AUSTRALIAN football’s protracted civil war is set to enter volatile territory when A-League clubs and state member federations push their cases to FIFA.
After holding several interviews on Tuesday with smaller stakeholders, a delegation of top FIFA and Asian officials will wade into the ever-deepening governance dispute that’s engulfed the local game for two years and looks set to continue for many months yet.
Having backed off from threats to replace Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy and his board with a ‘normalisation committee’, FIFA is back in Sydney to force democratic reform of its congress, which elects the FFA board.
The biggest challenge for the world governing body, which failed to oversee consensus for reform last August, is finding a diplomatic resolution to the stalemate between protagonists FFA and the clubs — two bitterly opposed parties grappling for power.
Two FIFA representatives — Nodar Akhalkatsi and Luca Nicola — and the Asian Football Confederation’s Ravi Kumar — are leading the talks to set up the composition and mandate of a ‘congress review working group’.
On Wednesday, the clubs will present the trio with a detailed submission, pointing to governance issues within FFA they believe extend far beyond the congress.
The nine member federations, seven of which have previously backed FFA’s desired congress model, will have a separate meeting with the delegation followed by FFA’s board of directors, before all stakeholders come together on Thursday.
Talks began on Tuesday with referees, coaches, women’s football and fans all making representations, along with the players’ union and Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC).
The AAFC used its slot to lobby hard for a national second division, drawn from state-league clubs — a blueprint for which they released last year.
AAFC chairman Rabieh Krayem said he discussed ambitions for the model, dubbed The Championship, and ambitions for promotion and relegation.
“We were able to talk with FIFA and AFC about some of the critical issues faced by our clubs, such as some of the costs and requirements imposed on clubs,” Krayem said.
“We appreciate that they’re willing to listen to what we have to say, and to support our endeavours in striving to help advance football in Australia.”
Football Coaches Australia highlighted its key priorities, namely access to FFA grievance procedures for employment-related disputes with clubs, the introduction of standard professional contracts and more support for Australian coaches abroad.
