3 Oct 2018

Phoenix now confident of future in A-League

12:31 pm on 3 October 2018

The general manager of the Wellington Phoenix, David Dome, says the club is confident about their future in the A-League following significant changes at Football Federation Australia yesterday.

Phoenix general manager David Dome.

Phoenix general manager David Dome. Photo: Photosport

The A-League is set to break away from the FFA after the governing body accepted constitutional changes allowing more of the games stake holders onto their congress.

An independent A-League is set to be in place by March next year.

Dome says each club will now be a stake holder of the A-League.

Dome says the Phoenix will no longer have any special licence requirements placed on them that none of the other clubs have to meet.

"It gives us certainty now around the licence, it gives us certainty around the Phoenix's tenure in the A-League, we're seen exactly the same as every other club."

"It'll reassure our fans, some of our key commercial partners, who have been there since day one, it helps with the city and so you pull all the pieces together and it is certainly a very strong light at the end of the tunnel and it does give us a lot of certainty going forward."

Yesterday the FFA accepted constitutional changes which will grow the FFA Congress from 10 to 29 members.

Wellington Phoenix Sarpreet Singh celebrates a goal with teammates during a match against Melbourne City FC.
Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne City FC, Hyundai A-League, QBE Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. 14 April 2018. © Copyright Image: Marc Shannon / www.photosport.nz.

Photo: © Photosport Ltd

World governing body FIFA had threatened to intervene if the number of voters didn't grow.

More A-League club representatives will now get a place at the table.

It remains to be seen what will come of the A-League expansion process, which was supposed to select two new teams to enter the competition later this month.

The new clubs are likely to come from Sydney and Melbourne and will join the 2019-20 season.

The changes at the FFA means Steven Lowy's tenure as chairman - and his family's 15-year hold on Australian football - will end next month.

Lowy said the transformation would change the organisation dramatically.

"A philosophical shift has taken place," he said.

"I hope for the best for the game clearly but I certainly fear for the worst.

"Our game today has crossed a red line from a corporate governance model for football to one where stake holders with vested interests will compete for power and resources as opposed to those being decided for independent members of a board.

"This is a governance regime that I choose not to serve on ... I will not offer myself for re-election at the upcoming AGM."

-RNZ/AAP