The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) confirmed that the upcoming 2022/23 season will kick-off on November 18 with 11 teams to include newcomers Western United in a 20-round, 99-match fixture with a four-match final series. That's an improvement on the 14-round, 70-match offering last season.

This season's grand final is expected to take place on April 29.

In a further boost the APL announced a bumper 22-round fixture for the 2023/24 A-League Women season. That will feature a complete home-and-away schedule for the first time with 132 matches including a seven-match final series. In addition to this, the Central Coast Mariners will join the competition, subject to approval from Football Australia.

The changes will also lead to the minimum player salary in the competition increasing by more than 50 per cent over the next two years.

"The way in which we're going to roll this out, we think it is going to set a benchmark for women's sport in this country," APL chief executive Danny Townsend told The Canberra Times.

"Football should be a benchmark for women's sport because we are a sport that is genuinely gender agnostic, we have a huge wealth of young females playing the game in grassroots and we want to give them the right pathway and the right opportunity to play at the highest level in this country."

Townsend was hopeful that next year's Women's World Cup to be hosted in Australia and New Zealand will be the perfect complement to the domestic competition, and even see the women's game boost men's football in Australia.

"The women's game will be will be dragging the men's game forward over the next 18 months, I'm sure," Townsend said.

"We have one unique opportunity next year that is once-in-a-generation - if not a lifetime - with the Women's World Cup that our sport can draft off - both men and women.

"The scale of our competition is underestimated at the moment across the sporting landscape in Australia. When it comes next year, it's going to be enormous. I expect it to really drive both men's and women's football forward."

With more games than ever before the extended A-League Women season will experience an overlap with other major sporting codes, but Townsend said they foresee no issues with venue arrangements.

"It would be great if there were more rectangular football stadiums in Australia, but we have what we have," he said.

"One of the challenges of putting together fixture lists is around venue availability and working with those other codes that also utilise rectangular stadiums.

"We're confident that we'll find the right balance between the fit-for-purpose female facilities which are critical to standing up an elite women's competition."

The A-Leagues have made a bold move with the announcement on Wednesday, and are upbeat about their ability to attract more people to the women's game.

Townsend outlined one of the major keys to its success will be engaging more than just existing domestic football fans, with a focus on curating game-day experiences that are "unique" to A-League Women.

"We need to ensure that we're delivering a unique experience for new fans that come to the games," Townsend said.

"We don't just want to focus on fans who may go to an A-League Men's game, and turn up to an A-League Women's game - that's great if they do - but what we really want is to serve that new audience.

"Participation numbers in women's football tells us they're out there, we just need them to connect with the A-League women in larger numbers and that's going to be where we focus our attention to a fan experience perspective."

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