Canberra United hope World Cup hype can hit McKellar Park in A-League Women's season

Australia is buzzing as the Matildas close in on a World Cup quarter-final clash with France in Brisbane on Saturday night, with the national side breaking television rating records and packing stadiums.

Milivojevic hopes the A-League can harness that excitement as competition officials unveil a major overhaul to the salary cap designed to entice more elite talent to join the league.

Canberra United lifted membership prices last season to help the club cope with the cost of an increased salary cap and an expanded season. Now the cap has risen again, and so too has the number of games with clubs preparing for a 22-game regular season.

"Especially watching the World Cup, you really just want to be out on the field playing. Honestly, it's really inspiring. The numbers, the amount of people coming to the games, it's a really good direction women's football is going in," Milivojevic said.

MORE SOCCER:

"It can capitalise hugely. The men's game has always been popular, there's always been crowds at men's games. We're getting more attention now, more people are aware of the quality of women's football, it's a very high quality.

"I hope that translates into more people coming to our games, and I hope we can get 4000 people at McKellar Park, because why not?"

A 20 per cent increase to the salary cap will see the minimum player payment pool lifted to $500,000, with a ceiling of $600,000.

Marquee exemptions remain in place for clubs to invest in talent outside of the salary cap.

Clubs can register up to four youth development players, while scholarship players will now receive a minimum salary of $12,500 to replace the previous hourly rate.

A revised player roster framework includes the introduction of a secondary roster to allow clubs to recruit more players, while Australian citizens can now both be counted as domestic players when contracted with a New Zealand-based team.

The competition's foreign player quota increases to five with an aim to create a connection with overseas leagues, and raise the standard of the A-League.

"When you play around quality players, it only makes you want to complement them and play even better," Milivojevic said.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.