The federation has gone as far as trademarking a name – the ‘Australian Championship’ – and associated imagery for the second tier, which was revealed to clubs at a meeting last week. It was at the same meeting that FA provided them with an update which, according to one club source, left them “deflated but not defeated” about their hopes of a home-and-away format happening in 2025.

A possible compromise solution, which has not been floated widely but is believed to have some support within FA, is to add existing A-League teams to the ‘Champions League-style’ second division, which would essentially be a more exclusive version of the existing Australia Cup. Those who support this idea believe it would give FA something tangible to sell to sponsors and broadcasters in the short term which could be built upon in future years and eventually expanded to the singular league that clubs desire.

APIA Leichhardt, Avondale FC, Marconi, Preston Lions, South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58 and Wollongong Wolves are the eight ‘foundation’ clubs who cleared the high financial bar set by FA to be involved with the new competition.

However, all of those clubs come from NSW and Victoria; attempts to find clubs from other parts of Australia during a second application phase run by FA this year have turned up only one other possible entrant, also from Victoria, while FA has concerns over the viability of one or two of the foundation clubs, sources say.

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The second application phase was due for completion last month, but that deadline has passed without any updates from the governing body.

The APL is not involved with planning or preparations for the second division, although their previous leadership last year floated a rough model for promotion and relegation with them as a talking point.

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