KEY POINTS:
The chances of the Wellington Phoenix playing in the O-League have improved markedly with the Oceania Confederation leaving it in New Zealand Football's hands to decide their involvement.
NZF have long held the view the Phoenix should be able to compete in the O-League and this gained momentum
a fortnight ago after Fifa president Sepp Blatter again questioned the quality of Oceania's representative at the recent Club World Cup in Japan.
As the Herald on Sunday revealed last weekend, Fifa have given Oceania two more years at the world competition to improve or face exclusion.
"We have discussed the Phoenix playing in the O-League and, in principle, it was endorsed," Oceania general secretary Tai Nicholas said. "But we have left it up to New Zealand Football to decide how they fill the two spots they currently have.
"Our objective is to find the best club to go to the Club World Cup and we are not against the Phoenix playing in the O-League.
"They are a club that can't advance through the A-League [because it is an Asian competition] and they can't do it through Oceania either. But they are connected to Oceania because they provide pathways for New Zealand players and, hopefully, island players in the future."
Oceania and NZF would like a decision by the end of next month but any change wouldn't come into force until the 2008-09 O-League.
It's understood Fifa would not object to the Phoenix representing Oceania, even though they play in an Asian club competition.
One suggestion that seems to be gaining favour is allowing the NZFC champions to fill one of New Zealand's two O-League spots, with the Phoenix joining the next two or three NZFC clubs in a playoff series to find the second side.
Another is the Phoenix playing off against the second-best NZFC side to find the other O-League representative. Both options could be done in April when the NZFC season is completed and the Phoenix are in pre-season.
While these two scenarios still give NZFC sides a fighting chance of qualifying for the Club World Cup, they strongly object to the Phoenix taking part in the O-League.
The eight clubs, led by heavyweights Auckland City and Waitakere United, are fearful of losing out on their chance to pocket US$200,000 (NZ$260,000) from taking part at the Club World Cup. Their biggest objection is that they feel they would not be meeting on a level playing field if forced to face the Phoenix.
At present, NZFC clubs are allowed three overseas players, while the Phoenix can have four, as well as unlimited Australians.
"We have to fight for our rights and we will continue to do that to stop it happening," Waitakere chairman Rex Dawkins said. "It has to be a level playing field to let them play but it's not level if they have seven Australians and four Brazilians against our three guest players.
"New Zealand Football have made it quite clear they want the Phoenix involved but we have grave fears for the future of the NZFC if this is allowed to happen."
One of the biggest factors that might work against the NZFC clubs is that they signed a licence agreement earlier this year allowing the Phoenix to participate in the O-League at some time in the future.
Under the terms of the agreement, the same prizemoney scale that was used this year would remain in place - 40 per cent of the US$500,000 minimum to the winning club, 50 per cent to the remaining NZFC clubs and 10 per cent to NZF. Gates from any Phoenix games would also go to the NZFC clubs.
"We understand the concerns the NZFC clubs have and we don't want to undermine the work they are doing because we want a strong NZFC competition," NZF chief executive Graham Seatter said.
"But we have to do everything we can to preserve Oceania's place [at the Club World Cup] because if we do nothing, there is a real chance we could lose it. We have to take Fifa's threats seriously.
"The licence agreement, which the NZFC clubs agreed to, would allow the Phoenix to go to the Club World Cup if they won the O-League but it would also see the NZFC clubs get a share of the prizemoney as well as the gates from any Phoenix games.
"We are doing what we can to try to support them and make sure revenue is returned to the game in this country."
Dawkins and Auckland City chairman Ivan Vuksich don't dispute they signed this agreement but said it was done "under duress".
"We were railroaded into signing," Vuksich said. "It took ages to agree terms before the start of this NZFC season and that was the stumbling block.
"We were told at the time that the island nations and Oceania wouldn't support the Phoenix [playing in the O-League] so on that basis we signed it off because it was getting close to the league. I regret it now."
What Dawkins and Vuksich support as a compromise is to allow a composite NZFC side to represent Oceania if a New Zealand club won the O-League.
They also said the side needed to be better prepared. Nicholas has been in talks with the Football Federation of Australia about warm-up games with A-League sides.
The NZFC clubs have written to NZF outlining their objections and will continue to lobby Oceania but it would appear they are fighting a losing battle.
* Oceania have said the Solomon Islands will represent the confederation at next year's Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille.
The Solomon Islands competed at last month's World Cup in Brazil after winning the Oceania qualifying competition but Oceania have decided there will be no qualifiers next year.
The decision has mystified New Zealand Football, particularly as they had a three-year agreement to host the Oceania tournament.
"While beach soccer is not a priority of ours, we are disappointed with the decision because we were looking forward to hosting the tournament," NZF chief executive Graham Seatter said.
"It was mainly done for financial reasons but it's the principle."