The Australian game is in crisis with FFA members now set to hold their Emergency General Meeting on Thursday (November 30), the very date set by FIFA to set essential democratic reforms.

The dispute centers on membership of the Congress, which has representatives of the country’s nine states and territories but has just one delegate for all 10 clubs in the lucrative A-League and none representing the players themselves.

The clubs, who say they generate 80 per cent of cash for football in Australia, want at least five seats but the FFA have offered them only four, along with one each for the players’ union and two women’s football representatives to cover the professional and amateur games on an expanded 15-member Congress.

Both the state federations issued letters voicing their disapproval of the FFA's stance, which they suggested did not meet the requirements of a new congress as set out by FIFA, nor did the FFA meet the wishes of the major stakeholders.

FFA chairman Steven Lowy has got precious little time left to find a resolution before Australian football could come under the administration of the world football's governing body, who have threatened to remove the FFA board by November 30 unless progress towards a new Congress is made.

FFA have been instructed by FIFA to expand their congress to become more democratic, independent of the board and inclusive of the game's stakeholders. 

Failure to do so would see the FFA board removed by FIFA and replaced by a 'normalising committee' that will temporary administer Australian football's daily affairs, just as they did with Cameroon's football association in August.

The current crisis in Australian football is not helped by the resignation of national coach Ange Postecoglou last week, despite their qualification for next summer's World Cup in Russia.

The meeting on Thursday November 30, will see a new resolution to expand the sport’s representative Congress.

The new model would ensure that the nine state federations would retain their votes.

Crucially, however, the A-League clubs would still be given just four seats.

The rest of the board will be made up by Professional Footballers Australia (the players’ union) who will take one seat, one more than they currently occupy, along with separate single seats for the community and professional sectors of women’s football.

The new 9-4-1-1-1 proposal intends to appease the A-League clubs as it removes the principle of a 60 per cent majority required to elect board members.

Despite this attempt by the FFA to placate the clubs, it still falls short of the 9-5-1-1 proposal that they want, which would give them the power to veto.

Australia media are reporting that the clubs will not support the new model in Thursday's meeting.

The FFA justifies its decision to give two seats given to women’s football by saying it will ‘deliver greater diversity and significantly increase representation of the professional game and women’s football.’

However, this attempt to diversify the board could actually see it fall apart.