Australia–Uruguay football rivalry

Men's

Both Australia and Uruguay had qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. For Australia, it would be their first ever qualification.^[7] Uruguay travelled to Australia for a pre-tournament 2-game series at Olympic Park in Melbourne and the Sydney Sports Ground in Sydney. The match in Melbourne ended in a 0–0 draw which was noted for the aggressively physical play by the Uruguayans with Australian manager Rale Rasic referring to the Uruguayans' antics as "dirty".^[8] The following match in Sydney in front of a crowd of 27,500 would be marred with physicality not experienced by Australian footballers to this point. During the first half of the game with the scores locked at 0–0 Uruguayan player Luis Garisto felled Australian striker Ray Baartz with what was described as a karate chop to Barrtz's neck^[9][6] which Garisto went unpunished for. Following a few minutes of treatment Baartz resumed play. After scoring the first and providing the assist for Australia's second goal, Uruguays play would become more violent and spiteful, culminating in Garisto punching Baartz in the jaw following some banter. To make it look like Baartz had attacked Garisto, a fellow Uruguayan player punched Garisto in the face which drew blood. The referee threatened to abandon the game, however Australia held on for a 2–0 victory.^[10] Following the match, Baartz started showing signs of a stroke following the attack to his neck and was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital where doctors placed in him in intensive care having lost consciousness for two days.^[6][8] Whilst Baartz would survive the stroke and return to full health, due to the severe extend of his injuries he would retire from all forms of the game at just 27 years old^[11] following doctors advice that another severe blow to his neck may kill him.

It would be 18 years before the two nations would meet again when Australia played a 3-game 'goodwill tour' of South America. Uruguay would win 2–1 in front of 18,000 strong crowd in Montevideo^[12]

Australia and Uruguay would meet for a fourth time during the semi finals of the 1997 Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia. With the scores locked at 0–0 at full time, the match went to golden goal. Two minutes into the golden goal period, young Australian striker Harry Kewell scored the winning goal with a shot from 25 meters, propelling Australia into the final against Brazil.^[13]

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL–OFC play-off)

The two nations would meet again in consecutive World Cup Qualification play-offs in 2005 for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The first leg was held in Montevideo with security bolstered for the Australian team following the incidents during the 2002 playoff.^[19] Uruguay won the first leg 1–0, courtesy of a goal from Darío Rodríguez in the 37th minute^[20] Australia, led by Dutch coach Guus Hiddink had learned their lesson from the previous World Cup cycle, not being baited even when Uruguayan legend Álvaro Recoba claimed Uruguay had a "divine right" to play in the World Cup.^[21] Following the loss, the Australian team flew to the second leg in Sydney on a chartered Qantas flight which had been modified so that the Australian players could recover from the first leg in-flight,^[22] whereas the Uruguay team were forced to endure a multi-leg commercial flights.^[23]

The second leg match at Stadium Australia in Sydney was a tight affair, with Mark Bresciano scoring the game's only goal after 90 minutes, sending the match into Extra Time with the scores locked at 1–1 on aggregate. The match would go to penalties, with Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer saving two penalties. John Aloisi scored the winning penalty to send Australia through to the World Cup for the first time in 32 years.^[24]

In 2019, CONMEBOL invited Australia to compete in the 2020 Copa América.^[25] The Socceroos were drawn in the south zone of the tournament, and were to play Uruguay along with Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.^[26] The COVID-19 pandemic forced CONMEBOL to delay the tournament to 2021, with Australia withdrawing its wildcard berth due to scheduling conflicts with its 2022 World Cup qualification campaign.^[27]