The discussions involving five A-League clubs and FSA were viewed as an historic moment as the biggest stakeholder in the game - the fans - were able to voice their issues to FIFA about a lack of fan engagement by the governing body.

Grant Muir, the representative of Sydney FC’s the COVE, felt the meeting with FIFA and the AFC was the first time Australian football supporters were acknowledged as a serious stakeholder.

“We got our point across to FIFA that the FFA has never considered fans to be an important priority,” he said.

“They have never put in place any structure to normalise fan relations. They have never provided any resources to advise clubs on how to engage with fans effectively. ‘

In the room along with officials from FIFA and the AFC was also FFA CEO, David Gallop, and Head of A-League, Greg O’Rourke.

Muir said he took the opportunity to outline to FIFA how the sporting landscape in Australia was different to other countries and how that affects football fans.

“One of the big points we made to the FIFA delegation was that we live in a country with a press that is persistently hostile to football’s interests as well as a hostile police,” he said.

“That creates a situation where the governing body has to act differently to other countries and has an obligation to organise and act to protect the fans.”

Muir said FIFA were taken by suprise by what Australian football fans were asking for, compared to the dealings they had with football associations from other countries.

“My immediate reaction was Australia isn’t other countries,” he said.

“In the US for example, football isn't the main sport but they don’t have a hostile press.

"You only have to look at how active supporters are viewed there and what they are allowed do to and how quickly that support has evolved, when you don’t have hostile political pressure pushed against them.

“When there are news stories on Channel Seven that show police training for riots and hooligans for football fans at Campbelltown Stadium the FFA should step up.

“They should say here are the facts that prove that A-League games are safer than any other sport proportionally to the size of the crowd.”

Meanwhile, Pablo Bateson from the Football Supporters Australia hoped the talks would result in effective change.

“My call to the leadership of FFA is that if you are really serious and you want to get the best out of fan engagement you’ve got to see us on an equal basis,” he told FourFourTwo.

“We don’t want to be taken for granted anymore. There has got to be a paradigm shift fundamentally.

“We have hope and we have some optimism.

"We put to it to FFA and FIFA to come up with a much better way of doing things in terms of more inclusive governance for the administration of our football, so we can fulfil the great potential that we know we have."