Australia’s World Cup team headlined by an A-League star & coached by Kevin-Prince Boateng
This week, Australia’s football team headed off to a World Cup in Mexico.
There is a one in three chance that sentence will be true come June, when Tony Popovic’s Socceroos jet off to the biggest sporting event on the planet – but it is also true this week of a team that features A-League experience and has been coached by Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The Sixaroos, Australia’s national six-a-side team play their opening match of the Socca World Cup in Cancun against Ireland this Monday morning AEDT.
football360.com.au visited their training in Sydney to find out about this version of the sport, how the team came together and the big names who will be pulling on the green and gold.
What is Socca? And who are the Sixaroos?
“The Sixaroos is a relatively newly-founded national six a side team that plays in international competitions within the International Socca Federation – and, the cream of that is the World Cup,” explains team captain and president of Socca Australia Sam Young.
“Six a side football is the foundational, smaller version of the main game that we love and play. It’s the game we play in our roots growing up; a lot of smaller touches, a lot of faster pace, a higher intensity.
“You play on a smaller field, of course, so it’s a great tool to develop and hone your skills before you go to the 11 v 11 field.”
The International Socca Federation is the umbrella organisation governing small-sided football, which they claim is the ‘most widely played sport in the world’.
Founded by leaders of small-sided leagues across Europe and Asia, they organise global tournaments for national and club teams in five, six, seven and eight a side formats.
According to their website, they count football legends including Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Nicolas Anelka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Michael Owen, John Terry, Ryan Giggs, George Boateng and David James among their ambassadors.
The 2024 Socca rankings lists 73 national teams, with Australia sitting 63rd in the world, while Kazakhstan sit top, followed by Brazil and Poland.
What type of player is suited to Socca? “I always say it’s almost like a hybrid somewhere between a technical 11 a side player and a strong futsal player, someone who has the power of an 11 a side player, but the technique of a futsal player,” Young said.
“Players that thrive on tiki taka 11 v 11 football or technical 11 v football are really well suited to six a side because at the end of the day you’re working in smaller spaces, you’re often coming out 1v1 with your opposition.
“Games can turn on a head by the smallest little moments.”
Has Australia been to a Socca World Cup before? Who’s on the team this year?
This is Australia’s second visit to the Socca World Cup, debuting last year in Oman where the Sixaroos narrowly lost each of their four group matches to Mexico, Albania, Peru and Latvia.
Lessons from that tournament are fuelling their preparations this time around, with some big names recruited to pull on the green and gold.
A-League star Danny De Silva, currently without a club since leaving Macarthur Bulls in July, is the headline name in a team that also features an array of NPL talent, including Giorgio Speranza (Rockdale Ilinden), Joe Guest (Oakleigh Cannons) and Darcy Burgess (Manly United) as well as former Futsalroos captain Shelvin Adeli.
“It’s been a bit of a work in progress, but it wasn’t actually too hard to pull the squad together because six a side is a game that every footballer wants to play.
“Anyone who wants to improve themselves in the small spaces, wants to challenge themselves in a different aspect, six a side is perfect.
“Everyone’s played it in some form in their life, so it’s pretty easy to convince people.”
De Silva was recruited by a cold message from Young and jumped at the opportunity to represent Australia again, having played for the nation at Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 levels in the 11 a side game.
“Sam just sent me a message and told me what it was about,” De Silva explained.
“A couple of days later, they gave me a call, and we had a good chat on the phone and I just thought it was a great opportunity – something new and different to what I’m used to.
“What a place to go as well – Mexico and Cancun.”
He added: “As a kid, I loved playing in the street, small-sided games, futsal … I think it’s really the type of player that I am.
“… I’ve really found the joy of football again, my love for the game.”
Another name Australian football fans may be familiar with is Steve Kuzmanovski, who was recruited to join the Sixaroos on the back of a recent charity match.
Affectionately known as Kuzi, the former Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City winger has transitioned into the content game after injuries curtailed his football career, growing an audience of nearly a million followers across Instagram and TikTok.
“I played in a charity match…. and I ended up coming up against Sam Young, who is the captain of the Sixaroos. I gave him a clinic … and he called me a week later, asking if I wanted to join in. It was a no brainer for me.” Kuzmanovski laughed.
