Football Australia stay cautious with A-League growth because it awaits additional particulars from the financially embattled Australian Professional Leagues in regards to the proposed Canberra membership getting into the boys’s competitors subsequent season.
The A-League will broaden by not less than one membership subsequent season, with an Auckland-based group franchise funded by American billionaire Bill Foley having already being confirmed because the competitors’s thirteenth group.
Then APL chief govt officer Danny Townsend introduced in March final yr {that a} Canberra males’s group would additionally be part of the A-League for the 2024-25 season.
Current A-League commissioner Nick Garcia final week additionally expressed his confidence that Canberra can be a part of subsequent season’s males’s competitors, with solutions that an announcement was imminent.
However, the APL’s monetary woes which have since come to gentle have some questioning whether or not the time if proper for the A-League to increasing, significantly contemplating the APL remains to be funding Perth Glory, and some house owners from present golf equipment proceed to bankroll the Newcastle Jets.
There are additionally those who would possibly argue that the APL now haven’t any possibility however to broaden contemplating the cash-strapped organisation will obtain $25 million for every of the licences on provide.
However, FA, the regulator of the A-League, nonetheless has the ultimate say on growth of the competitors regardless of the APL operating it.
“With any change of licence, change of owner, or expansion, Football Australia is involved and we assess every application from the APL on its merits,” stated FA chief govt officer James Johnson, who added he was nonetheless ready to see Canberra’s closing submission for entry.
“When there is something to assess, we’ll assess it, and make a decision based on the facts in front of us.”
Johnson additionally stated was nonetheless FA’s intention to start out a nationwide second division competitors subsequent yr regardless of the A-League’s present monetary issues.
Eight golf equipment – APIA Leichhardt, Avondale, Marconi Stallions, Preston Lions, South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58 and Wollongong Wolves – have been accepted into the competitors, with FA hoping to incorporate two-to-four extra by the top of June.
Source: www.news.com.au
