Capital Football says its $33.5 million Home of Football will be complete in time to be a base for international teams, despite the delayed project being overlooked as a 2023 World Cup training site.
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Football Australia announced plans for 13 tournament training sites across Australia's five host cities on Wednesday, but Canberra's proposed venue was absent from the list.
The capital's women's World Cup involvement will be limited to warm-up games and the possibility of having countries use Canberra as a training base throughout the tournament, after the ACT government controversially withdrew from FA's historic bid.
The government cited exorbitant costs as the reason for not wanting to host World Cup fixtures, and said it was instead investing in the Home of Football which could be used for World Cup training.
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The project, however, has been delayed by COVID-19 complications and issues with the site development, casting doubt over its availability for the World Cup in any capacity.
But Capital Football chairperson Fran Sankey said the new facility was on track and they would not know if they would become a base camp for teams or host warm-up match until closer to the tournament.
"We knew that [one of the training sites announced this week]," she said.
"We weren't in the mix because we're not actually hosting any games but the base camp for a country is different, we're still in the mix. That decision is not going to be made until next year, because it's contingent on the draw.
"I don't think we'll know until early next year, as it's up to each individual country to decide where they want to be. So that's where we're lucky with having the embassies here, we can go knocking on doors."
The first phase of construction at Throsby was supposed to be finished by last year. But no work has started on the new facility on the corner of Horse Park Drive and Gecko Way, as it remains in the planning stages, but it is promised to be finished in time for the women's World Cup next year.
The government and Capital Football are working against a June 2023 deadline if they are to become a base camp for teams and host warm-up matches before the tournament kicks off on July 20.
The Throsby site's costs blew out by $9 million in October, taking the figure for the 28-hectare site from $24.5 million to $33.5 million.
The project's increased budget was required to help overcome engineering problems cause by the creek running through the site during and after construction. It meant significant engineering work would be required before building even began, chewing up most of the original government funding in the process.
Construction was pushed back by COVID and is due to begin in mid-2022.