KEY POINTS:
The hopes of four new franchises chasing a place in the New Zealand Football Championship have been dashed.
New Zealand Soccer board members have resisted any plans to revamp the national competition and will now go back to the eight incumbents and offer them a new three-year licence through to the end of the 2009-10 season.
But there is much to be decided before any club will sign on the dotted.
Gisborne City FC, Manukau United FC, Auckland Manukau United and Northern United FC had hoped to join the elite. But the board, acting on the recommendation of a working party, felt the status quo should remain, given the limited player resources and the added costs any increase would bring.
The ending of the $500,000 sponsorship arrangement with the New Zealand Community Trust is a major concern.
NZ Soccer competitions manager Glyn Taylor said yesterday it was not the intention to recoup that lost revenue from the clubs, who have been paying $45,000 plus GST a year to play in the 21-round championship.
"But it is something we have to look at, along with a number of other issues," said Taylor.
Paramount among those is the introduction and implications of the Oceania Champions League - the O-League. This competition was supposed to guarantee automatic entry to Fifa's Club World Cup for the winner.
With Fifa boss Sepp Blatter now throwing real doubt on that by saying it should be a professional club-only competition, NZ Soccer must find an acceptable alternative.
Suggestions that the New Zealand Knights should represent Oceania on the world stage are unlikely to find any support from NZFC clubs who see the world club championship as the opportunity to give players invaluable exposure.
There have been suggestions that no matter which club represents Oceania at the Fifa championship, the financial spoils should be shared between the Oceania confederation, NZ Soccer and clubs winning through to the O-League.
NZS see this as a means of finding prizemoney which would be dangled in front of NZFC clubs.
NZ Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter said the board was well aware of what needed to be done to ensure the NZFC's continuing success.
"We need to build on what we've got to make it stronger before we look to make it bigger. We need to get the NZFC on a strong commercial footing in terms of sponsorship," he said. "That is something we are working towards now, and a move toward a semi-professional league."
Taylor said it had been hoped the new licences would have been issued some time ago but had been held up for a number of reasons.
Initially, incumbent YoungHeart Manawatu had been told its licence was in danger of being revoked. At that time, NZS called for applications to fill that vacancy.
When the Palmerston North-based franchise met the requirements, the four applicants pressed for an expansion, which has now been denied.
"We have to sit down and work through things," said Taylor. "Right now I can't give you a timeframe."
With clubs already in the recruiting process for the 2007-08 season, they can't wait too long.
