At today’s launch in Sydney, Sports Minister Kate Ellis confirmed that two payments of $16m will be made to the FFA over the next four years, upon certain conditions being successfully met.

The launch of a women’s league was one condition, with a televised deal for the competition another.

Negotiations for a television deal are well underway for the new eight-team league which kicks off in October.

Sports minister Kate Ellis told au.fourfourtwo.com: “Basically in our last budget we had a commitment to $32m to the FFA and that was conditional on a few projects, one of which was the development of a women’s league.

“The other one which we’ll be encouraging and supporting is ensuring that the women’s league is televised. That’s something I know (FFA CEO) Ben Buckley has been doing a lot of work on and is in the middle of some exciting negotiations.

“We wanted to see this league up and running but also to ensure the Australian punters can get behind it even if they can’t get to matches.

“The $32m investment is over four years and we’ve already begun the payments. We’re really excited that we’re strengthening our working relationship with the FFA who I believe are doing an amazing job, with the A-League, the W-League and the Socceroos are coming on nicely as well.”

FFA CEO Ben Buckley said: “It’s truly a landmark day in Australian football. It allows the best talent of existing players and the best talented juniors to aspire to participate in a (Australian) national competition.”

As for the government funding, Buckley said: “It’s vital in the competition’s infancy and we thank the Rudd government for that commitment because it gives us the opportunity to create the league, looking into the future we hope to attract corporate investment to make sure it’s a sustainable business model.

“We’re getting a lot of very positive interest from the corporate sector about getting involved. Hopefully Westfield’s support is a catalyst to attract other blue chip companies.

“A television deal (for the W-League) is an essential part of our plan and we’ve had very positive discussions with a number of national broadcasters about their involvement. We’re confident that before the commencement of the league we’ll have that broadcast agreement in place.”