This is where Milan-Como will be played in Australia Welcome to the Perth Stadium
UEFA has exceptionally approved the Serie A's plan to hold Milan-Como in Australia. Barring any last-minute surprises, the two teams will face each other in Perth on February 7th or 8th, 2026 since San Siro is unavailable due to the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the last gala event for the stadium known as the "La Scala del Calcio" before its demolition. "We are opposed to domestic league matches being played abroad. Two requests have been approved on an exceptional basis due to regulatory gaps at global level. We are committed to anchoring the integrity of domestic competitions and fans’ perspectives in forthcoming FIFA rules", reads the official statement released by UEFA, which confirms that a La Liga match, Villarreal-Barcelona, will also be played abroad, most likely in Miami in December.
Down Under
Serie A is therefore heading to Australia with Milan playing a home match almost 14,000 kilometres away from San Siro. For an afternoon its home will be the Perth Stadium, a venue opened in 2018 that in 2019 won the Prix Versailles, the world architecture and design award, as the best stadium in the world. The project was designed by the architecture firms Hassell, COX and HKS following the fans first principle, meaning they aimed to guarantee an excellent view for every spectator. The stadium was in fact built as a venue dedicated to Australian football and cricket. For this reason the turf was installed following an oval form. In these configurations at least 61,000 seats are guaranteed, a figure that increases depending on the events hosted at Perth Stadium. For concerts the capacity rises to 70,000 while for events where the playing field is arranged as a rectangle, as will be the case for Milan-Como, 65,000 seats are provided. All these numbers make it the third-largest stadium in Australia.
The stadium occupies a special location as it covers 30 hectares along the banks of the Swan River. Nevertheless the five-level structure with a bronze façade fits perfectly into the skyline of the capital of Western Australia and at night changes its appearance thanks to the largest integrated LED sports lighting system in the world, 7 kilometres of lights that completely transform the exterior as soon as the sun sets. Technological investments are also visible inside the stadium, always following the fans first concept: the stadium is equipped with two giant screens of 340 square metres as well as a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi system that, thanks to 1,400 access points distributed throughout the venue, provides online and streaming services to all fans. And if it rains, the lightweight plastic roof that runs around the venue is able to cover 85% of the seats.
How much does Serie A earn?
It will not be Milan's first trip to Perth. The Rossoneri already travelled to these latitudes at the end of the 2023/24 season to play a friendly against Roma, and the same happened in July 2025 when Milan faced and beat Perth Glory, a team in Australia's top league, in a friendly. According to Italian outlet La Stampa, Serie A will receive €12 million to move Milan-Como to Australia, an amount that will be distributed among the 20 teams in Italy's top division. The newspaper also reports that the deal was facilitated by the fact that the Government of Western Australia — the authority that negotiated with Milan — has been in business with the Elliott Fund since 2020, the hedge fund that in 2022 sold ownership of Milan to RedBird, the fund chaired by Gerry Cardinale who is today the club's owner.
What about season-ticket holders?
Regarding season-ticket holders, the contract signed at the time of purchase states: "In the event that the Milan-Como match, currently scheduled for 8 February 2026, is not played at San Siro due to the unavailability of the G. Meazza stadium for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the Holder will have the right to request a refund of the pro rata portion of the season ticket, subject to the correct and complete completion of the refund procedure indicated on the website www.acmilan.com. Reimbursement of any expenses of any kind incurred by the Holder as a result of the aforementioned change is excluded. The refund will not be made in cash, but through a voucher of the same amount as the pro rata portion of the season ticket (1/19 of the season ticket value), usable within the terms that will be indicated by A.C. Milan".
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