With the deadline for expressions of interest now expired, which new clubs have what it takes to join the A-League in 2019-20?

No offence to Football Federation Australia – who according to my sources sound like they’re busy planning the junket to end all junkets in Russia – but the timing of this expansion process smacks of a desperate attempt at a stay of execution.

But who are we to judge? The A-League needs new clubs – frankly it needed them five years ago – and there are now 15 clubs supposedly in the running to take up a place in the competition just over a year from now.

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Some sound like their expansion plans are further along than others.

And other clubs, as we saw with Brisbane Strikers’ pulling out of the race earlier in the week, look doomed to fall by the wayside.

Long-time Strikers fan Cameron Atfield penned a searing analysis of the one-time National Soccer League club’s expansion tactics – or lack thereof – and it’s safe to assume they won’t be the only club to get the whole process wrong.

So who is getting it right so far?

Southern Expansion? You’d struggle to find a more unpopular potential newcomer.



Not much about the club makes sense, but having yesterday announced a formal relationship with Chinese Super League ‘sister club’ Guizhou Hengfeng, the consensus seems to be that Southern Expansion have already snared one of the expansion slots.

Brisbane City? A while ago the Ballymore-based bid was thought to be a frontrunner, and the withdrawal of the Strikers should clear the way for a second Brisbane side.

But despite having some heavy hitters on board, there hasn’t been much talk around City’s plans of late. Could that leave the door ajar for a combined Western Pride-Ipswich bid?

Or will the second spot go to a club that seems to be making all the right noises in South-East Melbourne’s yet-to-be-named Team 11?

Perhaps more than any other bid, Team 11 seems to have worked hard to get the media on board – going so far as to appoint former Herald-Sun journalist Matt Windley as Project Officer.

And having announced plans to build a state-of-the-art stadium in Dandenong, Team 11 are starting to look like an expansion club with a tangible point of difference.

But then it’s pretty easy to ask an architect to knock up some fancy looking renderings of a stadium.

It’s getting the funding and actually building the thing that’s the hard part.



Should the FFA choose to add another club each from New South Wales and Victoria, they’ll cop a backlash from fans in the rest of the country tired of the Sydney and Melbourne-centric focus of the competition.

So, Gold Coast United then? At least they have a ready-made stadium in waiting.

But do they have the grassroots support to avoid the same failings of every other sporting club on the graveyard that is the glitter strip?

Or should the FFA go for something left-field? Fremantle City, perhaps?

Their bid video looked like it was something a first year Arts student might produce after a particularly punishing night on the town – but hey, you’ve got to be in it to win it.

A safer option might be Tasmania – which unlike other bids seems to have the support of an entire state behind it, including some high-ranking politicians.

Or should we go back to the future? South Melbourne remains one of the most storied clubs in Australian football, but do they possess the professional nous to get their bid over the line?



And what of the rest of the expansion hopefuls? A second Adelaide team, Wollongong Wolves, two more Sydney bids and a further two Melbourne bids are also in the mix – one of which was the former Geelong bid.

Should they all go into the running to form a second division if their top-flight ambitions fail? Or do they just disappear into the ether?

Most importantly, which expansion clubs do you think should join the A-League?