Crowds of 5193 and 5437 respectively turned out to those games, but Gallop said similar crowd numbers wouldn't be enough for the A-League to make a permanent return to the ACT. Fairfax Media reported late last year the Mariners, who are struggling financially, were looking to strike a deal to play games in Canberra. With international flights between Wellington and the ACT to begin later this year, the Phoenix have been brought on board. Gallop was at the AIS to launch the FFA's guide for the development of women's soccer, as well as the Matildas' first camp of their campaign to win an Olympic medal. "Any big game is an opportunity for people to vote with their feet and come out and show us that they're behind the sport," he said.

"It would also be very important for the Mariners to establish that game. "Bluntly, 5000 would not be a result that they [the Mariners] would be looking for ... I would expect they would want to be doing significantly better than that." When asked if at least 10,000 would be needed, Gallop said: "Yes, I would've thought so." The ACT government is also looking to bring the Socceroos back, after almost 20,000 fans watched them beat Kyrgyzstan 3-0 at Canberra Stadium in November. Australia has five home World Cup qualifiers coming up over 12 months, starting in September, against Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand.

The Socceroos need to finish in the top two in their group to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which would be their fourth straight appearance at the finals. Gallop said the big games would be held in Australia's big cities, but Canberra was in the running to host a game. While he wouldn't be drawn on who could play at Canberra Stadium, Fairfax Media believes it would either be the UAE or Thailand. "It's early days on that, but we obviously had a successful event here in November and we're looking for a horses-for-courses approach to these qualifiers," Gallop said. "Obviously we need government assistance. We unashamedly are looking for a commercial return and Canberra would be in the mix.

"Obviously the big games like Japan are going to be beyond Canberra's reach, but some of the smaller games we would certainly consider it." As a Canberran, Gallop said an indoor stadium would obviously enhance his old home town's chances of attracting regular A-League and Socceroos fixtures. He ruled out Canberra being home to a possible expansion team last year, with cities boasting a population in the millions preferred, but he did say an indoor stadium would bolster its claims. The ACT government plans to build an indoor, rectangular stadium in Civic, but the Mr Fluffy asbestos debacle has forced that project to be put on hold with 2025 an earliest end date. "I think facilities are an important part of the decisions around where we put teams," Gallop said.

"Being a Canberra boy I've always thought the place was ideally suited to an indoor facility, we know how successful it is at Etihad [Stadium] in Melbourne so we would certainly get behind [a Civic Stadium]. "Although expansion's not immediately on our agenda, it would certainly be a factor when we go to look at that."