THE bid for an A-League football team based in south-east Victoria has been turned down by Football Federation Australia.
The Team 11 bid was aiming to gain admission into the A-League for the 2019/2020 season, and was widely considered to be a frontrunner before the FFA announcement on 13 December.
The proposal for the side centred around the construction of a rectangular stadium in Dandenong, which would have required over $100 million in government funding to be completed. Ultimately, the state government did not make a public commitment to building the venue.
The bid was backed by Frankston Council and a spate of local teams, including the Mt Eliza, Mornington, Mount Martha, Western Port, Langwarrin, Seaford, Skye, Aspendale, and Chelsea soccer clubs.
The FFA announced on Thursday that a bid based out of Western Melbourne, set to play games in Tarneit, would enter the league next season. They would be followed by a side from the south-west of Sydney the season after.
Team 11 interim chairman Ghadir Razuki signalled that another attempt to fight for an A-League side in the region would be made in the near future.
“This bid is about football and is about community. [The] outcome, while disappointing, does not shake our belief that a football team in the south-east of Victoria will be an immense success. We live it every day, we breathe it, we see it, we know it,” he said.
Team 11 was one of nearly 20 bids entered into the A-League expansion process. Another bid titled “Belgravia Leisure” led by Geoff Lord was entered, but was eliminated in the very early stages.