Wellington's future has been the subject of much discussion since AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam suggested the club should no longer be part of the A-League set up beyond 2011.

However, FIFA president Blatter has since stated that the issue is one for the world governing body and not the AFC to address. If Australia and New Zealand (associations) are both happy with the arrangement then Blatter can see no problems.

Such a positive outlook has been warmly welcomed by Phoenix CEO Tony Pignata, staff and players at the club.

Pignata told au.fourfourtwo.com today: "It was a very good Christmas present from Mr Blatter. Hearing his comments certainly made my Christmas. They were very refreshing.

"Look, we still want the AFC to accept us and to see the fact that we aren't just here (in the A-League) making up the numbers."

Football Federation Australia has not been slow in showing its support to Phoenix and Pignata said: "They have never treated us differently to any other club.

"We're obviously playing Sydney FC this weekend so we'll take the opportunity to sit down and discuss things with Ben Buckley."

Those discussions are expected to include the issue of a renewed licence and also the path to the Asian Champions League.

The latter (ACL) could yet become an issue sooner rather than later if Phoenix make a charge into the top four this year.

Pignata isn't jumping the gun though. He said: "Nobody is getting carried away here, definitely not. We'd love to be part of the finals for the first time and hopefully that's where we end up.

"We have a tough game in Sydney this weekend and I'm sure John Kosmina will have them fired up."

But the CEO is just happy to be guaranteed one 'success' at the end of the season. He said: "We'll be very happy to hand the wooden spoon to someone else."