14 Mar 2012

Canberra could be in A-League by next season

6:08 am on 14 March 2012

Canberra is in the mix to have a team in the A-League and as soon as next season, according to Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy.

Lowy says Canberra's bid met a lot of the requirements for inclusion in the A-League as did western Sydney.

Lowy seemed less confident the Gold Coast, whose current franchise will drop out of the competition at the conclusion of this season, would field a team in 2012-13.

The FFA will be forced into a nine-team competition if it cannot get another team off the ground in the next seven months.

Gold Coast had its licence revoked after the peak body determined the club had breached FFA policy.

It followed an ongoing verbal stoush between United's billionaire owner Clive Palmer, Lowy and FFA management.

Palmer has since formed his own organisation called Football Australia and announced on Tuesday it would conduct an inquiry into the state of the game in Australia.