A-League CEO Greg O’Rourke confirmed earlier this week that the A-League would be expanded in 2019-20 and that the FFA had already identified its preferred geographic areas of expansion based on extensive research and groundwork.
“Everyone’s aligned that we need to expand. There’s been a lot of work done at FFA in respect to expansion. We know exactly now where will be our target expansion areas,” O’Rourke said on Football Nation Radio.
He went on to explain that the reason why the FFA has yet to invite expressions of interest is that the FFA and the existing A-League clubs needed to work out a different operating model for the A-League, a process which has been interrupted by the dispute between the FFA and A-League clubs on the matter of the congress.
“In most places around the globe, the professional game is separated from the football association,” he explained.
For example, in England the EPL is run independently of the FA, the MLS in the US is separated from US Soccer, and in Japan the J-League is run independently of the Japanese FA.
“We’re exploring that model with the clubs and we’re well down the track on doing that,” O’Rourke said.
“Then the matter of the congress came up and the dispute between the clubs and FFA and what the congress looks like. As soon as we finish that piece of work around congress and around an independent or separated or structured different A-League, once that work is restarted, then expansion will be back on track.”
O’Rourke went on to say that despite the FFA having identified its preferred geographic areas of expansion, it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t consider applications from outside these areas as it acknowledges the power of derbies to generate increased spectator attendance and viewing numbers.