Drinks With John Aloisi

This year, Aloisi’s number-one goal is victory for the Melbourne Heart.
Images: Getty Images

How do you see the future of the A-League?

In the long term we have to look at being the best league in Asia. At the moment, we’re not: it’s the Japanese first, then the Korean league, and there are also the Middle Eastern countries that attract a lot of players because of the money they’ve got. But if we can end up being the best league in Asia, then television money will come into play and we can attract even better players. That’s very possible. We have the advantage of being the only football code in Australia that can play through Asia, so there’s a lot of sponsorship and television money there to be made for clubs. It’s a slow process, but I think it’ll happen.

Is hosting the 2022 World Cup essential to the growth of the competition?

It would help for sure, but even if we don’t get it, I still think the competition will grow – probably not as quick, but it’ll still get there. You can’t just put all of your eggs in the one basket and hope that we’re going to get 2022 just to save the game here. We need to have back-up plans and make sure that the game grows no matter what.

What would hosting the 2022 World Cup do for the game here?

It’s unlimited. People who’ve been to a World Cup and have seen what it’s like first-hand know what the World Cup is all about, but the majority of Australians don’t know. When they see what it’s all about, they’ll realise that it’s the biggest event in the world. We’ll get more players, more kids and more people following the game because they’ll want to be part of the best game in the world. I’m not disrespecting any other sport or code, but we play a sport that’s the most-played one in the world, with the highest following and highest television audiences. It‘ll really help our game grow once people see how big it really is.

Maybe you’ll be coaching the Socceroos by then?

That would be a dream come true (laughs).

– John Iannantuono