, “an escalation of further unacceptable demands” by the AFC had made playing the game in Perth “impossible”.
“While expressing disappointment at the outcome of this project, we remain firmly convinced that this conclusion is a missed opportunity in the growth of Italian football at an international level, which also deprives the many Serie A fans abroad of the dream of attending a match of their favourite team in person,” he said.
No money lost, WA government says
Despite the government initially remaining positive about the prospect of the game going ahead, doubts started to surface in early December.
At the time, Premier Roger Cook described the deal as “complex” and stressed the need for the game to be financially beneficial for the state.
“It’s very complex, but we want to make sure that we deliver value for money for the WA taxpayer,” he said.
“There has to be a return to make sure we can justify this on the basis of visitation, on the basis of destination marketing, and on the basis of promoting WA.”
Ms Saffioti said the bid for the game had not cost the government any money, and claimed the buzz around Perth hosting the game had in fact generated a significant financial benefit.
“Importantly, no payments were made, nor has WA lost out through this process, as no agreement was reached,”
she said.
“We know Perth has been talked about like never before across major global media outlets and European football circles for the past six months, which is great exposure for our state and our reputation for hosting world-class events.”
The joint statement between the WA government and Serie A claimed the bid had generated more than $280 million in global media exposure since April.
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