Western Melbourne and Macarthur South-west Sydney win the A-League expansion race

The A-League will have to wait an extra year for another set of Sydney derbies, after the Macarthur South-west Sydney consortium was invited to join - but a season later than planned.

Macarthur South-west Sydney supporters at Campbelltown Stadium. (AAP IMAGE / Robert Pozo).

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The A-League will have to wait an extra year for another set of Sydney derbies, after the Macarthur South-west Sydney consortium was invited to join the competition - but a season later than planned.

Football Federation Australia announced on Thursday a staggered expansion program, with Western Melbourne and the Campbelltown-based MSWS bids winning the race.

An 11-team competition will be formed next season, the winning Victorian bid joining the A-League in 2019-20, before the South-west Sydney bid enters in 2020-21.

Macarthur South-west Sydney supporters at Campbelltown Stadium. (AAP IMAGE / Robert Pozo).

New FFA chairman Chris Nikou said the expansion process had been “very comprehensive.”

“Each gives us a wonderful footprint into growth corridors in the Australian market place and position us for the long-term gain of expanding football in this country,” he said.

“All the bids had redeeming features but ultimately, we have settled on the two that I’ve just mentioned. We’ve worked with those successful bidders to make sure they have the best chances of success.

The FC-WSW derby will hold pre-eminence in the Harbour City for another season.

“I would like to point out at this point that that’s not the full stop for the expansion process. Expansion is an ongoing dialogue for us. We would like to keep the expansion issue on the agenda. Coupled with that…is the establishment of a second division working group.”

Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) chief executive John Didulica was delighetd with the move.

“The PFA welcomes the FFA Board’s decision to expand the A-League and we congratulate the successful communities and ownership groups who now inherit the responsibility of managing a football club in the A-League and beyond

Western Melbourne will play out of Kardinia Park for the first two season before moving into a boutique rectangular 15-000-seat stadium in Tarneit, which they’ve vowed to build with their own funds.

Kardinia Park will house the new team from Melbourne for the first two years.

The 20,000-capacity Campbelltown Stadium – which is 50 kilometres from Parramatta Stadium via road – will house the South-west Sydney team, with a lease agreement already in place.

Tense 11th hour negotiations went late into Wednesday night after the FFA board meeting, with both bids understood to have been asked to up their final bids.

Both clubs signed their A-League participation agreements in the early hours of the morning, with the four losing bids – South-east Victoria (Team 11), South Melbourne, Southern Expansion and Canberra United believed to have been informed on Thursday morning.

Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic, Brett Emerton and Lang Walker were all supporters of the Macarthur bid. (AAP IMAGE / Robert Pozo).

FFA was due to announce the two winning bids at a press conference at noon on Thursday (EDT) fronted by FFA chief executive David Gallop and A-League chief Greg O’Rourke.

The South-west Sydney bid was always favoured ahead of Southern Expansion, but the Melbourne license was hotly debated.

South-east Victorian bid (Team 11) was pitched as a strong option before the board went with Western Melbourne, who are understood to have paid a significantly higher license fee.

The Team 11 bid was proposing to play out of a newly built 15,000-seat stadium in Dandenong’s CBD, required around $120 million in government funding, with Casey Fields used as the temporary home.

It’s understood South-west Sydney’s preference was to start next season (2019-20), however Western Sydney Wanderers were keen to have a season of clear air at the refurbished Parramatta Stadium.

The staggered expansion approach was decided during a five-hour-long board meeting, having kicked off at 3pm Wednesday at FFA HQ in Sydney.

If South-west Sydney get up, they are expected to commence talks with ex Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak, now with Championship club Aston Villa, about joining them in their inaugural season.

Property mogul and BRW Rich Lister Lang Walker is the main backer of the Macarthur bid, after two local consortiums merged last August, with local businessman and fellow investor Gino Marra fronting the bid.

Canberra United’s bid has been well received, although there was a belief that they fell short in several areas including financials.

However Canberra could still be considered for the 2020-21 season, with Wellington Phoenix’s future up in the air.

Phoenix have one more year to run on their contract and must meet a series of performance metrics – including crowds – which they are now falling well short of.

South-west Sydney tried to join the A-League this season (2018-19), making an offer to merge with Wellington Phoenix at the end of last A-League season. FFA blocked the deal.

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