ALESSANDRO Del Piero is staying with Sydney FC because he wants to win the A-League - and maybe even this season.

The Italian marquee yesterday confirmed that the A-League would be graced by his presence again next season, but made clear the next 13 months will be anything but a holiday.

A week before the deadline in his contract to activate a second year, Del Piero appeared with Sydney chairman Scott Barlow and CEO Tony Pignata to detail his hopes for that subsequent season.

Demonstrably fitter than on his arrival, Del Piero has been a revelation for the Sky Blues, scoring 11 goals in 18 games and lifting the profile of the league single-handedly.

Despite a dreadful first half of the season that left Sydney marooned at the bottom, Del Piero said the recent improvement under Frank Farina could lead them to glory.

"We know what happened in the first months, but we worked all together to move up (the league)," Del Piero said. "We did great work but it's not enough, we are looking at the playoff line at the moment.

"First of all I'm here to play, and this is a challenge - I want to win the challenge. It's why I'm here, and I want to win again next year.

"If we can work with pleasure and knowledge, everything is possible. Now the focus for all of us is the rest of the season."

Sydney face Melbourne Heart on Sunday buoyed by the inclusion of both Joel Griffiths and Lucas Neill - aiming to solidify their hold on fifth spot at the expense of their hosts.

The 38-year-old's contract is unchanged at $3.6m, and beyond next season he will play on only if his body allowed him to do so "at an elite level".

Del Piero politely thanked the clubs including Flamengo in Brazil that had chased his signature - "at my young age" he joked.

But despite the drawn-out nature of the contract talks, he was emphatic about ever having been seriously tempted to move again, six months after arriving to such a fanfare.

"No, no, no," he said. "It was a big challenge for me and my family to come here. I changed everything in our life.

"That's why I needed to understand what is good and what is not. For sure it's good here, and the relationship with the club (is good).

"Weeks ago we had to be concentrating to come out of a terrible situation with the team (rather than holding contract talks).

"Now we are in a good position but it's not enough. We have six games remaining and we have to push our energy to make the playoffs.

"Everyone wants improvement next year, everyone wants to do better and better every week and that's what I feel when I talk with Scott and all the board and the boss.

"That's why I'm very happy to stay here and do another great and better year."

Barlow said there had been no sticking points.

"We made it quite clear to Alessandro some time ago that we were quite keen for him to stay," Barlow said.

"He made it clear to us some time ago that he was very happy to stay as well.

"We worked through some of the detail of the contract that needed to be worked through, and that concluded late yesterday."

Asked if his trailblazing could presage the arrival of other Italian imports to the competition, Del Piero admitted to fielding curious phone calls from his homeland.

"For sure in Italy there is more interest than before," he said. "Some friends of mine call me, maybe also Tony (Pignata) - we have to understand there are only five visa players (allowed per club), it's not simple. But I hope some good players come from Italy, or elsewhere - in Italy we say a good player is always welcome wherever he is from."

Pignata himself laughed at the suggestion that the club were actively pursuing any Del Piero-provided leads, but said it could be a legitimate line of enquiry.

"He's a fantastic player with good contacts - why not use them," he said.

Originally published as Del Piero not done yet