A bit of a worry, but likely just a baseless SBS comment. Surely a solution is to guarantee a certain number of young Australian players (U23) are signed, by the Nix.
The largesse shown to the Phoenix men’s team might change in future seasons, with FFA believed to be looking at ways of fast-tracking Australian talent in response to its just-released “Performance Gap” study.
One consequence might be the rescinding of the right for Phoenix to count NZ nationals as Australians.
Wellington Phoenix were contacted for comment.
With the A-League now independent I can't see the clubs or FIFA standing for that.
The other clubs' support for the Phoenix W-League team didn't stop FFA intervening there... not sure Fifa will care.
True, but it's not quite the same thing - on the one hand the FFA didn't want to change the rules to let a new team in, on the other hand the threat is that they'll change the rules to kick a team out. The stakes are much higher with the second.
Also the men's game has more money behind it and more clout than the womens. They may consider the W-League a development league but the A-League is their flagship competition.