Canberra United on A-League Men's expansion radar for Australian Professional Leagues

The Canberra Times can reveal the Australian Professional Leagues - the A-League's governing body - has been locked in discussions with Canberra officials about expansion prospects as early as 2024-25.

It's believed the capital could be nominated as one of two preferred locations when the APL unveils its "roadmap for expansion", but an announcement could be delayed by the fallout of the decision to sell the A-League grand finals to Sydney.

Any excitement in Canberra will be tempered by two failed attempts in the past, with the A-League overlooking Canberra in 2010 and again in 2018 despite presenting strong business cases on both occasions.

Former bid leader Michael Caggiano has continued to work in the background to grow support in case the A-League came knocking, with more than 9000 members signed up, sponsors ready to jump on board and an advisory board ready to roll if granted a licence.

Capital Football has joined the conversation on the back of Caggiano's work, with another former bid leader - Ivan Slavich - to take the organisation's reins at the start of next year.

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APL chief executive Danny Townsend confirmed expansion plans were on the agenda, but it was unclear if an announcement would be made before the end of the year.

"We've made it very clear that the APL is committed to expansion. We want to take A-League football - men and women - to more cities across the country," Townsend said.

"That's something that continues to be a key part of our strategy. We've been working on that for the best part of six months and we're very close to being able to announce our roadmap for expansion.

"That will continue to contribute to both a successful league and the development pathways with players playing more often, both men and women."

The Canberra United women's team is the only standalone club in the A-League Women or A-League Men's competitions.

There is hope they will be joined by a men's team at a new $33 million training facility at Throsby, which is expected to be ready to be used by 2024.

But Canberra soccer fans and officials still bear the scars of broken dreams in past expansion processes.

There were high hopes for Slavich's campaign, which started in 2008, and then Caggiano, who picked it back up in 2016, before Football Australia opted to promote the Western Sydney Wanderers and then backing Macarthur FC and Western United to bolster teams in Sydney and Melbourne.

Any renewed A-League hope will be laced with scepticism, but it's believed there is a growing feeling the latest approach is genuine.

Slavich, who will step into the Capital Football chief executive role in February, said an A-League men's team would support a push for a new stadium and boost the development of Canberra's talent.

"My big focus coming in is to help the governance of football in Canberra, I really want to improve the financial position of Capital Football and the clubs," Slavich said.

"I've got some new initiatives that I'm looking to drive to help that. I think having an A-League men's team in Canberra would help in terms of a pathway for talented players.

"It would be a team we can all unite behind and it's extremely important if it was to happen."

A renewed push for a Civic stadium has gained support from Canberra's major football clubs and the city's peak tourism, business and hospitality bodies.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said in the past gaining an A-League licence was crucial to making a stadium - whether it be at Civic, Exhibition Park or at Bruce - viable in the long term.

A men's A-League team would give the venue summer content for an extra three months of the year to add to Canberra Raiders and ACT Brumbies fixtures through autumn and winter.

Barr is weighing up stadium location options again after the latest proposal for a public private partnership to build a venue in Civic.

The government has also invested heavily in soccer's future, pledging $29 million to the project with Capital Football chipping in $5 million of its own for a centre of excellence.

Barr had also committed to $1.5 million to go to an A-League men's team if Caggiano's bid was successful four years ago and it's understood that offer could still be on the table.

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