Last year there was Yoshi and Tim Cahill and a prominent advertising campaign. Arguably the most high profile signing this season was 38-year-old Italian striker Massimo Maccarone and very little promotion.

Despite this, Football Federation Australia chief David Gallop believes the low-key build up to the A-League season ahead could benefit the 2017-2018 season.

Last season, Tim Cahill's homecoming and a cashed-up campaign featuring schoolkid "Yoshi" touring the 10 clubs in the hope of finding a team to support gave the competition a boost in interest.

This season, Gallop said fans would see the extension of that campaign, which hopes to turn the game's sizeable participation base into A-League fans.

"We will follow up the success of last year's 'You've Gotta Have a Team' campaign with fanbassadors at each club," he said.

"It's part of the ongoing strategy to connect the base of the pyramid to the A-League and W-League.

"This season we'll be working hard with the clubs to promote a range of players rather than previous years when a few marquees have grabbed all the attention."

While there's been no A-League since last season's final in May, there's been plenty of football.

The Socceroos edge-of-your-seat World Cup qualification campaign, the Matildas sold-out home internationals and FFA Cup action has satisfied the appetites of fans through the off-season.

Gallop conceded a failure to reach the World Cup next year would be a disaster for the sport, saying it remains "critically important".

But he also said there was an upside, with the play-off format creating the chance for a galvanising moment similar to the John Aloisi's penalty 12 years ago that took Australia to the 2006 World Cup.

"It will be nail-biting to watch the Socceroos in the next couple of months but the prospect of the type of celebration that we saw in 2005 being available to us in November this year is very exciting to consider," he said.

"The commencement of the A-League and the W-League is a reminder that there is so much that makes up the pyramid of Australian football.

"When all parts of the pyramid are firing the sky is the limit for this sport."