An Asian Football Confederation inspection team arrives in Australia in September to run the rule over the A-League and see how it has developed since their last report was published in 2008.

The delegation will put every aspect of the A-League under the microscope in a comprehensive official check-up before filing a report to bosses at their Kuala Lumpur HQ.

At stake is a possible additional spot in the AFC Champions League for an Australian club from 2012 onwards.

At the last assessment of 21 of the AFC's 46 member associations across Asia, the A-League ranked seventh overall out of just 10 leagues that made the grade for ACL inclusion, topped by Japan.

A total of 500 points were available for organisation (20 points), technical standard (100), attendance (100), governance/soundness (50), marketing/promotion (20), business scale (100), game operation (20), media (20), stadiums (20) and clubs (50)

Australia scored 306, compared to the table-topping J.League which scored 470, followed by South Korea (438), China (415), Saudi Arabia (359), UAE (349) and Iran (336).

Key areas where Australia lagged behind in 2007/08 were in technique, surprisingly low organisation and governance scores, and a dismal business scale score of just 28/100.

However the A-League scored well in terms of clubs, stadiums, media, marketing and attendances.

FFA chiefs will hope to improve on their business scores, but average A-League attendances have fallen since the 2007/8 inspection, although overall attendance figures have increased.

When the last assessment was made, the rules allowed the top ten Asian leagues a maximum of one-third of their total number of top tier competing clubs to earn ACL qualification.

At that time, the A-League had just seven clubs plus the ineligible Wellington Phoenix, giving the premier Australian competition its two ACL spots.

Last week the AFC confirmed New Zealand-based Phoenix are still ineligible to play in the Asian Champions League, despite the club winning FIFA approval for a five year extension of its A-League licence.

But with the A-League now having ten clubs plus Phoenix, Australia could be eligible for a third ACL spot from 2012, subject to the new AFC inspection report.

With the addition of North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United last season, the A-League met the criteria for an extra ACL place in 2011 under AFC rules.

But FFA sources say no additional places were being granted until next month's inspection re-assesses the A-League's current eligibility.

Under existing AFC regulations, if approved, the three qualifying A-League teams will be those who place first and second over the home and away season, plus the winner of that season's Grand Final.

Should Phoenix qualify, their spot will be taken by the next highest ranked Australian team.

Any changes to the rules will not affect the 2011 Champions League which will see Australia represented by last year's top two A-League clubs, Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory.

An FFA spokesman said any alterations to A-League eligibility will only apply to the top three Australia sides this season for inclusion in the 2012 AFC Champions League competition at the earliest.

However it is also possible the AFC may change the rules to instead restrict the number of eligible teams, by limiting leagues to a quarter of their total number of top tier clubs instead of the current one-third.

If that were to happen, even when Sydney Rovers join in 2011/12, the A-League would only have 11 eligible clubs - and possibly restrict the A-League's ACL entitlement to its current two spots.