This tournament alone has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the economy. Not to mention the outright positive social, mental and physical health ramifications of football inspiring a whole generation of kids to play sport.

less than zero return on investment

You could not be more wrong.

¡Vamos España!

Here's an excellent article that explains it

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/sometimes-you-strike-it-lucky-how-a-25-cent-phone-poll-gave-the-matildas-their-name-20230517-p5d93q.html

Fantastic night watching the Tillies. Cheering them on all the way!

The tournament has been a resounding success, and hopefully inspires many more Australians to enjoy the beautiful game.

This is a football World Cup. This is as big as the Olympics the local media would have understood that if they weren’t so financially dependent on the other codes.

I agree, however I think it's important to note that the tournament's success is in spite of the vested interests of the local media in the other codes, and therefore lack of promotion, discussion and excitement generated amongst the population.

Damn it, I was fuming during the second half. Just make some subs, Tony!

Come and join us at !aleague@aussie.zone :)

The Football Australia DMC 2023/24 can be found here.

Good to see him back in the league with the Mariners, even if it means it didn't work for him in Germany this time.

A second stint here as a more mature player may help him springboard back into Europe later on anyway, so I'm interested to see how he goes.

Some highlights of young local players signing for overseas clubs thus far:

Central Coast Mariners

• Nectar Triantis (Sunderland AFC)
• Anthony Pavlesic (Bayern Munich)
• Sammy Silvera (Middlesbrough)

Macarthur FC

• Al Hassan Toure (Eyüpspor [loaned to Şanlıurfaspor])

Melbourne City

• Jordan Bos (KVV Westerlo)
• Tom Glover (Middlesbrough)
• Aiden O’Neill (Standard Liege)
• Marco Tilio (Celtic)

Perth Glory

• Keegan Jelacic (KAA Gent)
• Chris Donnell (Fulham)

Western Sydney Wanderers

• Kusini Yengi (Portsmouth)
• Calem Nieuwenhof (Heart of Midlothian)

Agreed on treating club legends properly after their playing careers. It's something many A-League clubs haven't done well in the past.

I would say Ninko is a bit different, as they may well have offered him something to sunset his playing career, except he didn't feel he was ready for retirement yet. In this case, Wilko called time on his own terms and then Sydney seemingly offered him a job, not the other way around.