Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has given his strongest hint yet that Australians could be in line for another public holiday.

With the Matildas poised to kick off their FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign later on Thursday, Mr Albanese has again backed in a day off for Aussies if the team runs away with the title.

On Thursday morning, Mr Albanese pledged to lobby state premiers if can bring it home.

The Matildas are among the favourites to win the competition – but first they must survive their challenging “group of death”. It includes Olympic champion Canada, as well as Ireland and Nigeria.

Mr Albanese will be at Stadium Australia, along with a sold-out crowd of more than 75,000, on Thursday night when the Matildas’ campaign kicks off against World Cup debutant Ireland.

Ahead of the match on Thursday, he wished the team “good luck”.

“I don’t think they need my advice,” he told ABC radio.

“They’re all over it … I’m really looking forward to tonight. It will be a really exciting event.”

Late last year, as the Socceroos beat Denmark in a historic victory at the men’s World Cup, Mr Albanese promised a public holiday if they took the title.

There was – perhaps unsurprisingly – widespread support for the idea, with ACTU boss Sally McManus channelling former PM Bob Hawke’s famous reaction to Australia’s America Cup win in 1983 by saying: “Any boss would be a mug if they sacked anyone for turning up a little bit late today given that a lot of us had to wake up very early.”

Of course, it’s now history at the Socceroos failed to pull off a miracle in Qatar. So no bonus public holiday for their fans at home.

Tweet from @TheMatildas

Last month, Mr Albanese told The Daily Aus that he thought state and territory leaders would “race” to declare a public holiday if the Matildas managed to go where the Socceroos could not.

On Thursday, he was asked again about that – offering a rapid agreement.

“The states are in charge of public holidays … but I tell you what, it will be a time where we should celebrate as a nation if we win the World Cup,” he said.

“That’ll certainly be my view, so I’ll put that very strongly.”

The Matildas will begin their public holiday campaign … er, World Cup competition at 8pm on Thursday, in front of the biggest crowd they have yet seen.

The match follows a friendly in Melbourne, where they beat France in front of the current record home crowd of 50,629.

Captain Sam Kerr has urged the team to embrace the noise and hype in Sydney.

“I’m really excited. I love playing in front of packed stadiums,” Kerr said on Thursday.

“We spoke about it briefly today – it’s OK to feel nervous or OK to kind of get overawed by the crowd because that’s life, that’s football.

“We can talk about it but it’s about being in the moment and supporting one another, and 50,000 the other day was amazing and I thought that we dealt with it really well.

“Everyone’s more looking forward to it than nervous about the crowd.

“Everyone knows that they’re on our side so it’s nice when you know they’re going to be cheering you on rather than booing you.”

-with AAP