Canberra's short-term professional soccer plans have taken a hit after the capital was left off the A-League schedule for the 2017-18 season.
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The A-League published its draw on Wednesday, but the Central Coast Mariners will not return to Canberra Stadium after attracting crowds of 5497 and 5072 after shifting two home games last season.
It was the first time since 2009 A-League games had been played in Canberra and it was hoped the Mariners would form a long-term partnership.
However, Capital Football, the Mariners and the ACT government opted against extending the deal, but there is hope of securing future fixtures.
One option is forming a partnership with the Wellington Phoenix, while Canberra business analyst is trying to build momentum for the capital to secure its own A-League licence.
There is one game on the A-League schedule with a to-be-confirmed venue, but it's unlikely the clash between the Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar will be moved to Canberra.
The A-League snub comes as thousands of juniors prepare to converge of Canberra for the Kanga Cup, with 378 teams to play in the week-long tournament from Sunday.
Canberra Olympic will also learn its FFA Cup fate on Thursday when the draw is finalised for the next round of the national competition.
Meanwhile, Football Federation Australia decided not to push back round one of the 2017-18 A-League season to cater for potential Socceroos World Cup qualifying play- offs and New Zealand internationals.
Should Australia finish third in their qualifying group, Ange Postecoglou's national team will face cut-throat play-off rounds, starting with home and away games against another Asian nation on October 5 and 10.
The A-League draw, released on Wednesday, has the opening round starting on October 6, when Melbourne City will host Brisbane at AAMI Park, before champions Sydney FC travel to Etihad Stadium to meet Melbourne Victory in a grand final rematch on October 7.
It's long been a bone of contention among clubs that the A-League, unlike most of the world's domestic competitions, does not break for FIFA windows.
Nearly all coaches are left without key players though the situation is particularly woeful for Wellington and Victory, who regularly lose Kiwi international players.
While FFA has in the past stood firm in the face of calls to include international breaks, A-League chief Greg O'Rourke revealed the governing body had closely examined the possibility of doing so for round one next season.
But it decided to stay "consistent with what we've done before".
"Depending on how Australia goes in World Cup qualifying we could find ourselves with round one sitting in the middle of one or two play-offs," O'Rourke said.
"We considered this at length, and one of the conversations we had was actually moving round one to be one week later.
"But when you go through the pros and cons of that and the situation is if, as we hope, Australia qualify and those qualifying rounds are not required, then there's a week of dead air in respect to the NRL and AFL is finished and the A-League is not present.
"Our want is not to be waiting for those qualifiers.
"But if they do happen, make it a mammoth football week where we've got Australia playing international qualifying followed by the opening round."
The Sydney derby will be moved away from the first round - despite last season's record-breaking attendance at ANZ Stadium - to make way for the grand final rematch.
- with AAP.
