Today is D-Day for football in Australia with the FFA Board meeting to discuss whether to proceed with expanding the 10-club comp.

There are mounting concerns that even the naming of the successful bids may be kept underwraps, blunting the momentum for growth.

Following a rebellion by A-League clubs, a new and more representive board will be installed at the FFA Annual General Meeting next month.

That could put the kybosh on the entry of two new clubs in 2019/20 as originally planned.

Bid teams South West Sydney Macarthur, Southern Expansion (Sydney region), Wollongong Wolves, Team 11 (Melbourne), South Melbourne FC, Western Melbourne Group, Ipswich Pride FC and Canberra & Capital Region now face a nervous wait.

Despite the uncertainly, A-League boss Greg O’Rourke revealed the FFA had already decided which two teams it would recommend for entry to the league.

“There are geographies of Australia that are yet to be connected to the A-League,” he said.

“The teams we have proposed to move forward would enable that connection to a geography and those parts of the community that are yet to really connect with the A-league and W-League. “

Regarding the possible postponement of the succesfull bidders being announced O’Rouke was adamant that the growth of the A-League must not be stalled.

“I clearly don’t want expansion delayed,” he said.

“If they delay it by a year because they make the decision later into the process that could be one thing, but what I don’t want them to do is delay the announcement of the teams.

“Because that’s where the excitement comes from, that’s where the ability of those clubs comes from to start recruiting, setting up, employing individuals going to the community and getting their colours, the name of the club and all those sorts of things.

"That momentum we can’t afford to push down the road. Just two teams in itself would do a lot for the league.”

“We are ready to make a recommendation yes. This board is meeting for effectively the last time operationally.

“They will obviously meet one more time at the AGM so the question for them will be if they want to make the call or whether they want the newly constituted board to make the call and that is a thing that I don’t know.”

"Some people might believe there is enough information to make the decision at say the second board meeting.

"You wouldn’t make the decision at the first board meeting there is lots of other matters to be discussed."

O’Rouke said the new FFA board can make an informed decision regarding expansion but he did reveal that they have the power to reverse the decision if the two new teams are announced today.

 “The people that I talk to that are involved in the nomination of board members none of them have said they want expansion delayed,” he said.

“All of them have said this league needs to expand so it will be more about the process and the timing as opposed to the thinking of whether it should or it shouldn’t.

“Constitutionally  yes, the new board can reverse the decisions of previous boards.

“But I think you get to a position where common sense would be that they would pass on the  decision to the next board. That is a common sense approach.”

The A-League boss also added that the strength of the bidders means that that two more new teams could be added to the league in the future.

“There is definitely enough strength in the bidding process at the moment to have two  teams in the first wave and another two teams for the second wave yes,” said O’Rourke

“I see this as the right thing for football.

“I have been involved in the administration of football for over a decade and you want to make sure that the path you have travelled has improved from a place that you came from, to where you are going.

“I would love to see expansion not for personal legacy but for the growth of the league - it’s time.”