Football Federation Australia (FFA) has given notice to its Members of an Annual General Meeting on 30 November at which a resolution to expand the sport’s representative Congress will be put.

The changes to FFA’s constitution respond to a request from FIFA. They will expand the size of the Congress and deliver greater diversity, significantly increase representation of the professional game and women’s football.

Throughout this long process, the FFA Board has continued to be guided by two principles: the expansion of the Congress to make it more representative of Australian football and the preservation of the independence of the Board to ensure decisions are made in the best interests of the game as a whole.

The resolution would increase the Congress membership from 10 to 21. The 21 Members would include the nine Member Federations, the nine Australian Hyundai A-League clubs (sharing four votes between them, up from one vote) and for the first time, Professional Footballers Australia (one vote), a representative of professional women’s football (one vote) and a representative for women’s football at the community level (one vote).

FFA Chairman Steven Lowy said the current Congress arrangements had served football very well for more than 10 years, creating unprecedented success and stability for the game. These significant and progressive changes were now proposed to reflect the evolution of the sport in Australia and provide a platform for growth.

Mr Lowy said these changes will be an important first step on a journey the FFA Board believes will see even further expansion of the Congress as the game evolves.

More details of the FFA Annual General Meeting can be viewed at www.ffa.com.au/governance/AGM-2017