By Nick Creely
Team 11 is one step closer to its A-League dream, with Football Federation Australia (FFA) shortlisting the south-east bid as one of the potential recipients of a licence.
The official bid of south-east of Victoria, was named alongside nine other bids to advance to the final stage of the expansion process on Friday 29 June.
Applications now have until 31 August to submit their final proposal, with a decision to be made in October on the two new licences to be handed out for the 2019/20 season.
Other bids to make it to the next stage of the expansion process are: Southern Expansion, South-Western Sydney, Macarthur, and Wollongong Wolves (NSW); Western Melbourne and South Melbourne (Victoria); Western Pride and Brisbane City (Queensland); and Canberra.
It is expected a decision will be made on the two teams to enter the competition in late October, with the final bids to be due on 31 August for the FFA to sift through.
There is a strong chance that one of the licences will be handed to a Sydney-based bid, leaving just the one spot for another team to enter the competition.
Backed by the Greater Dandenong, City of Casey and Cardinia Shire councils, the Team 11 bid will now spend the coming months finalising its investor group and ownership structure as it prepares to transition into a privately-owned entity.
Iconic Australian businessman Gerry Ryan has pledged financial support for the club, in a major boost to the bid moving forward.
Ryan – who is synonymous with the City of Greater Dandenong due to his Jayco Caravans business – said his passion lies with the local community.
“No force can unite quite like the round ball can,” Ryan said.
“The south-east region has been very good to me. This is an exceptionally multicultural community that would be incredibly supportive of a club representing it, as football is the game that many here know and love most.
“I’ve helped put together a few clubs in my time. But this bid is about more than just football, it is about community and must seek to increase social wellbeing and prompt economic growth – which I think it can and will.”
Ryan is no stranger to the A-League either, having previously had stakes in the-then known Queensland Roar and Melbourne City.
South-east Victoria, one of the fastest growing regions in the country, has a population base in excess of 1.5 million people and boasts more than 22,000 registered football players.
Team 11 project officer Matt Windley said plenty more hard work was to come, adding that the local community can also help.
“It’s an exciting little milestone, getting on the shortlist,” Windley said.
“But there is still a lot of hard work ahead, with things like finalising our investor and ownership group and continuing to work on the infrastructure plans.
“I think it’s also an important couple of months ahead to show the level of support we have.
“We’ve been blown away by the community interest, but if everyone now can demonstrate that support by doing things like joining the database and liking the Facebook page then the bid becomes even more irresistible.”
It comes after major announcements in recent months about a 15,000 capacity stadium in the heart of Greater Dandenong, an administration facility at Casey Fields, and the re-signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the three councils.
