Increasing pain: the FFA questions the structure of the expanded 12-team A-League competition

The next season could be the longest in the history of the A-League – or the first to present an unbalanced draw of the AFL and the NRL – with Football Federation Australia stuck between the hammer and anvil while he is thinking about the structure of an expanded competition.

The expansion remains a real possibility for the 2019-2020 campaign with the new FFA Board of Directors evaluating the remaining six offers – and possibly selecting the two successful offers – at their next meeting on 12 December.

However, the FFA leadership has yet to make any decisions regarding the number of rounds that the A-League should contend with 12 teams and the views diverge between different stakeholders. There seem to be three options and none of them are ideal.

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The first is to play 22 games, each game being played twice. For a league that aspires to be one of the best in Asia and has many players with international ambitions, there is simply not enough football.

The second option is to play 33 games, six more laps than the current competition. It seems that Fox Sports is somewhat opposed to this because it would entail additional costs for the broadcast of extra matches and additional overlap with the winter codes.

Previous experience also suggests that this could lead to audience fatigue. The crowds of the A-League have never been as low as in 2010-11, while there were 11 teams playing 30 games each. The average number of spectators was 8749 – the lowest ever, with matches played in the middle of the week to host the extra matches.

The third and most controversial option is to keep the season at the current 27 games. The problem is that not all teams are competing the same number of times, with derbies and other rival games that may be a priority to complete the match, as is the case in the AFL and NRL.

This is a delicate situation and highlights why the FFA is eager to move to 14 teams to allow a consecutive season of 26 games to be blocked.

"In a 12-team competition, we can not get to that point and we do not want to see our players play less football – but certainly with 14 teams, the competition structure is much easier to set up without the repetition third round, "said FFA General Manager David Gallop.

Sydney FC President Scott Barlow said there were a number of competing factors. "It's clear that the off season is long, probably one of the longest in professional football," he said. "The broadcaster is a consideration, which works for them. [We also want] a balanced competition. "

"It's a good question, I do not have an answer, I do not have a definite view of the question, at some point we'll have to ask ourselves if a two-lap competition is the right model for -Ligue with an increased number of clubs. "

A season of 33 games would give clubs more flexibility to stage matches in different markets. For example, Barlow suggested that the Sky Blues would be ready to play some games at WIN Stadium, after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Wollongong Wolves on Tuesday.

There is also the small problem of how to integrate the extension clubs at the FFA Cup. The new teams may not necessarily participate in the tournament next year, which would give them a few more months to put their football teams in order before their first season in the A-League.

However, it would be necessary to find a judicious way to add the new A-League teams to the round of 16, without reducing the chances for the NPL teams. One option under discussion is to qualify only the top 10 clubs in the A-League for the FFA Cup, which will further encourage teams to avoid finishing in the last two instead of relegation.