Serie A is heading to Australia! Italian FA give green light to play AC Milan vs Como in foreign country but need approval of FIFA, UEFA and more

For the first time ever, a Serie A match will be played outside Italy. The Federal Council meeting held on Thursday morning gave the green light for the match between AC Milan and Como, scheduled for the weekend of February 7-8, 2026, to be played in Perth.

Australia had already submitted its proposal to host a match several months ago, and now the final go-ahead has been given, with Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina sharing with the Board, which met on Thursday, his intention to respond positively to Serie A's request to play the Milan-Como match in Perth. The complex authorisation procedure also requires formal approval from the Australian Football Federation (AFF), UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA.

The match between Milan and Como, valid for the 24th matchday of the 2025-26 campaign, will be played on the weekend of February 7-8, 2026. The exact date will be determined at a later date.

This is a historic event for Italian football. But why was Milan-Como chosen as the match to be played abroad? On February 6, the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina will be held at San Siro. With Milan in need of another venue, the natural choice was for their home game against Como to be the one played elsewhere.

Back in March, there were reports that Serie A president Ezio Simonelli was actively working on a project to take the league's games abroad, with USA mentioned as a likely destination at the time.

The first matchday of the upcoming Serie A season is scheduled for August 23, with Milan facing Cremonese, Como taking on Lazio and champions Napoli visiting Sassuolo.