As predicted by au.fourfourtwo.com, Alessandro Del Piero, Shinji Ono and Emile Heskey will all miss the launch of the A-League All Stars concept when the FFA fields a side to take on the EPL giants this month.

Instead of the star-studded side FFA chief executive David Gallop had hoped would face United, barely any of the public-picked squad will be lining up for duty.

Some of the 15 selected in the public vote have transferred out the A-League, some are injured and some are likely to be unavailable because of Socceroo duties in the EA Cup.

In all, just six out of 15 are tipped to play a part in the game itself, with the big name marquees all now making themselves unavailable for selection too.

But from next season, the FFA have changed the wording in the new Standard Player Contract for the A-League which now puts the All Star games on a par with Socceroo call ups.

With the approval of Professional Footballers Australia, it has changed the wording of the contracts from referring to national or international call ups, to call ups for "representative" squads.

And the contract specifically notes that represetative teams refers to all ages of Australia sides - and the All Stars teams.

It means neither players nor clubs can refuse to play nor refuse to release players to play for the All Stars in future years.

The contract states: "If you are selected by FFA to compete for a Representative Team:

"(a) The Club must release and make you available to participate in the Representative Matches on notice from FFA acting reasonably
 
"(b) You must promptly report for, and punctually attend, all Representative Matches, camps, training sessions, media conferences, promotional activities or other functions."
 
It adds: "Representative Match means a football match to be participated in by a Representative Team as prescribed by FFA from time to time. Representative Team means the All Stars or a National Team."
 
However it also says that match payments for the All Star games will be at A-League rates, not the Socceroos' pay rates.

The new Standard Player Contract has also outlawed controversial "ambush marketing" sponsorship deals by players which clash with the FFA's own major corporate sponsors.

The issue was raised two years ago when Harry Kewell reportedly delayed signing for Melbourne Victory so he could try to sign up his own sponsorship deals with firms like Ford which would have clashed with the FFA's Hyundai partnership.

Now players with pre-existing sponsorships which clash must not be renewed - and stricter action will be taken against anyone trying to work the system to ambush FFA deals with last minute arrangements.