The FFA today confirmed the Western Melbourne Group bid will join the A-League next season and Macarthur South-West Sydney bid the following season.

But despite promises of W-League sides being part of the six bids trying to get into the A-League, the FFA have ruled them out of joining the W-League in the short term.

"Just to be clear, this process never included W-League," said FFA head of leagues, Greg O'Rourke today.

"There was some assumptions made. There were also some public statements made by some bids that of course they would also love to have a W-League team.

"But the W-League process is one that is fundamentally different."

He said there were already existing A-League clubs – Wellington Phoenix and most notably Central Coast Mariners – who don't have a W-League licence yet.

And there were also other complications – as revealed by FFA head of women's sport Emma Highwood on last week's FTBL Podcast – involved in adding to the W-League.

"We need to think about player depth," said O'Rourke. "We also need to think about the calendar for the W-League. We do want to expand the W-League.

"But we do want to make it perfectly clear that these are A-League bids and there have been no commitments either in the process or any conversations that the W-League is coupled to the A-League bid."

He added: "If we looked to expand the W-League then existing A-League clubs are the first port of call but we are not talking to any of those clubs about the W-League."