Former Socceroos star Steve Horvat says the addition of new A-League club Western Melbourne — which will join the competition next season — will be a “game-changer”.

And it looks to be arriving with a fresh new stadium in tow.

Horvat, a board member for Western Melbourne, says the new development set to be built in Wyndham will break new ground for football in Australia.

“We’ve all (Horvat and fellow board members Lou Sticca and Maurice Bisetto) had a long involvement in the game - it’s been part of our life since we were able to walk. So that’s the reason we wanted to make sure that if we committed to building a stadium, that football was going to be the beneficiary, and football only.” Horvat said via Fox Sports.

“We are committed to making sure we can create the best fan experience possible. We want to have the first row of seats a couple of metres behind the goals - there will be no provision for the other rectangular sports to play on the ground.

“The consideration for the use of the stadium will always put football as the priority.

“We travelled to the USA, and saw what Los Angeles FC were doing — and that has become the template.

“The sightlines, the closeness to the field. It is all about the atmosphere. We want to keep it nice and tight, and make it intimidating for our opponents.”

Horvat says the stadium will be one of a kind in Australia, providing a home for football fans inside its 15,000-seat arena.

“The master plan has taken into consideration traffic flow, and all those issues you have with major stadiums - we will release the precinct plans shortly.” says Horvat.

“The stadium is on the train line from Melbourne to Geelong — the Sayers Road station is going to be on our piece of land. From Geelong it’s 25 minutes, and it’s 20 minutes from Melbourne.

WMG have a stadium; they’ll play out of Geelong’s Kardinia Park for their first three seasons as they build a football-specificvenue near Werribee. But the return to 11 teams, last experienced in the 2010/11 campaign, gives O’Rourke a fixturing dilemma.

“There will be the same amount of matches this weekend with the 11th team having the bye (but) do we start with a full homeland away plus finals which is effectively 22 rounds or do we go all the way up to 30 rounds?,” he said. Macarthur South-WestSydney will enter the competition the following year, in 2020/21.

O’Rourke said it was “not a perfect outcome” for fixturing and broadcasting purposes but it allowed plenty of time to findthe right answers. “One of the advantages of the staged approach is that now we can enter full consultation about that sixthmatch, the timeslot, the day, with the clubs and the PFA and our broadcasters,” he said.

“There are many sports, including here in Australia, that don’t have full home and away. It’s a transitional step.

“Ultimately one of our goals is to go to 14 teams and then you have a balanced home and away potential.” While A-League clubsfought to delay the introduction of new clubs into the league, FFA won support for immediate expansion from its two most seniorcoaches; Tony Popovic and Kevin Muscat.

“It will bring a real buzz to the A-League for next year. Expansion was needed,” Popovic said.

“Hopefully they can hit the ground running like the Wanderers did, and bring real interest into the game.” Muscat welcomedthe competitive drive that a third Melbourne would bring. “It’s a good challenge for us to get even better, work harder, to make sure we’re on top, to make sure we stayahead,” he said.

“So many positives. Another derby, another team in Melbourne, great.” Popovic said his Perth Glory side and other A-League teams would “deal with” the bye, putting his support behindmore games rather than less. “There’s no magic number. If you ask a coach and players, we want more games,” he said.

“When you think of the development of the players - young players need games. That’s how we evolve and improve.”

— with AAP