Photo: Acabashi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Tottenham Hotspur will face Sydney FC at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday evening local time (10.45am UK), their 15th match on Australian soil and the first since 2024.
The club's history in Australia dates to May 1976, when Spurs played five matches across a post-season tour of Canada, Fiji and Australasia. They won all five, scoring 20 goals in total, with Martin Chivers top-scoring on five goals — including a hat-trick against Western Australia.
The second tour came in 1985, when Tottenham competed in the International Soccer Tournament in Australia alongside the Australian national team, Italian side Udinese and Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. Spurs finished the tournament in fourth place after winning 4-1 against Udinese in the third-place play-off.
After a 30-year absence, Tottenham returned in May 2015 for a post-season tour. Harry Kane scored the only goal as Spurs beat Sydney FC 1-0 in front of 71,549 fans at the ANZ Stadium. The tour was later awarded Best Event at Australia's Favourite Event Awards.
Spurs were back in Australia the following year, 2016, for a pre-season International Champions Cup double-header at the MCG in Melbourne. They lost 2-1 to Juventus and 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, with Erik Lamela scoring Tottenham's only goal across the two fixtures.
The 2023 pre-season visit to Perth under then-new head coach Ange Postecoglou saw Spurs lose 3-2 to West Ham before 46,266 supporters at the Optus Stadium. Goals from Lo Celso and Udogie were not enough to secure a result in Postecoglou's first match in charge.
Most recently, Tottenham played Newcastle United in Melbourne in May 2024 in front of 78,419 spectators at the MCG. James Maddison scored in a 1-1 draw, with Spurs losing on penalties.