A-League expansion may be officially on the way but the lobby group pushing for a national second division is intent on making sure their ambitions stay firmly on FIFA's radar.
Source: AAP19 FEB 2018 - 3:50 PM UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Hostilities will resume in Australian football's ongoing civil war this week with a series of meetings that should signify the start of the end of the sport's long-running governance deadlock.Two FIFA officials - Nodar Akhalkatsi and Luca Nicola - and the Asian Football Confederation's Ravi Kumar have jetted into Sydney for three days of talks at Football Federation Australia (FFA) headquarters.Their purpose is to help set up a 'congress review working group', which will be tasked with widening FFA's congress.The governing body's last attempt at doing so was voted down at November's annual general meeting.
FIFA slammed for delaying crisis mission to AustraliaFIFA has come under fire for prolonging the inertia gripping Australian football, after sources in Zurich revealed the delegation charged with resolving the game's governance crisis will not travel to Sydney until February at the earliest.Instead of making good on their threats to replace FFA chairman Steven Lowy and his board with a 'normalisation committee', FIFA decided to make one more visit to try and force a diplomatic solution.On Tuesday, the FIFA and AFC delegates will meet with the 'special interest groups' seeking a seat in an expanded congress.They include referees, coaches, women's football and supporters, as well as the Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC), which released a blueprint for a national second tier drawn from state-league clubs last year.AAFC chairman Rabieh Krayem said he spoke with FFA as recently as Wednesday about their model, dubbed The Championship, which it hopes will be up and running by October 2019 and eventually introduce a promotion and relegation system.But Krayem said he was "surprised" there was no mention of it in FFA's announcement about expansion and would make a point of keeping FIFA and AFC in the loop."There's no doubt expansion and a second division come hand in hand," Krayem told AAP."The work we're doing at the moment will ensure it stays a priority."
A-League expansion top of FFA's agenda for 2018Football Federation Australia have targeted the 2019-20 season as the start date for two new A-League clubs and will take a "fresh approach" in marketing the competition next season.FIFA and AFC will be joined by high-ranking FFA official Mark Falvo for separate meetings across Tuesday and Wednesday with the PFA, state federations, A-League clubs and FFA board, before a joint summit on Thursday.It's understood the clubs aren't happy about Falvo's presence in those meetings.FFA chief executive David Gallop warned there would almost certainly be no resolution struck this week."This visit is more about establishing a process ... to really look at what everyone recognises as the way forward, which is a bigger congress. It won't be overnight in moving to that," Gallop told 2GB Radio.