Brisbane will welcome the world’s best walking football players later this month when Perry Park plays host to the 2026 IWFF Walking Football World Championships from 28 to 31 May.
It is the first time the tournament has been held in the Southern Hemisphere, and Perry Park in Bowen Hills is the perfect stage for the occasion.
Walking football is one of the fastest-growing forms of the game anywhere in the world. Designed for players aged 40 and above, it strips the sport back to its essentials: skill, positioning, teamwork and a genuine love of the game. The only difference from the version most of us grew up with is a simple one. You walk, you don’t run. That single adjustment has opened the door for thousands of people to stay connected to football well beyond their playing days, and for many others to discover the sport for the first time.
The World Championships will bring together national teams from across the globe, competing in men’s and women’s age categories from the over-40s through to the over-75s. Australia’s own Walkaroos will take the field on home soil, backed by a passionate local football community. At the 2024 World Championships in Chesterfield, England, the Walkaroos’ 50s Women claimed silver in their division, while Paul Brown was named Player of the Tournament in the men’s 50s.
In a first for international walking football, the IWFF World Championships will run side by side with the Football Queensland Walking Football Festival on warm-up fields at the venue. Fans and participants alike can take in world-class international competition alongside grassroots festival football across the same four days.
Perry Park has been home to football in Brisbane since 1967. It has hosted everything from National Soccer League matches and FFA Cup ties to A-League Women’s fixtures and NPL Queensland finals. For Brisbane Roar supporters, the ground holds a special place as a venue that has staged cup matches and women’s home games throughout the club’s history. It is a ground that lives and breathes football, and later this month it will showcase the game to a worldwide audience.
All football fans are encouraged to come down to Perry Park and support the Walkaroos as they chase glory on home turf.
For more information, visit walkingfootballaustralia.com.
