The New Zealand franchise was initially left out of the competition which kicks off in August but have argued strongly for inclusion.

A deal was reached with the Capital Football federation to base a group of 10 to 12 youngsters in Canberra with that squad to be supplemented by players flown out of Wellington to fulfil fixtures.

The plan fell through on Friday when Phoenix told Capital they were pulling out of the deal for next season.

But Phoenix insist they still want to be a part of the new youth set-up.

Chief Executive Tony Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com: “Yes, it is very much a case of when and not if. We are determined that this is something we should be part of and that we can both offer something to it and benefit from it.

“Building a strong youth base is something Ricki Herbert and the club is committed to and we are committed to becoming part of that (Youth League) set up.”

For the time being however, the plans are on ice with Phoenix not able or willing to rush things in order to be included in the inaugural youth season.

Pignata said: “In terms of logistics, it was going to be hard to get it up and running in such a short amount of time, and we really want to concentrate on the first team this season. Maybe if we'd thought of the idea last October there would've been enough time.

“We need to have a squad of 10-12 based in Canberra and, logistically, how do we manage that, and how do we top it up with the squad here?"

Pignata said the FFA was happy to advance talks to the next stage but the Phoenix needed another year to ‘get it right’.

And he admitted not having a youth team could be a disadvantage to the club.

He said: "We'll need to work with the FFA to make sure that, if we do have players to come in as injury replacements, how do we go about it?

"My understanding is that we can just replace as per last season, whereas the other clubs have to rely on their squad. So it could work to our advantage as well."