The two fixtures will be the first ever European league matches played in another country – a concept that, while being commonplace in Australian and American sport, is vehemently opposed by many clubs, the near-totality of football fans across the world, and indeed, UEFA themselves. The European governing body tried to pass the buck, blaming FIFA’s loose regulatory framework for leaving them with no choice but to allow for the matches to go ahead, describing it as a “regrettable” decision and reiterating their “clear opposition” to the plans.
Taylor Battistella is the president of Milan Club Australia.Credit: Taylor Battistella
Though UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin stressed it should not be seen as a “precedent”, that is exactly how it is going to be treated. A Pandora’s box has been opened, a feasible legal framework constructed. There will be more of these, no matter what UEFA says. For any enterprising club, league, third-party promoter, or state tourism body, pretty much everything now is in play, anywhere in the world; Premier League matches in Sydney or Melbourne, for instance, feel like an inevitability. Perth has jumped the queue largely due to the lobbying of Rita Saffiotti, the Western Australian treasurer and tourism minister, and a noted Italian soccer tragic.
AC Milan is describing it as a one-off measure, forced upon them because the San Siro Stadium is briefly off-limits in February due to the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, but few are buying that – including Battistella.
Speaking personally, he would rather not see Milan go down this sort of road, but reckons they have been effectively forced to by the global dominance of the Premier League and the increasing financial power of its clubs.
“My view of that is that there already is a Super League, and it’s the English Premier League,” he said. “We’re getting a Super League that’s not really centrally planned, in a way.”
If Italian clubs want to be competitive within that context, they have to find new audiences and revenue streams – even if that means exporting pieces of their tradition to the other side of the world.
Indeed, within Milan’s Australian fanbase, Battistella reckons there is a bit of a divide: it’s the Italian-Australians who find the venture more morally questionable, and the Australian-Italians who see it more as a great opportunity to watch them play.
Fans of Milan Club Sydney before the pre-season friendly between AC Milan and Perth Glory in July.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s a real shame that all these big European clubs like Barcelona and Milan are looking and having to do this,” Battistella said.
“But from our selfish point of view, we’d love it if AC Milan’s second home could be Australia.
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“I guess for now we can take UEFA’s word that it’s an exceptional circumstance, and then judge each future opportunity on face value.
“But we know it’s necessary. We know that these Italian clubs need to plug the revenue gap. They’re already playing [the Italian Super Cup] in Saudi Arabia – so I don’t see why Australia should be the one to tap the fallout from it.”
Football Supporters Association Australia chair Patrick Clancy said his group was “strongly opposed” to bringing domestic fixtures from other countries to Australia, warning it could also have a detrimental impact on the health of the local product, the A-Leagues.
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