The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany was a momentous occasion for Australian football. After a 32-year wait from their previous finals appearance, the Socceroos exceeded expectations by making it past the group stage, and it was only a controversial penalty against Italy that knocked the team out.

Heroes were created. Tim Cahill became a household name, Lucas Neil’s heartbreak in conceding the penalty against Italy was Australia’s heartbreak, while Socceroos superstar Harry Kewell won even more hearts and minds.

With Australia qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, it marked Australia’s fourth consecutive appearance on the most significant sporting spectacle on the planet; a spectacle that will have billions of people around the world glued to their TV screens for a month.

Stavros is an associate professor in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, and he says Football Federation Australia (FFA) should be looking to make the most of the Socceroos’ appearance at Russia.

“What you can do is build up the players,” he says.

“We certainly had that Golden Generation of 2006 and we are starting to see it with Aaron Mooy and Daniel Arzani and a few others.

“They are a couple of real ready-made names, and then at the other end you’ve get Tim Cahill at the end of his career but highly recognisable. From a marketing point of view, I’m telling their stories, I’m getting them in the media and on social media, tweeting, and posting on Instagram.

“That’s really positive for the Socceroos’ brand. The great thing about Arzani is if he can score a goal, or do something special at the World Cup, it boosts the reputation of the local competition exponentially.”

While a strong performance in Russia has the ability to provide a much-needed boost to the local game, the code shouldn’t put all their focus on the Socceroos being successful on the pitch says Professor Stavros.

“We shouldn’t be reliant on that. I think that’s dangerous,” he says.

“What has to happen from a marketing perspective is whether we qualify for the World Cup or not, there should be a disconnect between the two.

“With teams such as Holland and the USA not qualifying for Russia it doesn’t spell disaster for their domestic competition, and we want the same thing here. But if they do get through the next stage, I think that should be treated as a bonus.

“We learnt in 2006, 2010, and 2014 that how we go in the World Cup doesn’t necessarily reflect on the domestic game. The problem is it’s just fleeting. We can’t rely on that possible boost every four years.”

When the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup in 2005, many viewed the subsequent team’s exploits in Germany as the awakening of a sleeping giant. But after 13 seasons, the domestic league is in a downward spiral with average crowds in the stands and TV viewing figures down from previous campaigns.

Professor Con Stavros

Professor Stavros feels this highlights that qualifying for a World Cup is not the be all and end all for Australian football.

“We thought in 2006 particularly, as we made the next stage, that it would be a real positive boost to the game,” he says.

“The game hasn’t taken the trajectory that many people had first thought that it would in the early years. It hasn’t taken off. It has a lot of hurdles to face. The A-League has a lot of positives going for it, but it has to build from here.

“It has issues that it needs to address in the coming years, such as expansion, potentially having two leagues, really strong media and broadcast deals, generating fan interest and having more people in the stadiums. All of that needs to happen in the next five to 10 years for the sport to really take off.”

As the Socceroos head in to their first group game against France, Professor Stavros says there are a number of factors that will be challenging for marketers of the Australian team.

“It will be interesting to see how the World Cup will play out from a fan experience with Australian fans going over there needing a visa and everything that comes with it,” he says.

“It will also be interesting for the sponsors to see how they leverage it. I’ve felt that there has been less marketing in Australia from what we’ve seen at other World Cups.

“From an Australian perspective this is the first time we’ve had the event not covered through a traditional TV platform with SBS only having some of the games, with the rest of it being on Optus [Sport] and that is a challenging thing in itself.”

While football is the game that dominates the world, Professor Stavros believes that isn’t the case for the Socceroos in terms of where they sit in the domestic sporting landscape.

“The big appeal of football is its global nature,” he says. “The World Cup brings that home, the world is literally watching. No other sport can say that. That’s a really positive message for the game. It has got this global presence that is super serious across the planet and that is something that can be easily tapped into.

“When you compare it to the other sports such as cricket, rugby, and AFL the global nature of the sport gives it an advantage. I would like to think that the Socceroos could be Australia’s premier sporting brand, but I don’t know if they are. That’s what FFA should be working on. That it becomes the brand that is associated nationally with the elite sporting identity.

“I don’t think it’s got there with everyone yet. The World Cup is a reminder of that potential.

The challenge, of course, is that sport is so diverse across Australia and a lot of the sports we play we are very good at so translating that across football can be challenging.”

One of the ways the FFA can promote football is to not only be more aggressive when it comes to marketing, but outline a clear course of action for the game’s future says Professor Stavros.

“Marketing is planning,” he says. “So there needs to be a really clear plan put into place, debated and developed. I know the FFA is in the process of expanding but where do they go from there? What is the message they want to sell? Who is the audience they want to focus on? Who is going to lead that message? What will the campaign look like? They may have that, but I haven’t seen it. As a marketing expert I should be able to pick it out from a long distance, but I haven’t seen it.

“You can’t rely on Fox Sports or SBS previously to do it for you all the time or the little bit of coverage that gets into other forms of media. Once they get things settled into what direction they are going with the league it would be good to see a more consistent and aggressive approach around the teams. As well as the excitement, the action and some of the stars that they can highlight.”