As the heated battle between Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer and FFA boss Frank Lowy continued yesterday, Canberra bid chief Ivan Slavich conceded it was unlikely the capital could secure a team.

Despite having $4 million ready to be injected into a Canberra team, Slavich still needed another $2 million to reach the FFA's requirements.

He will write a letter to FFA chief executive Ben Buckley this week to seek clarification of whether Canberra was in contention for an expansion spot.

The Canberra bid can hold the $400,000 in membership pledges until December 31.

But after meeting with ACT Sport Minister Andrew Barr last week, Slavich expects to be told the A-League has no plan to admit a team from the capital.

If Slavich receives bad news, he will start refunding the 2000 memberships of $200 each to the community.

"I'm a bit disappointed [the FFA] didn't talk to me about it, but if there are no prospects we will refund the money," Slavich said.

"I think it will be the end [of a bid] in the short term.

"There's not a single wealthy person in Canberra I haven't spoken to about contributing, I think I've spoken to the top 20 wealthiest people.

"If we can't get the money, I guess I question the capacity of Canberra to raise the necessary funds for an A-League team.

"We don't have a Clive Palmer or billionaire mining magnates."

Slavich said he would give foundation members an option of refunding their money or keeping it together in a trust for soccer in the capital.

The FFA gave Canberra the target of $6 million in start-up capital before it could be granted a licence.

While it set strict guidelines for Slavich's bid, Palmer revealed last week he paid just $50,000 to secure a licence for a team on the Gold Coast.

The FFA also shunned the advanced Canberra bid in favour of giving a western Sydney team a chance to join the competition.

The western Sydney bid had no start-up capital and failed to gather enough support and momentum to enter a team in the competition.

Palmer and Lowy have been locked in a brutal exchange in recent weeks.

Lowy yesterday attacked Palmer for making illogical, confused and damaging comments about the game after the outspoken mining magnate questioned the way the A-League was run.

The ACT Government contributed $2 million to the Canberra bid, with $400,000 from foundation memberships and the rest private support.

"The issue for me is that I see all the other elite sports represented in the ACT – rugby, league, AFL, basketball, women's football, baseball – and I think it's disappointing the most popular sport in Canberra isn't represented," Slavich said. "Football is the most popular sport in Canberra with 18,000 registered players – of which 14,000 are juniors – but the challenge is adding more seniors to that."

Slavich has not ruled out starting another bid in the coming years, but conceded Canberra would have to settle for one-off A-League fixtures and a possible youth league team.

"I've got no doubt there will be elite football in Canberra, but it's unlikely to be an A-League team given what's happening at the FFA.

"Before I did this again the first thing I would work on is getting the financial backing before getting the community excited.

"I think it could deflate some fans in Canberra."