A potential Asian Cup semi-final involving Australia appears certain to remain in Newcastle instead of Sydney despite Hunter Stadium's already limited capacity being reduced by nearly a third for the tournament.

The Asian Football Confederation has an exclusive tenancy deal with Stadium Australia for the duration of the tournament and would be free to move a high-profile semi-final involving the host nation to the 83,000 capacity venue. The local organising committee in conjunction with the AFC have not looked into the possibility of moving a semi-final involving the Socceroos to Stadium Australia to accommodate up to 60,000 more fans in what would likely be a sell-out fixture.

Hunter Stadium, which hosted the Japan v Palestine match earlier in the tournament, is operating at the reduced capacity of 23,000 for the Asian Cup Credit:Ryan Osland

After finishing second in their group to South Korea, Australia will play China in the quarter-final where they will have a chance to play either Japan, Iran or the UAE in a semi-final held at Newcastle, where capacity restrictions are in place. In accordance with FIFA World Cup regulations, the AFC have so far prevented the local organising committee from selling tickets to the two non-seated hills behind the goals at Hunter Stadium, which reduces the capacity of the venue from 33,000 to approximately 23,000.

Should the two organising committees of the tournament move a potential Australia semi-final to ANZ Stadium, it would likely provide the local organising committee about $500,000 in additional gate takings as well as the opportunity to allow more fans to watch a historic match. However, the short turnaround of just five days between the quarter-final and the semi-final are proving a deterrent to moving what could be the biggest match of the competition, a potential clash between Australia and Japan, or Australia and Iran.