A-League clubs are worried about fallout from a potential departure of the Wellington Phoenix from the competition, Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin says.

The Phoenix's A-League future is in doubt, with Football Federation Australia (FFA) this week declining the club's request for a 10-year licence extension.

The Phoenix's licence expires at the end of the current season, but the FFA says it has the option of requesting a four-year licence to the end of the 2019-20 season.

It said the league would not consider extending Wellington's place in the competition beyond that.

FFA chief executive David Gallop said the board's decision was made "in the best interests of Australian football".

Griffin was surprised by the decision, saying other clubs supported the New Zealand side remaining in the league and had not been consulted.

"We are the major stakeholders, the clubs that is, and if you're going to take one of our group out it's extraordinary to do it absent our input," he said.

Fairfax Media reported last week FFA was considering replacing the Phoenix with a new team in Sydney as soon as next year, in line with its stance there are no short-term expansion plans.

Sydney's Sutherland Shire has been named as a prospective base for a new team, with suggestions that meetings already have taken place involving the FFA, Sutherland Shire Council, NRL club Cronulla and the Sutherland Shire Football Association.

"I'm a great fan of Wellington and every chairman of every club shares my view that Wellington should stay," Griffin said.

"It's a decision that's been made without any reference to the clubs, which I find extremely disappointing but not surprising.

"I also feel very sorry for Sydney where [chairman] Scott Barlow is faced with the potential for a new Sydney team and you have a cannibalisation of his hard-worked market and that's scary for every club."

Clubs 'left out' of deliberations

Griffin said changes to the A-League needed wide input.

"I don't think there's a single club in the country that's pleased about the fact that there can be new clubs created without our input," he said.

"Am I going to wake up tomorrow morning and discover that there's a new club at Noarlunga [in southern Adelaide]?

"That's what Scott Barlow at Sydney woke up to the other morning — that the FFA is contemplating a team from Sutherland, which is his area."

Griffin said the league needed to expand, but in the right markets.

"I'm a great fan of expansion and I hope we do expand, but why can't we expand in territories where there's not already very well-represented clubs?" he said.

"I would support Canberra, for example, because I think Canberra has shown it is a good source of support for the game.

"I think three [clubs] in and around Sydney is a bit rich."

Barlow is understood to be leading a protest by club owners against a removal of the Phoenix and establishment of a team in southern Sydney.

He claims another Sydney team would put at risk at least 25 per cent of his club's membership base.