Can the Socceroos stop the nation? It would be 40 years in the making for SBS

T he World Cup clash between the Socceroos and Paraguay represents a potential milestone for Australian football, as the team chase qualification for the knockout rounds for only the third time. For the broadcaster SBS, its significance may be even greater. The match is the culmination of 11 straight men’s World Cup tournaments, and a commitment that stretches back to Mexico 1986. Its audience is expected to go close to – or exceed – the network’s record for any Socceroos match or World Cup fixture. “It’s very likely that this match will have the largest audience ever for an SBS broadcast from the World Cup, which is a credit not only to our current broadcast team but to the giants whose shoulders they stand on,” said the SBS director of sport Ken Shipp. The veteran executive has been involved in nine World Cup tournaments, and has overseen the transition from its traditional, often early-morning TV coverage into a 2026 extravaganza which encompasses free-to-air television, SBS On Demand streaming – for the first time including restarting a stream while a match is in progress – highlights, mini-matches and social media content. “Our football broadcast pioneers Les Murray and Johnny Warren firmly believed that we could get here and will be smiling down on us,” Shipp said, speaking from a downtown San Francisco bar which he, Murray and Warren visited during USA 1994. …