The Home of Matildas
Transforming dreams into reality: designing elite soccer Fields of Play
Victoria

Our mission was clear: to craft world-class soccer fields that would serve as the perfect training grounds for the Matildas, Australia's national women's football team. These fields needed to meet the highest specifications, ensuring they were FIFA-certified and equipped to host pre-tournament matches and training sessions for international teams during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

While the objectives were well-defined, the path to achieving them was challenging. The project presented complexities, including:

- Design coordination: coordinating with architects and landscapers while adhering to strict design levels posed a challenge.

- Balancing the interests of various stakeholders while maintaining the fields' elite standards required innovative thinking.

- Boundary constraints: the site's limited boundary space compelled us to devise solutions that maximised usable area while still adhering to boundary limitations.

- Retaining walls and fencing integration: designing the behind-goal netting systems to prevent balls from reaching pedestrians or buildings while seamlessly integrating them with retaining walls requires careful planning and collaboration.

- Subgrade conditions: overcoming the challenge of boggy subgrade by implementing bridging layers demanded strategic engineering solutions.

- Construction constraints: unpredictable weather conditions during construction, particularly heavy rains, necessitated us to adjust our plans on the fly to ensure timely completion.

In the face of these challenges, our team's expertise shone through with innovative solutions:

- Advanced drainage systems: for hybrid turf fields, we introduced a perched water table system, optimising the flat surfaces for efficient drainage. Synthetic fields featured French drains, which not only reduced subsurface drainage costs but also allowed controlled water discharge and storage during heavy rainfall.

- Boundary expansion: to address the boundary constraints, we extended edge strips with deeper profiles and introduced a unique installation method utilising the impervious geofabric layer and its relationship with the concrete edge strip, reducing the risk of water penetration into poor ground material.

- Retaining wall and fencing integration: our team ingeniously integrated behind goal netting and retaining walls by designing access-friendly retaining wall shapes and locating netting footings beneath synthetic pavements, reaching functional harmony.

- Inclusivity and FIFA Certification: ensuring wheelchair accessibility and FIFA certification demanded strategic design modifications, such as incorporating ramps and undergoing FIFA quality certification tests by LaboSport.

Our commitment to excellence yielded great results. The fields proudly hosted pre-tournament matches between international teams, transforming the Home of Matildas into a vibrant training hub during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

Designed with inclusivity in mind, the facility seamlessly accommodated wheelchair accessibility, ensuring that athletes and visitors of all abilities could fully engage in the sporting experience. Each field achieved FIFA certification for quality, reflecting our dedication to meeting and exceeding the stringent standards set by the global governing body.

The Home of Matildas was officially opened in early July by Steve Dimopoulos, Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport, and Major Events. This marked the culmination of a visionary project, firmly cementing it as the pinnacle of elite training and competition areas. This accomplishment not only highlighted SPORTENG's proficiency but also emphasised our steadfast dedication to revolutionising the future of sports field design through innovation, precision, and passion for the game.

Steve Dimopoulos stated the facility will have a major impact at both the professional and grassroots levels: “This facility will provide a training base in Australia for the likes of Sam Kerr and Steph Catley, but more importantly it will help to develop the next generation of champions inspired by this year’s Women’s World Cup.”

Football Australia CEO, James Johnson, added: “The Home of the Matildas will provide our most talented Australian Women’s National Team footballers and staff the opportunity to thrive and a place of excellence for the next generation to develop.”

Source: The Home of the Matildas official opening marks historic moment for Australian football