Since David Gallop announced the governing body’s intention to expand the domestic competition, potential bids from across the country have submitted an interest to FFA.

The interested bidders are a mixture of regional and major city centres but the A-League boss remained tightlipped about naming a preference for any 11th or 12th potential team.

“I don’t have a view particularly on any of those six,” O"Rourke said to FourFourTwo. “Because we need to have a proper process, a proper framework and have people meet criteria and then what I think is logic will decide as opposed to an amplification of certain regions through the press or other mediums.

“We’ve had interest that has been publicised from Tasmania, we’ve had interest from Geelong, there has been work done in Southern Sydney, there have been talks of a second team in Brisbane, and others have contacted us or floated their ideas publicly.

"I think we need to sit back and go: 'That’s good, we are oversubscribed if you like – but now let’s work through and make sure we make long term sustainable decisions that are good for the community and that are good for football.'”

Formal discussions with the interested bidders will begin in 2017 and O’Rourke revealed that the two teams will be decided on several criteria.

“We are now working through a framework of what expansion would look like,” he said “We are going through that now and we expect that we will be talking to people next year in respect of that.

“We’ve had a few teams that have come and gone in our 12 years in the A-League. We need to make sure we don’t repeat the sins of the past if you like and build clubs which are not sustainable.”

O’Rourke said the criteria that the teams will be judged will be based on what he terms as “success factors”.

“We need to make sure we have a robust financial commercial plan for where that team would be,” he said. “We have to make sure that it has a good business and football plan behind it as well.

“So we’ll be looking at those factors and other factors such as government support and government involvement, player numbers, interest from the broader community and investors.

"Once we get those what we call success factors lined up we will make some very pragmatic choices about where we place the 11th and 12th teams in Australia."

O’Rourke also revealed that the new A-League TV deal that is currently being negotiated to begin next season will also include a provision for any new expansion teams. 

“It won’t hinge on it but it could well have a clause inside the deal that allows for an increase or a step up or something like this based on the number of teams in the competition,” he said.

“The negotiations have only just started so all these things will be factored into it.”