Between 60 and 80 club representatives and officials are expected to attend Monday’s meeting, including A-League expansion hopefuls, South Melbourne.

A statement released by AAFC’s Tom Kalas this morning said they had received backing from FIFA and AFC after being in talks on Tuesday night.

North Queensland Fury Chairman Rabieh Krayem, one of the founding AAFC members, today sidestepped questions about setting up a rebel league outside of the FFA.

“At the moment our whole thing has been about getting clubs together, which has been huge to have the support nationally,” Krayem said.

“It’s been a huge exercise for us. Our discussions with FIFA last night was putting our case forward to say we should have a voice at the table and we were very happy with what we got from FIFA last night outlined in our release today.

“I think after Monday we’ll come up with a broader strategy of where we see ourselves within the landscape of football. The clubs we represent are about having a part in the growth of the game and the structure of the game.”

When a rival rebel league was set up in Indonesian football in 2015, it plunged the sport there into crisis when FIFA stepped in. Both leagues were frozen, and the national team and all Indonesian clubs were suspended from international matches too.

And in Australia in 2012, Perth Glory owner Tony Sage told SBS he warned former Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer against trying to start up a breakaway league.

Sage said at the time: "I explained to him how that would put Australia outside the umbrella of FIFA and that you wouldn’t be able to sign FIFA-registered players and play in FIFA-sanctioned competitions and he understood that.

"There’s no way it could happen here, unlike in rugby league where of course it did a number of years back. So the idea got knocked on the head pretty quickly."

Today Krayem refused to discuss reports about setting up a rogue second division and maintained the new pressure group was about clubs needing a voice within the game for the future direction of football.

He added that a representative from FFA will not be attending Monday’s meeting.

South Melbourne A-League bid chairman Bill Papastergiadis said he was supportive of Monday’s meeting and believed all grassroots clubs had a voice.

“It’s a bit premature for us to comment on that, in terms of having a B-League set up without being mandated by FFA,” Papastergiadis said.

“I don’t think anyone’s talking about that at the moment. We’re still pretty keen to continue to work with all the relevant stakeholders and to date largely the A-League has been a success. So we don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water.”

FFV acknowledged the formation of AAFC yesterday as FFSA and Football NSW both said they hadn’t been briefed on specifics of the discussion.

“Football Federation SA has not been contacted formally about the formation of the NPL Association, however we are interested in knowing more about their areas of major focus,” FFSA CEO Michael Carter said.  

“NPL clubs play a vital role in the development of football in South Australia and we will continue to support all clubs as the code continues to grow.”

Football NSW interim CEO Stefan Kamasz added: “Football NSW understands the clubs are meeting in Melbourne to address a range of issues, details of which have not been provided to us.

“We have not been approached by the organisers and only know what has been raised in the media. Other than this, we are not in a position to comment.”

Main Photo: South celebrate winning the 2016 NPL VIC Grand Final. Ashley Perez Photography