Football Federation Australia is set to announce two new clubs to join the A-League on Thursday, with Macarthur-South West Sydney and Western Melbourne Group understood to have been granted licences.
Sources suggest Western Melbourne Group are set to enter the competition as early as next season after being granted an immediate A-League licence to become the 11th club, while the Macarthur-South West Sydney bid will likely enter a season later to make it a 12-team competition.
Green light: It's understood the FFA will announce it has accepted bids from Melbourne and Sydney later on ThursdayCredit:AAP
The Sydney Morning Herald understands it took more than nine hours for the FFA Board to deliberate over A-League expansion, the timeline and number of teams to enter the competition, eventually settling on two teams in a tiered schedule just after midnight on Thursday morning.
The announcement and final confirmation of the winning bids will be made at midday on Thursday. The decision is understood to have been made with the future in mind, with the two bids hailing from the largest two population growth corridors in Australia.
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The Western Melbourne Group appears to have won the race on the back off of its proposal to build the competition's first privately owned football stadium and training centre in Australia. Based in the growth corridor in Melbourne's west, the site will almost immediately undergo construction to be ready in three years.
In the meantime, the club is set to play its home games out of Kardinia Park in Geelong as a temporary home.
The Macarthur-South West Sydney bid will be based out of Campbelltown Stadium and will likely be afforded an additional year to be ready to enter the A-League in 2020, a move that will likely satisfy soon-to-be rivals, the Wanderers.
Western Sydney opposed a team in the city's south west entering next season, wanting a full season at their new stadium in Parramatta before a new team close to their supporter base enters the competition.
Sydney FC have publicly voiced their support for a team in the city's south-west.
The Sydney outfit is already in negotiations to sign Mile Jedinak as its inaugural captain though a potentialy delay of entering the A-League by a season could threaten their chances to sign the former Socceroos' captain.
Marquee: Ex-Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak has been linked to the new Sydney outfit.Credit:AAP
Dominic Bossi is a football reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.
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