A-League hints at Canberra expansion announcement next year

The A-Leagues have hinted at possible expansion next year.

The A-Leagues have hinted that an expanded A-League's Men may start next year.

A-Leagues expansion news

Possible expansion news to come next year
APL wants A-League Men's and Women's teams at all franchises
Canberra a possible expansion market target

During an online interaction question period, the A-Leagues' instagram which represents the league was asked: "When will the next round of expansions be?" They answered as follows:

"More teams=more minutes=more football.

"At least three more teams are joining A-League Women by 2023.

"More to say on Isuzo UTE A-League next year..."

This is the second news in as may weeks about a possible A-League Men's expansion. During an interview with the The Real Football Show last week, APL Managing Director Danny Townsend spoke about plans for expansion of both the A-Leagues Men's and Women's.

"We have the roadmap to expand the league so that every A-Leagues club has a men's and women's team."

With this announcement one could summarize that Canberra, the only area where an A-League Women's club does not have a Men's side, could be a potential expansion side. Townsend was asked on the show if Canberra was a potential expansion market for the A-League Men:

"There is a lot of merit in that approach but we have gone through a bunch of different strategic projects the last six months since we have had controls and expansion is a big one," said Townsend

"It is one that will take a lot of work. The way you go about expansion is really important. We have got a strategic view to how we want to expand the game.

"Like I said Canberra is definitely on the list of geographies to consider because for us this is about bringing our game into a geography that is going to grow the commercial value of the sport.

"That is not about who is going to write us the biggest check, which was possibly the previous way of going about expansion.

"This is about who is going to bring more value to the game, who is going to bring more fans into the sport and how they are going to be as business partners.

"Ultimately that is what they are."

A Canberra A-League Men's bid had previously been put forward unsuccessfully in the last expansion round. The bid was done independently of Canberra United. It was amongst 14 other bids submitted with Western United and Macarthur FC ultimately being selected to join.

The Canberra Times had reported last year that Canberra United were open to a partnership with any prospective future A-League Men's team, indicating that the club themselves were not directly looking at expansion.

Whether Canberra is a possible future A-League Men's team will be seen. However, with the recent revelations by both the A-Leagues' media and Townsend, expansion is being overtly stipulated as an objective for the APL. One that could arrive very soon.