Tuggeranong United are hoping to build on their Westfield FFA Cup exploits by hosting a “festival of football” at Viking Park as part of the Hyundai A-League pre-season next year.
Plans are underway for the club to approach the likes of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers FC to take part in a five or six-team pre-season tournament.
The idea came to light after more than 5000 fans turned out at Viking Park on a cold Tuesday night to see United take on Victory in the last 16 of the Westfield FFA Cup.
They were beaten 6-0 by Victory, but the night was a huge success and now the club hope to attract more Hyundai A-League clubs to the venue on a regular basis.
‘‘We want to invite the Melbourne Victory back and perhaps host a pre-season friendly campaign in a festival of football,’’ Tuggeranong president Jon Thiele told the Canberra Times.
‘‘We’d invite two A-League clubs, the Victory and potentially the Wanderers, to join two clubs in Canberra and Tuggeranong. We’d host that with four or five games over a weekend at Viking Park.
‘‘We’ve shown what we can do with an amateur organisation and we built a great product. The Melbourne Victory were absolutely glowing in their approval and we’d love to have them back in the coming years.’’
Tuggeranong are hoping the tournament could become an annual event, with other Capital League clubs also being invited to take part.
It would be run similar to the recent Townsville Football Cup, where Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar took on North Queensland Fury in a round-robin tournament.