“When I was younger I played a lot of small-sided football – it’s kind of like the five v five, and then I went on and played outdoor football, became a professional.
“Once I got into the content world, I played more street football, so it’s not uncommon for me.”
De Silva and Kuzmanovski know each other well, having risen through Australia’s youth ranks together. The latter thought his days of pulling on the green and gold were over.
“Ten years later I’m representing Australia again. I never thought that I would play for Australia again after rupturing my second ACL playing for the Young Socceroos at the under-20 World Cup qualifiers.
“So to just go on the field again representing Australia is a huge honor for me. I can’t wait.”
A-League great Milos Ninkovic was due to play for the Sixaroos, but has been forced to pull out with coaching commitments in his role at the Western Sydney Wanderers.
How did Kevin-Prince Boateng get involved?
It’s not every day you get coached by a legend of the game, who played in the Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga and Serie A, with stints at clubs like AC Milan, Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona.
Since hanging up his boots, Boateng has been living in Australia, and coached the Sixaroos in their lead-up to the World Cup.
“I’ve been through some difficult periods and Australia became my sacred, holy land; I found my wife here, and I found God, so it’s the most beautiful place on earth,” he told football360.com.au.
“My good friend Sam Young, the captain of the team, asked if I would come along and have a look at (the Sixaroos).
“I told him I could help because I love six-a-side football. It’s my passion. I used to grow up on that. It was a no-brainer.”
“It was everything. It was our Champions League, our World Cup final. Just going and kicking the ball and getting tackled, getting challenged.
“Even when I was 15, 16 years old, I had already played against 30-year-old men. That made me even stronger and tougher so there was nothing in my career that could surprise me.
“That’s why I loved it. It was in a tight space, so you had to learn quickly to dribble and have the perfect touch. It was the best lesson.”
Boateng added: “People always talk about Australia, that there’s not a lot of talent, but to be honest, I was surprised when I got here.
“First I came for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. I was very surprised about the atmosphere and how many people were involved, and now I’m surprised to see there’s a lot of talent.
“There’s a lot of passion, a lot of will for the sport.”
For the Sixaroos, being coached by Boateng, who has experience being involved with a team in Germany’s Baller League, has been a real boost
“His resumé speaks for itself, a wealth of experience playing at the biggest clubs in the world,” De Silva said.
“Just being able to be in that environment and learning from him has been phenomenal.
“The boys have really benefited from having him on board. He’s given us a real good drive and hunger to go to Mexico and do something special.”
What can they expect at the World Cup?
Australia is in the fortunate position where the Sixaroos qualify for the World Cup by default as the only ISF member nation from the Oceania region.
They now head to a 32-team tournament which features the best six-a-side teams on the planet.
Alongside host nation Mexico (ranked 4th in the world in 2024), their group also features Belgium (17th in the world) and Ireland (31 in the world), which means their work will be cut out for them.
“Our debut in the World Cup was Oman 2024, where we didn’t have a lot of lead up time into that competition and didn’t know what to expect,” Young said.
“It was a big learning curve for us. We did well. We were competitive. We had that traditional Australian spirit of never giving up, and fighting hard, being athletic, but probably weren’t quite experienced enough to get out of the group.
“A lot of these teams have been playing six a side for a long time, (and are) very accustomed to that world stage. That’s something that we’ve learned a lot from last year to take into this year.”
The Sixaroos are expecting to be up against a bumper home crowd in their match against the hosts in Cancun, where they’ll play in a purpose built stadium.
“One of the things I tell everyone that doesn’t know about Socca is that for the World Cup they have a bespoke stadium made from scratch,” Young explained.
“They can build it within a month and it hosts around 4000 spectators. It creates a really good atmosphere.
“Part of the trademark of Socca is that they seem to do it in amazing locations all over the world, Cancun being one of them and we’re pretty excited to play in front of a home Mexican fan base.”
Previous World Cup hosts include Lisbon (Portugal), Rethymno (Greece), Budapest (Hungary), Essen (Germany) and Muscat (Oman).
This year, the Sixaroos hope to get out of their group for the first time.
