TASSIE’S A-LEAGUE BID BACKERS SWEAT ON CRITERIA RELEASE —

THE backers of a Tasmanian A-League club are eagerly awaiting the release of expansion criteria by Football Federation Australia expected by the end of this month.

The FFA wants to lift the ALeague from 10 to 12 teams in the 2019-20 season and is ex- pected to issue a formal call for expressions of interest to expansion hopefuls this month.

Criteria for applications will be released to key parties, who will be given some months to assemble their bids before an announcement by the end of this year.

FFA chief executive David Gallop said late last week about 10 groups had publicly declared an intention to bid for an ALeague licence, but he expected more to emerge.

The Tasmanian bid is led by a consortium fronted by former Melbourne Victory board members Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky, who have been pushing for an “FC Tasmania” licence since 2016.

South Hobart president Victoria Morton, who is liaising with the consortium, said that the backers were eagerly awaiting the criteria to be released.

Morton said the new clubs would not be known until around six months after the criteria were released.

“We’re in the waiting phase to see what happens,” she said.

“It’s around $12-15 million a year to run an A-League club, but we don’t know what the licence fee is going to be.

“There are so many things we’re waiting on with the selection criteria.

“I have spoken to Harry a lot and they are still 100 per cent committed [to a Tasmanian team].”