A-LEAGUE expansion is back on the radar but once again Tasmania remains the forgotten state.

And Football Federation Tasmania chief executive Mike Palmer says only a cashed-up white knight would convince Football Federation Australia that Tasmania can be a viable location for a franchise.

A-League bosses said yesterday the 10-team competition could expand within the next four years.

At the launch of the 2016-17 A-League yesterday, FFA chief executive David Gallop, and then the new competition boss Greg O’Rourke, said a possible promotion/relegation set-up was also on the agenda.

But it is believed locations such as the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney, Geelong, Canberra, Townsville and Ipswich are most likely to be favoured as ­potential homes for future A-League bases.

Palmer said there was no reason why Tasmania could not be a successful A-League location, but it would require a significant benefactor to bankroll it.

“We would always be supportive of anyone who is wishing to grow the game in Tasmania, whether that is through an A-League club,” he said. “But that isn’t something we are pursuing and it’s something I think that the FFA wouldn’t expect us as a state body to pursue.”

media_camera Western Sydney Wanderers captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley at yesterday’s 2016/17 A-League season launch. Picture: GETTY

The Mercury believes that the annual costs of supporting an A-League club in the state have been estimated to be about $7 million to $10 million.

In the late 2000s, the state did throw its hat into the ring to secure a A-League licence with the establishment of the Tasmania United Football Club taskforce, which was even in discussions with mega-rich Ethiopian and Saudi Arabian Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi to finance the club.

But nothing eventuated from the taskforce and Tasmania has been largely ­ignored by the A-League since — adding to snubs from the AFL, AFL Women’s League and the NBL in recent years.

This is despite FFA’s Whole of Football Plan, released last year, saying every major Australian centre with a population of more than 500,000 had the market size to host an A-League club.

Rather than look to Tasmania — which has just over 12,000 people playing soccer each year — the FFA seems set to once again go back to the idea of a multiple team model in Queensland, despite thefailure of two of its three attempts in the state.

But the State Government was noncommittal when asked if it would support a Tasmanian bid, with Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier Sarah Courtney, rather than Premier and Sports Minister Will Hodgman, responding to the Mercury’s questions.

“I’m certainly surprised Tasmania has not been ­included in the areas flagged by David Gallop for Football Federation Australia to ­expand into,” she said.

Opposition Leader Bryan Green said the State Government needed to do more.

“It is incumbent on the Government to get off its hands and ensure Tasmania gets back in the conversation should the A-League expand,” he said.