The hosting selection process took several months before eventually being won by the Perth-based federation.

It’s the first step in a long-term strategy to grow MiniFootball in Australia, including plans to launch a national minifootball league in all states. 

AMF president, Miguel Ángel Maron Nichols, thanked all of the countries who supported the bid to bring the “world class event Down Under”.

The Aussies put in a strong showing on debut in the the six-a-side tournament in Tunisia last year, defeating Argentina (5-1), losing to Czech Republic (5-1) and drawing with France (3-3) in the group phase.

Australia advanced to the Round of 16, edging Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-3 in a gripping penalty shootout before being knocked out in the quarterfinals by Spain, 4-3. 

The World MiniFootball Federation (WMF) has members in 100 countries across five continents. WMF organises the World Cup every two years, as well as continental championships.

The next World Cup will be played in autumn 2019 during the WA school holidays. The ‘festival of MiniFootball,’ will include food and beverage outlets, partner breakout areas and more for the community and fans to experience.

President of the World MiniFootball Federation, Filip Juda, said: “I would like to bestow a job well done to both of the candidates because their bids were very well prepared.

“Congratulations to Australia. We will now start the hard work of preparation to bring an amazing event to all of our members, coming members, participants and fans.” 

Delighted AMF Chairman Indy Khabra, who recently joined the Board to support the bid, said he was extremely relieved with the result after a week of intense preparation.

"We've done a lot of hard work and it was very clear early in the week there wasn’t going to be a clear winner and it would be a very close vote," Khabra said of the assembly decision.

“We now focus on delivering the tournament and strategic partnerships in support of the WMF World Cup, and the growth of MiniFootball in Australia.”