At the 2016-17 A-League season launch, FFA CEO David Gallop announced that 10 teams were too few and that the governing body were aiming to move to 12 teams relatively quickly.

However, progress has stalled. Australian football is at a standstill as the A-League clubs, state member federations and the Players Football Association are deadlocked about the make-up of FFA’s congress which decides the games policies and who’s elected to the FFA's board.

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FIFA is threatening the governing body with a normalizing committee that will remove the FFA Board if an expanded congress that includes more stakeholders is not agreed upon by November 30.

Alongside this standoff, A-League club owners have threatened to take FFA to court as they seek a greater share of the $346 million TV deal.

Within all this the governing body says a new A-League operating model is needed to stabilize the competition which means expansion has been delayed until 2019-20.

But Lujic believes clubs like South Melbourne are ready now and added Wednesday night’s FFA Cup semi-final will shine a spotlight on the club’s A-League aspirations.

“Matches like this show that a club like South can hold 10,000 people and they can have these big games,” he said speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo.

“It’s a showcase for the club and one that will put them on the map. Hopefully the FFA pull their finger out a little bit and start accepting some more clubs in the A League and hopefully we’re one of the clubs in it. That would be great.

 “If I was to play A League, I’d love to play with South which is a club that holds dear to my heart and that I’ve been with for four years.

“Hopefully the FFA can see that a club like South Melbourne is ready and all the facilities are there, the fan base is already there to set it off.”

Ahead of the 13th A-League season no NPL player has been given a professional contract by any of the 10 teams. This is despite the FFA Cup being in its fourth season and teams in the lower tiers with mostly part-time players managing to beat the professionals on a  number of occasions.

South Melbourne A-League bid chairman Bill Papastergiadis believes Wednesday night is not only an opportunity to showcase the talent that exists in the NPL but also vitally important for the game’s future.

“We’re at the cross roads of football in this country in terms of development of our players, infrastructure and our administration,” he said.

“The FFA Cup demonstrates that our clubs can perform at a higher level and can generate interest. Once we start that ball rolling then the future is bright for the code generally.

“But we can’t underestimate the importance of giving our youth the opportunity to play on the national stage. Not only for the benefit of the national team, but ultimately for the benefit of player development.

"Our kids need the opportunity and the interest to perform at the highest level.

“If you deny people the opportunity, they will find another sport to interest them and we don’t want to lose our best players to other codes - it’s a real game changer."

South coach Chris Taylor believes there is more at stake than just a place in the FFA Cup final.

“The result is a little bit irrelevant at this point in time,” he said to FourFourTwo.

 “We understand the dynamics at the moment. The club is ambitious and the main thing is to get a good following and support and to show the other clubs what we are capable of and that we have something to add to the A League.”