Sydney FC have lodged a formal complaint to Football Federation Australia in response to an application from Melbourne Heart's new owners to rebrand the A-League team as a franchise of Manchester City, including a change of their playing strip from red and white to sky blue.

Melbourne Heart as we know them may have already played their last game as Fairfax Media has been informed that their new owners submitted a request to the FFA to make the club's name, logo and playing colours synonymous with the English Premier League giants. Under the application, the club will be renamed as Melbourne City, have a new logo and play in a sky blue jersey with white socks and shorts.

However, the proposed changes have not gone down well with the sky blue half of Sydney, with Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow lodging a formal complaint to the FFA due to the clash of identities. Barlow is unhappy with Heart's bid to play in a similar strip to Sydney FC, who have become so renowned with the colour that "Sky Blues" has become their nickname.

"Sky blue is much more than just a colour for Sydney FC, it's central to our identity. Sky blue represents our club, our harbour city and is the traditional colour of NSW," Barlow said. "We're extremely concerned about the proposed use of sky blue by Melbourne Heart, and we've made our concerns very clear to the FFA."