Will the Phoenix ever play in Asian Competitions?

Days after announcing the transfer of the A-League season, and emphasising the gap between the NZFC and the A-League, the Phoenix are again facing negative headlines. This time though, the club is not to blame.  Comments by the Asian Football Confederation chief Mohammed Bin Hammam in an interview with Scott McIntyre of SBS in Australia have cast a doubt on continued participation in the A-League beyond the expiry of our licence after V6.

"Australia is engaging a non-Australian team in its league," he said.  "But we prefer the A-league to have only Australian clubs.

"The A-League has permission from FIFA to do so but only till 2011.  Our Pro-League committee has approved this situation but after 2011 all clubs have to be Australian."

The Asian Champions League is being expanded to 32 teams with US$20million in prize money.  However, Australia has not been awarded any additional places in the expanded format.  The AFC cannot instruct Australia how to run the A-League.  But more places in the expanded competition is the carrot that it is dangling in return for compliance.

Firstly, the facts.  The FFA is completely supportive of the participation of a team from New Zealand in the A-League.  Forget the conspiracy theories, even with the relative failure of the Kingz, there was never any doubt that if a competitive bid was put together New Zealand was always going to have a place in the A-League.  Similarly, so long as a competitive New Zealand bid was assembled, another New Zealand franchise was always the FFA's favourite to succeed the Knights.  Sponsors were sold on a trans-tasman competition and an extra potential audience of 4 million kiwis does matter. 

But it is because these comments have come as such a surprise to the FFA that this threat must be taken extremely seriously.  Right now Australia are doing everything they can to ingratiate themselves to their new Asian hosts.  Why is it that the league expansion is moving along at such a rate?  The FFA has seen what it has to gain from being a senior member of the Asian confederation, both on and off the park, and wants to cash in. 

More importantly, the Australian government is sitting up and taking notice of the opportunities it can get through Asia on the back of football, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd held off attending the G20 summit to press the flesh with Sepp Blatter and Mr Hammam and lobby for Australia's bid for the 2022 World Cup.  For a country that has serious intentions of hosting the World Cup, when its confederation chief speaks, don't believe for a moment that Australia doesn't listen.

Bin Hammam is lampooned by many but as with any member of the FIFA executive committee, his opinion carries great weight.  Jack Warner, the head of CONCACAF, and a similarly divisive figure is seen by many as the king maker for Englandï's bid for 2018 - while many of the English game's most powerful figures privately hold reservations about a man who is clearly corrupt, a meaningless friendly was organised at the end of last season against Trinidad & Tobago purely to curry favour and secure the 3 votes he wields in the race for the 2018 tournament.  These men have real power, and should never be underestimated - for a start they played the political game well enough to get to these positions in the first place.  Whether these were off the cuff remarks or a calculated attack on the structure of the competition will be revealed in time.  But we must not be so naïve to think that this will go away quietly.

While to many football fans the murky realms of FIFA politics is a disgraceful mix of back scratching, corruption and self-interest, it is in the boardrooms that many of the games most important decisions are taken.  The Phoenix are in the middle of a political storm and while the FFA may have some loyalty, when it comes to a decision between the Phoenix and the AFC there can only be one winner.  We need the unequivocal support of the FFA, who do carry some weight in the region despite its recent arrival on the scene.  But political realities could easily see us cast aside, just as direct entry for Oceania to the World Cup was granted by FIFA and then taken away just as quickly.  We are vulnerable.

Clearly, the club's most likely avenue is to argue that it is an Australian club based in Wellington and Tony P has been quick to make the point that we are not treated as a member of Oceania.

"Our players are registered in Australia and in the eyes of FIFA we are not a club from Oceania but an Australian club.

"We are actually pushing to move forward through the AFC.  We have been working with the FFA to get the licence directly to ourselves not sub let from New Zealand Football.

"We are working on becoming a fully fledged Aussie club. We just happen to reside across the Tasman." Perversely, this discussion could finally settle the argument surrounding the Phoenix's ability to participate in the ACL.  Unsurprisingly, despite this being of huge importance to New Zealand Football, and NZF holding the Phoenix licence, there has been deafening silence on the matter.  We are going to need the heavy hitters on board to lobby the FFA, the AFC and FIFA.  Even the head of the Oceania Confederation could be a useful ally.  We need to play the game.

Let's just hope that the powers that be buy into our argument.  Because we are at a true crossroads in the short history of the club we love.