What sort of crowds are you expecting for the Champions League?It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that we do educate the public because it’s a big opportunity for us. I’m not sure people realise how big this stage is that we’ll be playing on. You look at the TV figures for the Champions League last year and 137 million people watched. We’re up there, and we earned our right to be up there so it’s all about educating the public to let them know who these teams are and show them how important and big a deal this is.

So there are plans in place to support these fixtures in terms of marketing them?
Yes we do. Our marketing campaign is about to get underway and our membership renewal process is about to get underway, which includes a special offer to existing members to go to those matches so there are a few things on the go. We’re about to start our media campaign as well.

How many do you think we’ll see in the crowd against the Red Diamonds?
The Red Diamonds are talking about bringing 2,000 Japanese fans out to the game in the first place so it could be anything! That’s one that we think will be very exciting and it’s not far away. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us. Wouldn’t it be great to get 20,000, 25,000 people out to see Sydney FC play the Red Diamonds?! It would be fantastic and really puts it in perspective to show how far the game has come in such a short time in Australia.

It’s confirmed you will be playing Persik Khediri at Parramatta Stadium. Will you have an ongoing arrangement with the stadium?
Well Parramatta has been really good to us as a training venue for this season and when we talk about the grassroots of football, we can never discount the number of players that are in western Sydney because there are tens of thousands of them out there and we need to give them an opportunity to come to a game as well. Wednesday night on Anzac Day to watch Sydney FC at Parramatta Stadium is a fantastic opportunity. At this stage there’s just one game at Parramatta but if it goes well then… we’ll see how it goes.
It’s more about sharing the love really. Aussie Stadium has been very good to us and it’s a great ground to watch football on. There’s also a rugby league game on which made us think about moving the game anyway but it was just an opportunity to go to Parramatta and showcase Sydney FC there.

Is there any truth to the rumour that there is a Sydney FC vs LA Galaxy match in the pipeline?
Oh it’s possible! Anthony LaPaglia one of our directors is very close to the guys at LA Galaxy but we haven’t had long discussions about it. It’s been raised in conversation but that’s as far as it’s gone. But wouldn’t it be fantastic to have them here. That again, just shows how far the game has come. We are a viable option for a game like that.

Has much happened in the way of logistics for the Champions League? How will things like accommodation work for the team?
We’re working with the FFA as well as the Asian Football Confederation. There is a workshop there for all the competing sides next week and we’ll be there to get a brief on what’s to be expected and what will be expected of us. We’ve already got some processes underway to get some scouting done on the three teams. It’s just homework really, to see how they play and who they play and educate ourselves and what to expect. These clubs are massive… the Urawa Red Diamonds have a playing roster of $25 million.