Perth Glory played the first two games of their FFA Cup campaign with a squad that would have exceeded the A-League salary cap by 20 per cent had it remained unchanged for the remainder of the season.

Going into Tuesday night's FFA Cup final between Perth Glory and Adelaide United, Fairfax Media can reveal Perth Glory were exceeding the forecasted annual salary cap by approximately $500,000 for their first two rounds of the FFA Cup. Perth defeated Newcastle Jets and St Albans Saints in the first two rounds on their run to the inaugural final of the competition.

Marquee man: Glory skipper MIchael Thwaite. Credit:Getty Images

Glory also played the opening two games of the A-League season over their annual salary cap forecast of $2.55 million, the limit imposed on all 10 A-League clubs. They won their first two games of the season at the expense of Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar and now lead the ladder.

Sources involved with the club say Glory management was warned internally that its pre-season recruitment would take the club well over the annual salary cap as a result of a shopping spree that brought the likes of Mitch Nichols, Youssouf Hersi, Andy Keogh, Richard Garcia, Diogo Ferreira and Ruben Zadkovich to Perth.