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Wellington Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison is confident the club’s A-League future will be sorted by the end of the season.
The club’s licence is due to expire at the end of 2016, although Football Federation Australia last year extended the length of the licences of the nine Australia-based clubs until 2034.
New Zealand belongs to the Oceania Football Confederation, while Australia is part of the Asian Football Confederation.
AFC officials in the past have expressed a level of discomfort at having a team from another confederation involved in a league from Asia.
“We’re a bit of a hybrid – we sit in Oceania but we’re playing in the AFC. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through with the AFC in terms of getting a licence extension,” Morrison said on Thursday.
He said negotiations with the FFA to extend the Phoenix’s licence were looking promising.
“We’re making progress, but there are a lot of variables there, and a couple of things outside our control,” he said.
“But we are positive about the fact that we’ll get a licence extension on the terms we’re looking for.”
Morrison was reluctant to put a time frame on when an announcement might be made, but said he had no concerns about reaching an agreement.
He said there were no grounds to think the Phoenix would be treated differently to any of the nine Australian teams.
“It’s fair to say we think we should be treated the same as other Australian clubs. We’re part of a 10-team competition, so we should be treated the same.”
Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick and assistant coach Chris Greenacre showed no concerns regarding the club’s future, both confirming on Thursday they have signed new three-year contracts with the Wellington-based club.
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